In today’s society, fast food is becoming ever more popular, in spite of growing amount of research about its known health risks. All human beings, like all animals, need food in order to survive; in this way, we are all similar. However, the choices that people make with regards to their diet makes them unique from one another. Although home cooked food and fast food are both tasty and satisfying to eat, they differ greatly in terms of convenience and nutritional value.
One of the most attractive things about fast food is its convenience. A person can walk into a fast food store, or take their car through a drive through fast food outlet and, within five minutes they can have their hot, strong tasting meal ready for them to eat. As a nation, people are generally more busy today than ever before, at least in terms of the speed of their lives. As people are constantly rushing around from one place to another, it makes sense that fast food would be more popular. People who work long hours may not find time to cook a proper meal at home, whereas they can visit a fast food store easily between their other tasks of the day. Furthermore, fast food is convenient as there are so many outlets. Where ever a person is, they usually aren’t far from a fast food restaurant or drive through. Conversely, home cooked food takes time to prepare. Cooking a meal from scratch can be time consuming, as can the shopping for ingredients before the actual cooking commences. Also, some ingredients may not be available in one shop and several shops may need to be visited in order to gather all the required ingredients. This, of course, adds to the time taken to prepare the home cooked meal. Unless a person employs a personal chef in their home, preparing a meal at home is not as convenient as fast food (Myers).
A similarity between home cooked food and fast food is that, depending on the individual’s preferences, both can taste very nice and can be satisfying to eat. However, scientists have revealed that the high sugar and salt content in fast food can actually be addictive for consumers (BBC News). In fact, although there have been drives all over the country to eradicate unhealthy food from schools, children are still sneaking out at lunch times and purchasing meals from fast food outlets (Walden). Although home cooked food can taste good, it is unlikely to be physically addictive in the same way. For people addicted to fast food, the fast food will be more appealing and they will want to eat it more and more. However, arguably, anything that is addictive can be viewed as negative. Addiction can take away peoples’ choices about what they want to eat and this could be seen as an unfair strategy on behalf of the fast food companies. Nevertheless, both types of food have satisfying tastes in common.
A frequently used argument in favour of fast food is that it is cheap; cheaper, some say, than buying the ingredients for a home cooked meal and preparing it themselves. However, as Bill Myers points out in his article, “The Convenience of Fast Food,” Americans “spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos and recorded music - combined.” So, while one fast food meal may not look expensive, it seems that people are spending huge amounts of money on it over a period of time. Furthermore, it is possible that, while ingredients cost money originally, they can often be used for several meals, bringing down the cost per meal.
Perhaps one of the most major differences between home cooked food and fast food is their potential for nutritional value. As the infoplease website says, “most fast food contains too many calories, salt and artery-clogging cholesterol to eat every day, or even once a week.” When a person purchases a fast food meal, they often do not know what is contained within it. A home cooked meal, on the other hand, is entirely within the control of the cook. Therefore, it is likely that a home cooked meal will contain far less salt, sugar and fats, and will be much healthier over all.
Fast food and home cooked food both have positives and negatives. They can both be tasty and satisfying to eat but the similarities after this are limited. Fast food is less nutritious and healthy than home cooked food, but it is also much more convenient in terms of preparation time and, in turn, clearing away and washing up time. Although more people are becoming aware of the negative health effects of fast food, the industry still seems to be booming. This trend is likely to continue as people are encouraged to work more hours and rush around every day in order to run their lives.
Works Cited
BBC News. “Fast Food as Addictive as Heroine.” 30 Jan 2003. Web. 24 Jan 2012.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2707143.stm
Inforplease. “Fat and Calorie Content of Fast Food vs. a Home Cooked Meal.” 2011. Web. 24 Jan 2012. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0934642.html
Myers, B. “The Convenience of Fast Food.” Bill Myers Online. 2012. Web. 24 Jan 2012.
http://www.bmyers.com/public/1109.cfm
Walden, S. “Fast Food Fight.” The Daily Sentinel. Jan 24 2012. Web. 24 Jan 2012.
http://thedailysentinel.com/news/education/article_215a8444-46e7-11e1-9eb8-
001871e3ce6c.html
