Fast-food has been a staple of American culture since its origin in 1948. Fast-food favorites, like Wendy’s, and Taco Bell, are on every street corner all around America. Among all others is the most popular fast-food chain in the world: McDonalds. McDonalds has continued its reign over the fast-food industry through mass production and efficiency. Experiencing the greasy fries, hamburgers, and chicken nuggets is a rite of passage for most American citizens. Buying fast-food is an impulse, most people do not plan to purchase it when they do. Most convenience food bought is purchased with little thought about the effects it may have on bodily health or what is in it. Junk food’s popularity was not reached overnight. Charlie Nagreen invented …show more content…
Hamburgers were made fun of for being known as a “food for poor people.” Many people believed it was contaminated and should not be consumed on a regular basis. The idea that hamburgers were an easy disguise to most poisons was another issue that was detrimental to the reputation of the hamburger. Butchers suffered greatly because of this scandal, beef prices declined quickly. Americans avoided greasy meats that could potentially be poisoned or hurt their health. This ultimately halted the ideas of cheap, easy fast-food for many years. In the 1940s, Richard and Mac McDonald took advantage of the drive-in fascination that seemed to occupy the teenagers of this time. It was an easy hang out that featured cheap food, cars, and young love. While drive-ins pleased the McDonald brothers for a short time, they began to dream of …show more content…
The once freshly grown vegetables and handpicked meats has been replaced with machinery and chemicals. McDonalds not only has managed to manufacture the taste, they have manufactured the smell too. The familiar smell of McDonalds French fries in every restaurant has been carefully chosen and perfected by McDonalds founders and chemist. Every french fry is cooked in 93 percent beef fat. All flavors in popular fast-food establishments are artificially created to have a seemingly guiltless and natural odor. The concept of McDonalds taste has been tested and retested to please a large group of people. Another example of this is in American strawberry shakes. At home, the ingredients for a strawberry milkshake include: ice, strawberries, ice cream, strawberries, vanilla, and sugar. The strawberry milkshakes ordered at fast-food restaurants contain none of the past listed ingredients. Some ingredients in artificial shakes include: amyl acetate, heliotropin, rose, and ethyl valerate. Dozens of chemicals are mixed together to create more of a science experiment than a milkshake. Consumers see one or two natural ingredients on the labels of junk food and believe that the food is not harmful for their body. Consuming large amounts of these items has increased heart disease and obesity among children and adults of