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| Photo by Louis Hansel on Unsplash |
During the early 1900s, the hamburger was thought to be polluted, unsafe to eat, and food for the poor. Street carts, not restaurants, typically served them.
At some fast food chains, both in U.S. and in other countries, managers are rewarded bonuses when they reduce employee wages to save money.
Due to anti-German sentiment during WWI, an alternative name for a hamburger (which was derived from the Hamburg steak sandwiches eaten on immigrant ships between Hamburg, Germany, and America in the 1800s) was “salisbury steak.” It was named after Dr. Salisbury who prescribed ground beef for patients suffering from anemia, asthma, and other illnesses.
The popularization of the automobile resulted in “flashier” fast food restaurant architecture to catch the attention of drivers. This lasted until the 1970s when communities began to complain about the exaggerated buildings.
Television greatly expanded the ability of advertisers to reach children and try to develop brand loyalty early in life. Today the average American child sees more than 10,000 food advertisements each year on television.
Because McDonald's initially did not want its customers to stay and socialize, they prohibited newspaper boxes, candy machines, telephones, pinball machines, jukeboxes, and other types of entertainment. They also installed uncomfortable chairs to deter customers from lingering.
Burger King’s Double Whopper with cheese contains 923 calories. A man would need to walk for about nine miles to burn it off. Adding french fries and a large cola brings the total calories to an amazing 1,500 calories (2/3 of an adult man’s recommended daily caloric intake).
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| Photo by Tomas Sobek |
When France refused to join the American-led coalition against Iraq, some Republicans argued that the name french fries be changed to “liberty fries.”
McDonald's is one of the largest owners of real estate in the world and it earns the majority of its profits from collecting rent, not from selling food.
The fast food industry has dramatically affected how cattle and chickens are raised, slaughtered, and processed.
The rise in the fast food industry has been linked to rising cases of obesity. The CDC estimates that 248,000 Americans die prematurely due to obesity and considers obesity as the number two cause of preventable death in the US (the #1 cause is smoking).
