Random Thoughts on Random Words - Day 6 Fast Food

A young man got off a bus at a busy bus depot of a town in the state of Karnataka, India. He rushed to look for a place to eat. He was told that there was  a bus leaving for his native place in the next half hour. Therefore, his mission was to eat fast, return as fast as possible to not only be able to catch the bus but also to get a window seat in the front so that his journey would be comfortable.  He had gone a little distance when he noticed an eating place that seemed to be run by a woman in her fifties. 

Our Hero immediately went up to her and asked "Amma, can you serve me meals in ten minutes? I have to catch my bus.It is urgent! 

The lady replied "Son, you please go elsewhere. There is no food available here for a person like you"   

The youth was surprised. "But why ? his eyes seemed to ask as he looked up at her for an explanation. 

The lady continued " I have put in hours of effort to prepare these meals with love. I don't want anyone gulping down my food hastily without savouring each morsel and  providing delight to their taste buds..."  

Of course such a food related philosophy,  may not be  be appreciated today by people accustomed to fast food and are dependent on it to cater to  three out of four meals they eat in a day. What then is this fast food? what is its lure, that youngsters simply love it so much and seem unable to live without it ?  Fast food can be understood as  tasty food made available fast - precooked meals kept in readiness for a customer's arrival. Here, priority is placed on the speed of service. It started in the west basically as a take away service . One could drive in, pick up the food immediately, eat in the car or drive away. It was envisaged for customers who do not have the time to sit down in a restaurant and wait for their meal. 

The history of fast food goes a fairly long way back to the UK ( first started in 1860 offering fish and chips) and the US. However  in India  fast food became popular only in the late 90s  when Mc Donald's first arrived in  the country in 1996. I remember that it was not fashionable to visit a restaurant even in a  prominent town like Ernakulam in Kerala in the sixties and seventies. It was those poor guys who were either  bachelors or ones whose family was not residing with them,  who went to restaurants as they had no alternative. It was only when I came to a big city like Madras in 1975  that I observed people visiting restaurants as a family for a pleasurable outing/visit. I am discussing a little bit of history here to underscore the fact that people mostly ate home cooked  nutritious food in earlier times.   

Fast food is popular because the food is inexpensive, convenient, and tastes good. While the hotel proprietors of earlier times tried to save as much money as possible  using the minimum basic requirements of oil and other ingredients, today the hotelier in urban India has a different clientele who can afford to pay more. Therefore, the  main aim of restaurants is to get the palate of  their  customers hooked to ensure that  they come back again and again. This means throwing in a lot more oil, salt or sugar than is required so as to  trigger the pleasure centers in the customer's  brains, making them feel oh-so-yummy-good and wanting to keep eating. Once in Chennai, I spoke to the proprietor of a hotel and showed him how oil was literally flowing down from the upuma I had ordered. I told him naively that he could save a lot of money if less oil was used and as a customer my health could also be protected. 

The fact is with the opening up of the economy and  more of FDI coming into the country, pricing has ceased to be  a big factor. . Our youngsters had  begun  to earn handsome salaries that their parents managed to get only after long years of service. Today, rather than money, what is important is the taste of food, convenience and fast service. It is a fact though that high consumption of  fast food has thrown up grave  concerns as well.  Fast food is   known to be associated with many life style diseases like cardiovascular disease, colorectal cancer, obesity, high cholesterol, conditions of insulin resistance and depression. I had written a  poem  titled " One Little Question"  on 28th September 2015, exhorting  our  youngsters to exercise caution and be wary of  the  obsession for  junk food.  ( https://rajeevianlinesandverses.blogspot.com/2015/09/one-little-question.html )

When we ape the US,we should also be aware that America over the years is experiencing big challenges. Today,  half of their monthly food budgets are being spent by American families on restaurants. ( as against 38% in 1977). The fast food eaten is high in calories but low in nutrients  which is the reason they are also called junk foods. The youth have a soft corner for potato chips, chocolates/candy and soft drinks. Obesity is increasing steadily amongst the general population and in children in particular. America's health care system is also expected to be adversely affected by this unhealthy trend. 

Presently the entire world is connected by the internet and people  are influenced by  lifestyles of one another. What is popular tends to be replicated all over the world. Therefore it may not be practical to expect people  to give up fast food all together. Further, fast food  also has its advantages that we have discussed. What we need to do is to create awareness about the need to go in for healthy choices within fast food options. Awareness programs need to be massive and ongoing, particularly targeting schools and colleges. After all, smoking which was prevalent in a big way in earlier times, has lost a lot of its charm for young people,

The outlets should be encouraged to promote fruits and vegetables  and use food stuffs containing more fiber in their products. Countries like Israel, Norway, Singapore, Australia have healthier lifestyles in terms of diet-  rich in vegetables, fish and unsaturated fat. If we have to copy others, let us copy what is good and desirable. Perhaps, with suitable modifications, fast food will lose its junk food tag and turn out to be not only tasty but healthy as well!   

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