THE INFLUENCE OF AMERICA ON EUROPEAN DIET
**********************************************************
From February the second to February the sixteenth, I was in
England. Indeed, in November, a competitive examination was
organized in the neighbourhood of Amiens. In order to obtain this trip,
I had to prepare a file about the influence of America on European
diet. That is why I am going to explain in these pages what I learnt
about fast food.
I-The origins of fast food
The industry of fast food began with a handful of modest hot dog
and hamburger stands in southern California. Then, it has spread to
every corner of the nation, selling food wherever customers may be
found. Now, fast food is served everywhere, for example at
restaurants, stadiums, schools or airplanes and all over the world.
A fast food restaurant, also known as a quick service restaurant
or QSR is a specific type of restaurant characterized by its fast food
cuisines and by minimal table service. The first one was opened on
July 7th 1912 in New York City. It was a cafeteria which prepared
food behind small glass windows. It was named “Automat” and these
restaurants were quickly built everywhere with the slogan “less work
for mother”.
1
II-Fast food restaurants
Fast food restaurants can be seen everywhere in the world.
However, America is as an example in the world, especially in
Europe. These are the most famous fast food restaurants in the United
states of America :
Nowadays, fast food restaurants are everywhere. Moreover,
there are many kinds of these restaurants.
For example in Atascocita, Texas, there are many fast food
restaurants such as Subway, MacDonald’s, Burger King, KFC or
Pizza Hut :
2
1) Mac Donald’s restaurant
Mac Donald’s is probably the most famous fast food restaurant
in the world. It was founded as a barbecue drive-in in 1940 by Dick
and Mac MacDonald in California. Then, they closed their restaurant
and reopened it in 1948 as a walk up stand offering a simple menu of
hamburgers, French fries, shakes, coffee and Coca-cola.
Nowadays, it has 30.000 restaurants in 120 countries :
3
McDonald’s world locations map
Their slogan “I’m lovin’ it” is famous everywhere. This is the
symbol of MacDonald’s :
(Mac Donald’s)
2) fish and chips
Fish and chips is the most popular take-away food in the United
Kingdom. It consists of deep-fried fish in batter (made of flour, water,
milk, beer and egg) or breadcrumbs with deep-fried chipped potatoes.
In the United Kingdom, it is often served with salt and vinegar.
This is a meal served in a fish and chips’ restaurant :
4
(fish and chips)
3) Taco Bell
Taco Bell is a Mexican-style quick service restaurant chain.
Most of the Taco Bell’s restaurants are located in the United States of
America and Canada.
This is a photography of a Taco Bell restaurant :
5
(Taco Bell)
4) KFC
KFC, also known as “Kentucky Fried Chicken” is a chain of fast food
restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky known mainly for its fried
chicken. The first KFC restaurant outside of North America (United
States of America and Canada) was built in England in 1964. This is a
meal in a KFC’s restaurant :
(KFC)
5) Burger King
Burger King (BK) is a global chain of hamburger fast food
restaurants. It was founded in 1954 by James Mdamore and David
Edgerton. Nowadays, it has 11,200 locations.
6
(Burger King)
6) Subway
During my journey in England, lots of students bought Subway’s meal
for lunch. Subway sells primarily sandwiches and salads.
This is an example of sandwich sold
in a subway restaurant :
7
This is a Subway restaurant :
(Subway)
7) Wendy’s
Wendy’s is an international chain founded in Ohio, in the United
States of America. It is the third largest hamburger fast food chain
with about 6,700 locations after MacDonald’s and Burger King.
(Wendy’s logo)
8
8) Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is a restaurant chain specializing in American-style
pizza. It is the world’s largest pizza restaurant chain. It is quite famous
for its advertisements with the Muppets.
These are the muppets :
This is the Pizza Hut’s logo :
(Pizza Hut)
9
III- Fast food’s advertisements
Fast food industry use many ways of advertising such as
television commercial campaigns, billboard campaigns, print media
campaigns, event sponsorship, product placement in films and
television programmes, various forms of branding including clothing
or direction signs and posters, telling people how far the restaurant is.
