Fast Food Culture Essay

For decades, the fast food industry has occupied a monstrous portion of American society’s diet; weaving its thread of convenience into the tapestry of American culture, creating patterns that resemble a cheap and substandard tradition. America is so accustomed to this routine that society has become oblivious to fast food’s effects on the development of our culture. While the industry has transformed this nation, it has also deliberately changed the cultures of other nations as well by plaguing them with America fast food franchises. This is widely known “Americanizing”, which is placed American fast food restaurants around other countries in hopes to transition their culture to resemble America’s. Although fast food restaurants possess a

After World War I, with the construction of White Castle (Wilson). Since then, the whole structure of American culture and landscape has been built on the foundation holding up these businesses which has begun to show up in various cultures. In the novel, Fast Food Nation written by Eric Schlosser, a farmer by the name of Carl Karcher, who eventually is the founder of Carl jr. fast-food restaurant states, “When I first met my wife the roads were gravel, and now it’s blacktop.” (Schlosser 28). He says this with a more positive connotation, which is ironic because the only reason the roads changed was to further benefit the fast food industries. Even in the rural area where Karcher lived, America was adapting to a more convenient and faster way to get to these franchises in a shorter amount of time: highways. America used to strive for rural life, now there are barely any small family farmers (154). Urban life was changing as well: families who used to prepare home-cooked meals every night and recite Grace around a kitchen table now depend on others to prepare their food, which they often take home and eat in front of a television set. American culture has been tainted by this plague of fast food, convincing society that their habits depend on fast and easy