The multinational fast food chain restaurants have taken over our everyday lives almost like robots from an alien planet. They have such extreme control over our lives- where we go, what we do, what we eat, and how we lead our lives- that it is indeed surprising!
A few decades earlier, the words like McDonald’s, KFC, and Pizza hut knew no foothold in the Indian scenario, but today they are one of the largest stakeholders in the race to control the middle class Indian lifestyle.
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The influence of such companies on our lives is monumental, not just by controlling our food habits, but by letting us into the ultimate capitalist fantasy- brand fetishism.
While it is true that fast food restaurants can be both fancy and otherwise- one cannot possibly shake off the potential health hazards eating out at unreliable and unhygienic places carry along with them.
Also, it is obviously undeniable that fast food restaurants inevitably save us a lot of time amidst our extremely busy lifestyles.
But, on the other side, it is also true that fast food restaurants are installing an artificial mode of living life in every household by proving to be great substitutes of home cooked food.
Causes
Today’s lives and lifestyles are very tiring and hectic, and not a single soul can possibly deny that. This is the main reason for the increasing popularity of fast food restaurants.
It is always easier to call a helpline up and get a delicious order of fancy food delivered at your doorstep for a minimal price than to prepare that meal on one’s own after a busy day at the office. Therefore, such restaurants bank on our exhaustion, and cash in our laziness.
These are their main reasons for success over such a formidably tiny span of time. Also, fast food restaurants help us break the everyday routine and provide an innovative solution for the boredom of our taste buds. It is very much true that we cannot taste the same dishes day after day and not get bored by this monotonous nature of consumption.
Even if the food tastes good and is prepared in a hygienic way, it is bound to bore us after some days. This is human nature, after all, and there is obviously nothing wrong about this.
Therefore, every now and then, we need to invite in that additional spice and zest which fast foods aim to supply us with.
The real problem arises when we cannot keep track of the aforementioned ‘now and then’, and this consumption pattern unintentionally turns into a regular- weekly, or maybe even daily- thing. Another fact to be kept in mind here is that people can now afford to live such a life.
While referring to people, I obviously imply the common middle class Indians. Since buying items from such fast food restaurants on a frequent basis is not a problem to many due to any sort of financial constraints, their rise is again unstopped and uncontrollable.
Fast food restaurants are very convenient as well. They have been strategically set up at locations one would need them the most, for example, near large offices or educational institutions where the demand for cheap, good food is really commendable. Now, as we know, something we are more often exposed to is bound to create a more indelible impact in our minds.
Therefore, if I pass by a Pizza Hut outlet every other day, it is always somewhere at the back of my mind, and we always estimate the chance of visiting that outlet one day or the other, which eventually leads me to buying food from Pizza Hut.
This sort of strategic location ensures that fast food restaurants- big or small- also exploit the convenience factor.
Additionally, fast food restaurants offer a very wide variety of food items across several types of cuisines, ingredients, and styles, and therefore, keep us on our toes by letting us experience various tastes, as and when we want to do so. Good service and amicable stuff also contribute to their popularity.
Effects
Simply put, fast food restaurants make us lazier and let us pass through with the mindset that there can be always some kind of service we can purchase with money in order to replace our very own human efforts.
This sort of a mindset is very detrimental for the building of one’s self worth and image.
A lot of fast food is never good for our health. This happens because they contain an excessive amount of calories, unsaturated fats, and they are also alarmingly high in their sugar content (especially items like aerated drinks, etc.). Such food items are also high is sodium content, which too is harmful to human health in an excess.
If such elements are consumed without putting a check on, the consumers are in high risk of several dangerous diseases, for example- obesity, heart diseases (caused mostly due to excess cholesterol), diabetes, hypertension, and even cancer.
Such a pattern of consumption also replaces the domestic chore of preparing food and poses a serious threat to household helps who also serves as cooks.
One also loses energy and succumbs to fatigue as fast food is almost never healthy. Subway, which is a chain of sandwiches and salads claim to be one of the healthiest fast food options, but even these sandwiches are laden with unsaturated fats and calories in the form of cheese, meat options, and sauces.
Therefore, even the healthiest (or at least, claimed to be) option of fast food can contain preservatives which might harm one’s bodily systems. This slows down one’s metabolism and upsets the chances of living a lifestyle with a balanced diet.
Often, we feel satisfied after feeling up on pizzas and burgers, but we shall be surprised to realise soon afterwards that food items in fact provide us with no energy value at all. Also, hygiene becomes a very important issue while eating at such places.
If the food is not prepared in a clean, healthy way, and if the ingredients are not fresh and safe, some serious diseases might be caused, especially those are water-borne or are caused by contamination by insects.
All such things are the effects of consuming fast foods, which inevitable stem from the growing popularity of fast food restaurant chains.
Conclusion
As the old saying goes, nothing is good in excess. The same also applies to the fate of fast food restaurants and their consumers. It is obvious that we cannot live without this mode of food items, through ordering in or eating out.
However, the least that we can do is try to control how much we are eating from such places and in turn, how much we are contributing to the ever increasing popularity of fast food restaurants.
Such restaurants offer tasty, cheap options for all ages and therefore are bound to be popular in every social setting and circumstance.
Even in spite of this, their monopoly over our lives requires to be curbed, because not a lot of good comes out of the same. Therefore, we should all try to put a check on the expansion of any type of fast food outlets, owing to the health hazards they might be responsible for.
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