On their advertisements, they use warm and vibrant colours in
fast food logos because colours like red are associated with hot food
and instantly draw attention. However, font for food logos needs to be
simple. For example, the golden arches of the MacDonald’s “M” are
one of the strongest and more recognisable brands thanks to the
simplicity of this “M” and the using of red and yellow colours
Fast food chains make many campaigns. These are the most
famous of them :
- “I’m lovin’ it” (MacDonald’s)
- “Taco Bell Chihuahua” (Taco Bell)
- “Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles,
onions on a sesame bun.” (MacDonald’s)
- “Mac Tonight” (MacDonald’s, 1986)
- “We love to see you smile”
- “Where’s the beef ?” (Wendy’s)
- “Have it your way” (Burger King)
To illustrate this idea of advertising, this is an advert
representing a meal in a “speedy O’fizz” restaurant :
10
At first sight, it suggests that you can have a hamburger, a packet
of chips, an ice-cream, three pieces of brownies and a glass of coke
for one dollar : the whole meal displayed in the picture for one dollar.
The advert is composed of two main parts : a picture and a text. The
picture shows a substantial meal which is the focus. At the top we
have the brand and the phrase “Dollar Deal” which attracts people’s
attention and advertises the special offer presented as a bargain. The
copy gives information about the offer and praises its positive aspects
so as to attract customers.
IV- The consequences of eating fast food
Nowadays, often eat in a fast food restaurant :
11
In the United States of America, one fifth of the population (45
million people) eat in a fast food restaurant each day. Fast food
includes salty French fries (also known as chips in the United
Kingdom), beefburgers, fried chicken, pizzas with a thick cheese
covering, soft drinks, and creamy milkshakes.
This kind of food is called “junk food” : it is a pejorative term
for food high in calories, low in nutrients and usually quick to prepare.
It is unhealthy and has poor nutritional value.
Moreover, one third of American diet is junk food and soft
drinks.
In the United States of America, consumers spent about $110
billion on fast food in 2000 and $142 billion in 2006.
But the problem is that eating fast food can create
obesity, high blood pressure, strokes, diabetes, cholesterol or
cancer.
As for obesity, seventeen percent of American children
are considered obese.
Stroke (or cerebrovascular accident) is the rapidly
developing loss of brain functions due to a disturbance in the
blood vessels supplying blood to the brain. It can be really
dangerous.
That is why American people often take fast food chains
to court in order to win money. Some of them say “I always
12
believed fast food was good for me”. That is why, for example
fast food chains prevent people from burning themselves
because coffee is too hot :
In fact, the chain is not responsible for overweight or other
problems because they don’t force customers to eat their food but they
don’t say it is not nutritious.
The United Kingdom is the fastest growing rate of obesity in the
developed world. Between 1995 and 2002, the prevalence of obesity
in children aged 2-15 in England doubled in boys from 3% to 6% and
almost doubled in girls from 5% to 9%.
V- Vending machines
A vending machine is a machine which provides various snacks,
beverages and other products to customers. It sells products without a
cashier.
The first vending machines appeared selling ice cream, milk in
cartons and other cold drinks.
In some countries such as France, vending machines are
forbidden in public places like in schools because of obesity.
13
This is a vending machine selling food :
This is a vending machine selling drinks :
14
VI- Solutions against junk food
This is what people should eat everyday :
15
But many people don’t eat all this food because they prefer fast
food, as we can see on this picture :
16
That is why solutions against junk food would be banning all
junk food advertising, banning junk food vending machines, running
public education campaigns to teach people how to choose healthy
foods.
1) Appleton Alternative High school
Appleton Alternative High school is a school in Wisconsin (US)
for students with truancy and behavioural problems. The nutrition
programme consists of features fresh fruits and vegetables, whole
grains, a minimum of sugar, and all of it is prepared without any
frying, chemical processing, dyes, preservatives or canned goods.
2) The national nutrition health overall
The national nutrition health overall, also known as the
“Programme national nutrition santé” (PNNS) in France has mandated
that all food advertisements must be accompanied by snippets of
nutritional advice, which also include : “for your health, practice a
physical activity regularly”, “For your health, avoid snacking between
meals” and “For your health, eat at least five pieces of fruit each day”.
Each tip is followed by the address of the PNNS Web site :
www.mangerbouger.fr. France is the first European country to implement a
public health program. The French government wants to reduce lipid,
consumption to under 35%, reduce average cholesterol levels by 5%
and average blood-pressure by 10mm.
17
3) Charities
TOAST (the obesity Awareness and solutions trust) was formed
to be a focus for the prevention and management of obesity in the
United Kingdom. It informs, educates, listens, researches and works
with interested parties to raise the profile of obesity.
Weight concern is a charity in the United Kingdom, committed
to address the physical and psychological health needs of overweight
and obese people.
In the United Kingdom, about 2 in 5 adults are overweight and a
further 1 in 5 are obese because of overeating and/or eating the wrong
kinds of food
18
In these pages, I tried to explain that fast food can be convenient
and tasty but it can also be dangerous. That is why we can sum up
everything with this picture :
19