Unit 7 - Fast food = Junk food?

Everyone knows about the phenomenon of "fast food", widely spread all over today's world. In fast food restaurants, meals are cooked in a short time, so that customers can quickly finish their lunch or dinner and go back to work or to other more important duties. The result of this short cooking tends to be cheap and bad quality meals. For this reason, fast food has gained bad reputation and it's commonly known as "junk food". Fast food restaurants started in the US, succeeding then all over the world. Despite their bad reputation, they still have millions of faithful customers who seem "addicted" to this type of food.

Examples of these restaurants are: McDonald's (the greatest representation of junk food), Burger King, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Subway. These restaurants also tend to have a dark history of how they obtain their ingredients, with many people doubting they actually offer "real" chicken or beef. McDonald's bad reputation reached its highest point some years ago, when the documentary Super Size Me was released. In this film, a man proved how much harm this type of food can do to your body.

If you'd like to know more about this film, click on this link:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390521/plotsummary 

However, if you read this post title, you might think: is fast food always junk food? The answer is no. Lately, many people have understood the importance of eating healthy, and how not having enough time for your lunch or dinner shouldn't mean a negative influence for your health. For this reasons, many restaurants are now offering "healthy fast food". Short time cooking doesn't always have to mean bad quality or unhealthy food, and these restaurants are proving this.

Examples of these are those places where you can toss your own salad or pasta dish, choosing among fresh ingredients to create your own salad or pasta dish in just a few minutes. See? Fast but healthy! Other examples are Wok Buffets (also getting popular in Europe), where you can choose your fresh raw ingredients and then have them cooked in front of you in a healthy Asian wok. Again, fast but healthy! These type of places have been a wake-up call for traditional fast food restaurants, which are now offering healthier choices in their menus. People are more aware of healthy eating than ever, and therefore, fast food restaurants need to adapt themselves to these new times.

Here's a article about healthy fast food:
http://www.starchefs.com/features/trends/healthy_fast_food/index.shtml
Getting hungry? OK then, grab some lunch or dinner, but remember to eat healthy!

See you in class