Fast Food and the "Convenience" Dilemma

While reading these articles I thought a lot about other countries and my friends and families fast food opinions as well as my own. The Italians (and French) having much more national food pride wasn't astounding but I felt like it was the reason that they wanted less to do with the fast food. This lines up with my families, friends and my own opinions about fast food as well. Obviously, in moderation FF wouldn't kill anyone and would be a fun "convenience" here and there but our society is terrible at moderation - we almost preach against it. But in a society that lacks a national pride about our health or our food (as the French and Mediterranean diet's do) fast food has become our national food "pride" which is kind of sad.

This happens slowly at first (like the article said in the 1970s FF wasn't prevalent to now when only 3% of American's say they never eat it) but eventually takes it's toll. And it goes well with the food lobbies that are lobbying for use of corn and soy additives in most foods and an overabundance of meat on our menus. The subsidies even line up with it and with it our national perception that FF is okay comes right along too. The problem here is that it's being supported by lobbyists and the government, it's being subsidized so it's even cheaper but when it comes down to it we're the ones who have to pay for the medical issues associated with food that isn't nutritious and is making people overweight. That seems like a ridiculous model of business - in the end we're basically making it easier for people to get sick.

To get off the soapbox for a minute and talk about real food like Blue Apron's meals; there were some parallels to the convenience of fast food but also some great contrasts that made the meal wonderful. The cook time was relatively short - only about an hour for each meal. And the shopping time was non-existent since it was all delivered to Prof's house. The meals incorporated some cool ingredients that might be difficult to get otherwise like saffron and organic poultry. Overall, we thought this would be a great idea for people who didn't have a lot of time or knowledge about cooking to start out with some fun recipes.