What is fast food?
January 2nd, 2008 | by jg3 |Ok, the necessity of tackling this question happened sooner than I expected it to. Here goes.
First of all, anything with a drive through is fast food. If I’m unwilling to be inconvenienced even so much as getting out of my car, it is definitely fast food. Beyond that, though, there’s no singular definition that fits. Even the Wikipedia page on fast food acknowledges its definition is “dubious” and invites further discussion.
But what about walk-up or take-away? Is it fast food if it is made-to-order? Is it fast food if I can sit down? Do I order at the counter? Is it brought to my table? Cloth napkins? Where is the dividing line?
Let me take a step back and return to why I’ve resolved to make this lifestyle change in the first place and let those reasons inform the line that gets drawn that separates the acceptable and not (and helps sharpen my vocabulary when speaking about it).
First of all, I want to eat more carefully. I didn’t say low fat or not fried, free-range, vegetarian. I’m not shying away from carbohydrates or red meat or fish that is caught in an unsustainable fashion. Of course, eating more carefully does mean that I’ll be able think about all these things when I select my food and because I’ll be thinking ahead I won’t be forced into a corner where my only option is some greasy, fried crap that is probably grain fed beef (which is an abomination to begin with) chock full of antibiotics and hormones. eww, really?
So, yes, I want to eat more kindly and more sustainably. I’m currently nursing a dim view of the “organic” label as it exists today because of the politics involved. This view is largely based on what I learned in reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, it fits in with my dim view of government as being for the people, rather than the corporations. But I won’t digress into that here. I’m just not going to rely on some government-defined label for a sense of how or if my food is nurtured. Also: I’m not a vegetarian. I love me some red meat and I don’t intend to quit that now. I’m not going to rub that in anyone’s face, but I’m not going to apologize for it, either.
Further to my topic here, I want to eat better. By that I mean that I want to enjoy higher quality food. That will also help the goal of eating at home (or at least home-made) food more often as I feel like I have a wider selection of meal options in a grocery store than in a food court, it just takes a little more time.
And, I don’t mean this in a punny way, but: time is an ongoing concern. I have often called time my “most valuable commodity” and most of the time that means it’s a bargain to spend a little of something else ($$, health, quality) to get something done accomplished and time saved. But for this test, I’m going to be fine with taking a little more time to ensure that I’m eating what I want and how I want.
Then, finally, we come to the aspects that probably far more people meant when they made a resolution to “eat better” this year. In carefully considering what I’m eating — yea, even thinking about it in advance at all — I’m almost sure to eat healthier and save money by eating out less. I just have to figure out where to do so.
So the drive-through is out, the walk-up fiesta of friedness is out, and the hot-dog vendor on the street are all out on the basic principle so eloquently stated by Heathrow: “I don’t eat that” and thus would never intend to eat at (from?) those places. I mean I’ll probably intend to have a meal at the ballpark at least once this summer and I don’t want to require that I state explicitly what I will eat before I leave my house so I don’t have any flexibility once I get there.
But what about Baja Fresh? What about Anita’s? Anita’s is a real restaurant with waiters and everything, it just so happens that I almost always get their food at the take-away window. Life without the opportunity to eat their breakfast burritos might not be worth living.
I think for now, the answer may lie in returning to a strategy I’ve used in the past: making up a menu for all the meals I’ll eat a week into the future. This produces a grocery shopping list and allows me to specify in advance the meals I will be eating food prepared by someone else.
Filed under: food
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