National Fast Food Day

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By Diane Forrest,

I have always been somewhat directionally challenged.  I frequently get lost, even with the aid of a GPS.  When my family first moved to this town I would have a hard time finding my way around.  My father had a solution to my dilemma.  He would provide me with locations that included all the food places, such as turn left at McDonalds, keep going straight til you see Kentucky Fried Chicken, the go right at the next light.  While I may have had problems finding streets, I could always find the places to eat.

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My husband ate alot of fast food.  In fact he would rather me just run down the road and pick up something instead of me standing over the stove cooking something.  I'm sure that was no reflection on my cooking skills, he was probably just tired of hearing the smoke detector going off.  We always had our special favorite items at each place.  Some nights I would have to go to 3 different places to get dinner, but luckily they were all close together.  I would go to Dairy Queen for the milkshakes or ice cream, then Burger King for the hamburgers, and then run to McDonalds for the French fries.  Every day I would go to Sonic for a large sprite with vanilla added, that was his favorite.  I would also make trips to Wendy's for the chili and baked potatoes, Pizza hut for the pizza and KFC for the pot pies.  There was also the occasional late night trips to Taco Bell for a taco salad and empanadas’.  When he had teeth problems he would only eat chicken noodle soup from Subway or get fried pickles from the Dairy Bar down the road.

Fast food has been around for a long time.  The concept of ready-cooked food for sale is closely connected with urban development.  In Ancient Rome there were stands that sold bread and wine.

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The first fast food restaurant in America was White Castle, which opened in Wichita, Kansas in September 1921 at the end of WW1.  They were the first hamburger chain and sold hamburgers for 5 cents each.  The United States has the largest fast food industry in the world, and American fast food restaurants are located in over 100 countries. Approximately 2 million U.S. workers are employed in the areas of food preparation and food servicing including fast food in the USA.

Today is National Fast Food Day, and there is a long list of choices for you to pick from to celebrate this day, so forget about packing your lunch today and head out for a burger, fries and a shake...or anything else that tempts your taste buds.

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