Free Fast Food Essay Sample

Jakle and Sculle in their book, “Fast Food:Roadside Restaurants in the Automobile Age” tackle a subject that has drawn a lot of debate in the United States and the world at large in the health sector. Eating and eating habits have won a lot of attention amongst health professionals.  “Fast Food:Roadside Restaurants in the Automobile Age” is a book that has a totally different yet very important perspective in the fast food topic and its creation. The authors connect the automobile age to fast food, a move that has been of great concern in America up to this modern age. They say, “Through the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, Springfield developed a penchant for unpretentious middlebrow restaurants offering foods palatable to travelers as clericals and factory workers”. The main issue discussed by Jakle and Sculle concerns the automobile age and how it created an entire class of dining commonly referred to as “fast food”.

Jakle and Sculle have done a magnificent work in relating the issues that are important and that affect people in the society. The authors reflect on architecture, origins and growth in commerce of the restaurants that deal with fast foods. These include McDonalds and White castle among others. According to their presentation, it is clear that fast food growth and development make evident the tale of these modest restaurants as the story of the contemporary culture of the people of the United States. According to the book, the initial roadside eateries mainly comprised the most uncommon foods. They included pizza, hamburgers, burritos, hot dogs and milkshakes among other food stuffs. These are amazingly a main diet in the American society.

This is an interesting approach presented by Jakle and Sculle showing how fast foods have become a major concern in the American society dating from the automobile age. The authors show how drive-ins and dinners in the 1950s had become rebellion icons where the youth looked for freedom from the authority of the adults.  Just like the motel and the gas station, the roadside restaurants are a vital aspect of the contemporary landscape of America where purposeful design sameness beckons every other interstate driver. The book is a very a serious examination of the casual dinning in the United States. It all sets from the lunch wagons where urban laborers were served from through series which now gather around all exits along the interstate.

Jakle and Sculle have actually explored how corporate United States has created different formulas for the commercial points that dominate the roadside of America. This formula is referred to as ‘place – product – packaging.’ The fast-food centers having many locations which mainly appear to be the subject of the book are the consequence of a planning of programmatic design, internal decoration, standardized services and products sold and their regimented routines of operation. This phenomenon manifests the consumer independence in the United States on products that are branded. Well, it is important to note however, that the interstate system expansion after the 1956 Federal Highway Act both nourished the new opportunity for entrepreneurs of the restaurant business and the automobile age in general.

Jakle and Sculle suggest that, the contemporary fast-food restaurants had precedents which can be reminisced by those that are old enough. Most of these joints began in the ‘downtowns’ of the United States. Luncheonettes, Soda fountains, diners, cafeterias and lunchrooms have somehow disappeared along with the said downtowns. The authors of this book have done a magnificent job in describing the metamorphosis of the eateries into the establishment of fast-food chains.  There was an overwhelming upsurge of fast-food joints that emerged from these eateries. It is quite thrilling to see how ideas connect in this book and what actually necessitated the establishment of these eateries that have turned out to be a very important characteristic of the American landscape and the society at large.

It has actually taken three chapters of this book to have a clear picture of how the hamburgers have progressed. There are other chapters about sandwich, breakfast, chicken, ice cream, pizza, seafood and taco joints that follow having both similarities and singularities. This is a scholarly book which has utilized both primary and secondary sources in coming up with succinct information about the title of the book. They have used primary source to pass across information as they say, “When we traveled in New England in 1948, I discovered Howard Johnson’s ‘Coffee Shops’ with their orange roofs and turquoise trim” (5). The authors have also quoted other authors in affirming their opinions.  

The authors trace ice cream in areas back to movable stands that would motor over the gates of factories during lunchtime, fans of football coming from a sunny stadium and schools letting out. These movable stands led to the emergence of Diary Queens. Franchising is a common feature amongst these eateries as highlighted by authors. All the same, the fist fast-food joints and their expansion were occasioned through local investors. Through this book, the reader gets to know the obligations and services needed for this agreement in franchising.

Jakle and Sculle have a classification called the ‘concept restaurant.’ Actually, not every other roadside restaurant was about quick service. Some other restaurants have moved upscale to form the “destination restaurant.” However, some fast-food joints that serve the Americans-on-the go existed by the time the book was published in 2002 even though they are not covered in this book. Again, sports bar are not covered which in essence are very common in the concourses of airport which is a very recent kind of the roadside. Actually, there is an overlap that is realized between concourses and roadsides, with the former having more vending machines and snacks. The vending machines of the Airport are a fascinating throwback to the automats of previous years. Generally, the book is actually a success, taken on its own terms. I really liked it because of the way it assembles more information with a very well annotated bibliography. Its content and structure surpasses other titles on this topic that have been worked on in the past. 

 

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