Food Choice is circumstantial

While thinking about fast food culture and reading these articles, I couldn't help but think about how Americanized this phenomenon is. In the times I've left America to visit family in Trinidad, I've noticed that one of the key components that makes fast food so accessible here isn't present over there; in Trinidad, the price of fast food is so expensive that it almost seems like a delicacy. A couple of sandwiches and soft drinks that would barely cost $10 in the U.S. cost almost $100 in Trinidad. Granted, the prices for everything in Trinidad are incredibly inflated compared to how things are in America, but it still lead to most of my relatives opting to cook for themselves more often than not, as well as eating with the family. I also thought it was important to note that even geography and transportation play a part in the consumption of fast food. In an urban setting with accessible public transport (like NYC for example) it's easy to get to fast food places, whereas where my grandmother lives in Trinidad, it can take over an hour to reach an area with fast food.

Even the lifestyles are different between Trinidad and the U.S. In the U.S., which allow fast food to be more consumable over here in the states. In the U.S., we put pressure on people to be independent, as a single mother explained in the 2006 Devine article (page 2596). Like many people in her situation, she may feel like the only provider for her family, and that it is a better option to feed her family cheap, unhealthy foods than to not be able feed them at all. In Trinidad, there's a lot more codependency. Many of my grandparents' children come by to visit and cook for them. Some of their children even still live with them as it's normal, which makes things financially easier for them, and allows them to more easily prepare food and have healthier meals.