Assignment 3-1 Weekly Written Analysis (#2)

This week’s written analysis is about the popular culture phenomenon known as fast food. The fast food craze was started in 1916. The founder took a meat ball and smashed it between two pieced of bread, creating what is today known as the hamburger. This restaurant was unique because unlike any other area, they had a specialized menu. The restaurant became known as White Castle and many other chains have attempted to copy them, making the hamburger the most popular fast food item today (Hogan, 2003). When I was growing up, in my family, fast food was reserved for vacations or that very special and rare night when mom and dad were going to leave us with the baby sitter and go out. Now, everywhere you go, one can find a Taco Bell, a McDonalds, a Burger King, or any other number of fast food restaurants. Pizza hut even added premade pizzas to its menu so you don’t have to wait for your hot pizza. A fast food restaurant is any location where you can get fresh hot food already prepared for your convenience (Hogan, 2003). These restaurants play into the American culture of being in a hurry; or do they? Is it that we do not have the time to sit and wait for a meal to be served up for us, or time enough to take the time and create our own meal? Or maybe it is that the taste is just so great that when you want fast food, you’re going to get it. When I was looking for my last place to live, the ability of a suitable fast food restaurant played a role in whether or not I was going to rent there. That sounds like a silly reason to rent a house, but when it is cheaper and easier to grab a meal on the go, rather than go home and dig through the refrigerator and make a meal, the importance of these decisions becomes evident. I seriously completed the question of whether or not a 20 minute drive to Taco Bell was worth the convenience of living where I wanted to rent. The last time I was deployed I fell into the routine of going to Burger King once a week. It was easy to do, because that posts dining facility did not offer good hamburgers. On this deployment, even though there is a full service dining facility offering up any variety of healthy and unhealthy food three times a day, along with a full service sandwich bar open 24-hours a day, we have a pizza hut and a subway on the post, which do a fair amount of business. When I first arrived here, I was amazed that these two restaurants were successful, but after three months of the dining facility, I am drawn more and more to the taste of the fast food. This brings up the question. Is fast food a popular culture because of convenience or because of the taste? I believe that part of what makes America such a great country is the diversity in everything she has to offer. Could it be this mentality that makes fast food so popular? Or are we as American’s just too lazy to cook a good meal every night of the week? I offer to you, that it is the very diversity of our culture, which has enabled the fast food chain to become a popular culture within our country, and around the world.
References Hogan, David Gerard. (2003). Fast Food. Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. Retrieved February 05, 2010 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3403400211.html