Nowadays, it became a commonplace practice among many people to suggest that fast food cannot be considered ‘real.’ This, of course, implies that the consumption of fast food can hardly be considered beneficial to the affiliated practitioners. Nevertheless, one’s unfavorable stance toward fast food cannot be considered thoroughly valid. This paper will expound upon the main reasons, as to why it happened to be the case while promoting the idea that the question ‘should fast food qualify as ‘food’?’ should be answered positively.
One of the notable aspects of today’s living in the West is the fact that, as time goes on, people seem to grow increasingly concerned, as to whether fast food can be considered thoroughly safe. For example, one of this food’s disadvantages is considered the fact that it is high in cholesterol, which in turn is believed to trigger cancer.
This particular concern, however, cannot be deemed fully valid. The reason for this is that, while fearing cholesterol (something that causes them to hate fast food), most people never bother to make their inquiry, into whether the mentioned substance can be considered as harmful, as they believe happened to be the case.
After all, there is now plenty of evidence that the dangers of cholesterol are being exaggerated and that, while consumed moderately, this substance is capable of contributing to the concerned practitioner’s well-being. Thus, what people think accounts for the main disadvantage of fast food, may be defined as its advantage.
In this respect, we can mention yet another presumed disadvantage of fast food, which in turn has to do with the assumption that, due to being saturated with fats, it contributes rather substantially to the ‘epidemic of obesity’ in the West. Nevertheless, fast food can hardly be blamed as the real cause of this ‘epidemic’.
The fact that, as time goes on, more and more Westerners appear to grow increasingly obese, has more to do with the essence of the currently enacted socio-economic policies in Western countries. However, even if the mentioned disadvantage were indeed well substantiated, it would still be counterbalanced by the fact that, due to being cheap and nutritious, fast food does provide millions and millions of socially underprivileged individuals with the possibility to keep their stomachs filled up on a 24/7 basis.
After all, providing poor people with access to low-quality food is still much better than denying them such a chance altogether, due to the wellness-related considerations. Those who claim that fast food is not quite ‘food’, have never experienced the sense of hunger in their lives – otherwise, they would know that, after having starved for a few days, one finds the taste of even the greasiest hamburger heavenly.
There is also a purely discursive reason, as to why fast food is being commonly denied the status of ‘real food’ – this is due to its presumed disadvantage of being associated with blue-collar workers. In other words, many people try to avoid consuming fast food, not because they happened to have any factual concerns about this food’s quality, but solely because they believe that, after having been seen eating at McDonald’s (or any other fast food restaurant), they would be deemed ‘losers’.
While acting in such a manner, however, these people remain thoroughly arrogant that it is specifically the process of Industrialisation, which made it possible for Westerners to begin enjoying the world’s highest standards of living. There would be no Industrialisation, if it was not up to the availability of fast food at the time when the mentioned process was gaining momentum.
The invention of hot dogs and hamburgers provided industrial workers with the chance to satisfy their sense of hunger in a highly efficient manner, while also making it possible for them to save on time and money. This alone undermines the validity of the idea that fast food is not ‘real food’ – it is not only just as real and any other types of food, but it is also the kind of food which appears to be the most adapted to the realities of a contemporary living in the West.
The reason for this is that, just as it used to be the case throughout the era of Industrialisation, more and more people in today’s West grow increasingly strapped for time, which naturally predisposes them towards consuming fast food, as the most natural activity, ever. This once again suggests that, whereas many of the presumed disadvantages of fast food are imaginary, its advantages are fully objective.
The deployed line of argumentation, in defense of the idea that fast food is ‘real’, fully correlates with the paper’s initial thesis. Apparently, there is indeed not much of a rationale in suggesting that people should avoid consuming this type of food.