W4 On the Road, No Time to Eat

America is most definitely a “fast food nation.”  Downtown locations are on every block in major cities, and small towns are cluttered with them.  Even in a city as small as Athens, there are easily more than ten fast food “restaurants” in a two or so mile radius.  Something unique about American fast food is the road aspect of it.  Guy Fieri of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives likes to claim the locally owned holes in the wall that he goes to as road trip food, but I believe that fast food is much more synonymous with road trips.

            Each and every time my family goes on vacation to somewhere in the States, we drive the entire way, stopping only for food, gas, and six hours of sleep.  I have driven (or rode in the car, depending on my age) as far as South Dakota, Florida, Maine, Texas, among countless others; the farthest being a thirty two hour car ride to southwestern Colorado.  On interstate trips like these, fast food is crucial.  My favorite fast food story would simply be eating a greasy cheeseburger in the backseat, trying not to spill it all over the two weeks worth of luggage sitting next to me.  When trying to drive over thirty hours in the car, there was no time to stop at a local dive bar for lunch.

            Fast food, however, is something totally different overseas.  In other developed countries, it hasn’t quite caught on yet.  In Europe for example, people don’t put nearly the emphasis on McDonald’s as they do here in the States.  One reason for an under appreciation of fast food in Europe is likely the lack of the “eating food quickly” concept in their culture.  In Italy, for example, mealtime is a family ritual, which often takes up a couple of hours, nothing to be disgraced by a five minute feast of fatty meat and cheese.  The lifestyle is also totally different in places such as France.  The workday is structured as to leave time in the day for a lengthy meal.  Many employers shut down the business for three to four hours during midday to go and have a huge meal, and take a nap.  There is no “don’t have time to eat” rush feeling when the work day is so relaxed.  For whatever reason, fast food remains and in my opinion will continue to remain an American phenomenon.  While I believe the future of fast food will be healthier, due to growing trends, the concept of the five minute meal will always remain uniquely American.