Anthropology of Food

Essay

Fast food, slow food, organic food

BA Hospitality Management

Keywords

:

food, fast food, McDonalds, health, advertising, slow food, organic food

The fast food industry had an incredible upswing in the last 40 years. The upswing in

the sixties and seventies was a milestone in the history of the industry. This upswing

leads to an incredible increasing number of Fast Food chains and outlets in the whole

world. Vignali (2001) argues that the key to the international success of Fast Food

chains were mainly he franchise-system. By franchising to local people, the delivery

and interpretation of what might be seen as US brand culture are automatically

translated by the local people in terms of both product and service. It could be argued

that the increased consumption leads to the economical upswing. A number of authors

(Ritzer 1999, Pine 2002, Solomon 2006) argue that the growth of consumption can be

explained by a number of key factors, including:

1. The economy

2. The growth of the youth market

3. Technological change

4. Social change

5. The mass media

6. Facilitating means

7. Globalisation

A fitting sample for the development of the fast food industry is McDonalds.

"McDonald′s is one of only a handful of brands that command instant recognition in

virtually every country of the world. McDonald′s began with one restaurant in the US in

1955 and today there are more than 26,500 restaurants in over 119 countries, serving

around 39 million people every day - making McDonald′s by far the largest food service

company in the world." (McDonalds statement UK)1

Vignali (2001) argues that the concept of `think local, act global′ became a very often

used business phrase of the twentieths century and increasingly topical when looking at

globalisation. The concept of `glocalisation′ could be applied to McDonald′s. On the on

hand the aim of McDonald′s is to create a standardised set of item on theirs menus that

tastes the same in Japan, Italy or even America. On the other hand they try to think local

and adapted the original menu to meet customer needs in different countries. Teriyaki

burgers are sold in Japan, in Germany, beer is sold and in Italy they sell espresso and

2

cold pasta. Other examples are McSpaghetti in the Philippines and McLaks (salmon

sandwich) in Norway. (Vignali 2001)

Many have tried to follow in the global branding footsteps of McDonald′s or Coca-

Cola. "Many companies have assumed that, in addition to standardising products, they

could also standardise their advertising program and so enjoy vast economies of scale.

But though the game was standardisation, in reality few successful global brands were

fully standardised. The wish for global brands was in the mind of the producer, not in

the mind of the consumer."

"Consumers don′t care if the brand is global, and they increasingly prefer local

brands, or what they perceive as local brands"

(Marieke de Mooij, 2001,

Cseh, L., personal communication, 01.11.07)

If we think about Fast Food, we think of hamburger, French fries, McDonald, Burger

King and KFC. But Fast Food is a lot more than just a few words.

There are many definitions for fast food one of them have been defined by Bender and

Bender (1995) as a "general term used for a limited menu of foods that lend themselves

to production-line techniques; suppliers tend to specialize in products such as

hamburgers, pizzas, chicken, or sandwiches".

Fast Food is often connected with high in calories, fat, saturated fat, sugar, and salt.

Experts at the Medical Research Council found most fast food is very dense in calories -

you only need a small amount to bump up your calorific intake.

They found that these "energy dense" foods can fool people into consuming more

calories than the body needs. The researchers concluded that "a diet high in fast foods

will increase a person′s risk of weight gain and obesity - even though they may feel that

they are eating no more than they would if they ate an average meal." (BBC News,

2003)2

In recent decades, rapid changes in the health status of children and adults have

occurred in most developed countries. An increase in prevalence of several chronic

diseases, such as obesity and degenerative pathologies affects all age groups. These

diseases are strongly associated with food intake and food choices.

(Bellisle 2003)

Obesity is a major issue around the world, and as more and more people put on excess

weight it is a problem that is only likely to get worse.

3