Lifestyle has changed a lot in the past century and people to have changed; they prefer speed in all their actions, making everything happen faster than usual. Communication, transport, business activities learning, among other activities are all happening so fast in today’s world and so is eating. People prefer to consume fast food instead of having homemade food; fast food is food that is easily prepared and conveniently available at any time.
The concept of fast food though is not new in the world, and it has existed since ancient times. In the Roman cities, people depended on vendors to provide them with food, and the same case happened in London and Paris. The good thing with this business is that the food was from natural products hence healthy, a fact that has since changed (Stewart, 46-48)
Reasons for the existence and consumption of fast foods
Many people are very busy for the better part of the day and only get to their homes very late hence fast food seems to be the better option for them but the question is whether it is safe. The reason has to why people are so busy is because of the changes in living standards, life has become very expensive, so people have to work harder to provide for their needs.
For this reason, people are having more than one job at the same time while others are even working day and night. In this situation, time to prepare homemade food is rare; hence people opt for the cheaper and easier option; otherwise, if people had the time they would consider having homemade food which of course is healthier.
Another reason for fast food intake is the accessibility of food restaurants due to urban development. There are fast food vendors in every street and avenue of any city or town in the world; they are actually the easiest places to find in any city. Fast foods are also available in other business as a side trade.
For example in filling stations most of them have shops selling these foods, to attract those getting fuel or gas for their vehicles. Most of these places operate on a 24-hour basis hence making fast foods available anytime, anywhere. The restaurants are very easy to open as they require little capital, laws on their establishment are also not very strict hence favoring their existence (Saltsman, 54-55)
Fast food businesses also make huge profits from this trade since taxation is very minimal and the raw products used are not natural, most of them are artificial or genetically modified hence it is cheap to run this trade. The food is also very tasty because of the additions made to keep people addicted to them and hence cannot resist them and they keep going back.
Packaging of the foods is also cheap because most of it is packed in plastics bags or cartons which are very cheap. Some of the restaurants also prefer to deliver the food directly to the customers to save on the costs of establishing a place for operation where customers can seat. This makes people lazier because they know that even when at home they can still get fast foods.
People also prefer fast food because it already prepared to be eaten there are no more procedures involved while homemade food needs to prepare in advance by buying all the ingredients needed, and they are all not available in one store hence one has to visit many stores to get them all.
Advantages of home cooking
Homemade food is the best because of various reasons: it is clean compared to fast foods; research has shown that fast food kitchens are as dirty as sewage water the fact that many may consider as a mere talk but it is the truth. Eating at home is, therefore, more hygienic, hence one can avoid bacterial infections and diseases from worms which are very common.
Homemade food will always be prepared using natural ingredients, this makes it very healthy as compared to fast food which is prepared from artificial ingredients containing, calories, sugars, fats, and sodium.
Homemade food is also cheap compared to fast food although some times it may seem expensive, it is worth it because the ailments that people acquire from fast food consumption makes the whole product very expensive in the end.
For example many people gain a lot of weight from fast foods forcing them to take preventive measures such as attending gym and therapy sessions to assist them to lose weight which is very expensive, other diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure due to cholesterol and kidney problems due to high intake of sodium are also common and very costly to manage.
Lavigne explained that a patient sued various fast food businesses in 1945 because he had two heart attacks, was diabetic and also obese, he said, “I trace all [my health problems] back to the high fat, grease, and salt, all back to McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King – there was no fast food I didn’t eat, and I ate it more often than not because I was single, it was quick and I’m not a very good cook. It was a necessity, and I think it was killing me, my doctor said it was killing me.”
Finally making homemade food is more satisfactory psychologically since people get to eat what they want not what they are forced to eat due to circumstances. Eating at home is also very important for family harmony because as people prepare and eat food they can spend time together and get time to discuss various family matters but when people opt for fast foods everyone becomes separated from each other since there is no a unifying factor leading to break up of families.
Recommendations and solutions
People ought to find time for themselves to prepare quality and fresh food because as much as people will spend time increasing their wealth it has been noted that most of it goes to solving problems that they created in the process of acquiring it.
In choosing what to eat many people consider the cost which is, a very bad criterion for choosing what to eat because many people will often go for cheap forgetting that cheap is expensive. Fast food has negative effects on our bodies as mentioned earlier, and we have to treat them hence spending huge finances on issues that could have been avoided.
People can also prepare homemade food when they are not very busy and keep it chilled in the house this way they will only be warming it instead of consuming food that has been conserved using lethal chemicals.
Homemade simple food can also be prepared from the various ingredients found in many of the stores; because only rare products will be hard to find but is better having a simple homemade meal than any form of fast food. There are also online grocery stores that can even deliver the groceries at the work place hence people only need to make orders online consequently they is no excuse for consuming fast food (Lavigne ,8-31)
The government needs to put some inspection procedures and laws regarding the content of food sold in this restaurants. It should also increase taxation of revenues from this trade; this will make the food more expensive hence people will choose to eat homemade foods.
Businesses not in the food industry such as gas stations should not be allowed to sell foods at all because that is very inappropriate and unhealthy. The advantages of these foods are by far less than the disadvantages both for the individuals and for the government which also has to incur extra costs on health care.
It is also the responsibility of parents to make it a family value to eat at home, and this way the children will follow suit and will make it a habit that will be practiced forever even when they grow up. Schools should also ensure that they offer quality to students because studies have shown that young people attending college are major customers of fast food business a habit they follow even when they are employed. They should not have fast food shops in the school as it is now.
Instead, they should establish restaurants selling quality and fresh food. Homemade food, therefore, will always be the best option since the government will never stop people from cooking food at homes but it can stop the fast food business and homemade food will win (Cordell,27)
Conclusion
There are restaurants that have begun to emerge offering quality food to people, but the food is very expensive; hence people are still stuck on fast food although some of them have changed to these new casual hotels. However, even with the emergence of these restaurants, homemade food remains the best because hygiene at home is very different from that of any public facility.
It is therefore evident that homemade food is the best, and if proper laws were enforced, it would be the people’s only option but a good one. As time goes by, people will start experiencing the effects of consuming fast foods and will be forced to change to homemade foods which are safer. Fast foods businesses will either start to offer quality food or close down due to lack of customers (Thompson, 18)
Works cited
Cordell, G.. “Fast food vs. home cooked meals (in marketing).” Brains on Fire 24th April.2009:27. Print
Lavigne, P. “What is lurking in your stadium food?” Espn outside the Lines 24.Feb. 2007: 08-31. Print
Saltsman, P. “The appetizer.”National post 27 July.2010:54-55. Print
Stewart, M., Living. “From the kitchens of Martha Stewart Living.” Easy Home cooking 06 March. 2003:46-48. Print
Thompson, P. “Nutrition Talk.” Jamaica cleaner may 5. 2004:18. Print