Zaid
Bugshan
English
191
12/15/2013
(Especially between Saudi
Arabia and USA)
Consuming fast foods has become an
obsession and a trend that is not about to be phased out anytime soon. Available
data indicate that one out of every four Americans buy food from a fast food
restaurant every day. Families hardly prepare traditional family meals since
most of them have resorted to foods ordered from fast food joints.
In light of these new global lifestyles,
business ventures have taken advantage of this obsession aiming to make mega
profits of fast foods. Fast food chains haven spread across the world. From
Europe to America, to Asia, Africa and the Middle East, fast food restaurants
dot the skylines of many cities and towns. Brand names like McDonalds, KFC,
Burger King, Pizza hut among others have become a common sight not only in
America but in other countries as well. According to statistics, the famous
fast food restaurant McDonalds has over 30,000 branches spread in six
continents (John). This
paper will examine the fast food craze in America and Saudi Arabia with special
focus on the reasons for fast food consumption, the effects, the solutions, and
the benefits of the same on the population of these two countries.
Fast foods refer to foods that are
prepared for fast consumption in restaurants. These foods are normally high calorie
and sugary foods like French fries, crisps, fried chicken, meat burgers and
sandwiches among others. These foods hardly contain healthy options like green
vegetables, fruit or whole grain. More so, fast foods are high in fat, salt and
processed ingredients. It is rare if not impossible to find organic foods
served in fast food restaurants because raw organic products are more expensive
than processed raw products. Most people prefer fast foods to homemade foods
because the former is cheaper and sweeter. A recent poll indicates that
McDonalds alone feeds over 46 million Americans every day. The trend also
features in school restaurants. Schools serve junk food to students with no
provision for green leafy vegetables, yoghurt, whole grain and fruits. The
society is exposed to junk food from childhood making it hard to shed the habit
of calling in for pizza or having a burger, chips and soda as the standard
lunch time meal (Michael).
The fast food vogue has also caught up
with citizens from the Middle East and especially Saudi Arabia. Unlike the past
years when the only food you could find in Saudi was hot, flavored, spicy
traditional Arab cuisine, fast food restaurants now dominate the market.
Burgers and French fries have gradually taken over the menu that previously
contained meats, vegetables, rice, wheat, and spices. Soda has become a viable
option for tea, which is the local favorite drink of the residents (Robin).
The American brands feature highly in towns in Saudi Arabia. In fact,
the local market has adapted the fast food concept so that they design their
traditional foods to resemble American fast food menus. For example, the
‘Al-Balik’ is the Arab adaptation of the Kentucky Fried Chicken. The ‘Al-Balik’
is deep fried chicken and shrimp, an obviously unhealthy version of
traditionally prepared chicken. More so, there is the ‘Shawerma Joha’ and the ‘Kudu’,
which is the Arab adaptation of the American Subway (Saxton). However, the fast foods in Saudi Arabia contain less
processed foods than those served in American restaurants. People in Saudi
Arabia also consume a Burger with a serving of a healthy vegetable. This is
different from America when menus hardly contain a serving of anything fresh
and organic. The Arab version of fast foods is also spicier and more flavored
than the American equivalent.
The rate at which people consume fast foods
across the world is evidently alarming. Statistics shows that in every ten people,
seven consume fast food. This situation is being experienced from across the
world. As a result, many people at a risk of contacting maladies connected to
the use of fast foods on a regular basis. It is therefore, important to try and
find out the reasons why many people continue to consume fast foods despite the
fact that there are many health concerns associated with them (Schlosser).
People in the current world are said to
work longer hours than ever before. There is a great demand for performance and
delivery in the job area. As a result, most of the employees in the job sector
have very little time left to go home and make food. This makes fast food the
easiest and most convenient solution for most of these workers. Statistics show
that most of employees in the job industry do not have enough time to cook
healthy food at home. In Saudi Arabia, there has been a boom in the economy.
Such has brought about more jobs and less rest for the workers. Therefore, most
of the citizens especially the youth end up consuming fast foods instead of
having well-cooked meals (Thorner).
Fast food in the past has been seen as a
luxury by many. This is because fast food is associated with high-end
restaurants where food is expensive. It means that persons from the middle and
low class could not afford having fast food as they lacked the finances needed
to purchase them. The above mentality has changed radically in the current
world. According to research, there are more jobs across the world especially
in the Middle East. These jobs have brought about new money. Therefore, more
people can now afford fast foods than ever before (Walker).
Consuming fast foods and visiting joints
such as McDonalds comes with prestige, status and class. The importance tinged
to these high-level joints keeps attracting the young people to such places. As
a result, the level of fast food consumers in the world has continued to skyrocket
due to the perceived class and status brought about by the joints for fast
foods. It is therefore evident that fast foods are not taken because people
love them for their nutrition and sweetness but rather, the food is consumed
for class and status (Walker).
Due to the high number of fast food
consumers in the world, there has been a boom in the business. Today, there are
more fast food joints across the world than ever before. Given this figures,
the cost of fast food has drastically reduced as many more companies come in to
make a large profit from the business (Thorner).
Therefore, the stiff and cutthroat competition by fast food companies has lead
to the reduction of fast food prices. As a result, more people can afford the
food and thus the level of consumption has continued to rise across the world.
Marketing of products in the world has
taken a new twist. Today, it easy to convince an audience or a group of people
to consume goods than it has been before. This has been made possible by the
high tech and sophisticated modes of advertising and marketing goods.
Advertising fast food in such avenues has attracted more consumers due to the
savory and mouth watering details in the advertisements. It is therefore,
expected that fast foods shall continue to attract more people if the
advertisements are not curtailed (Schlosser).
Fast foods affect Americans and Saudi Arabian’s
in adverse ways. Studies indicate that less than forty percent of all Americans
are of normal and healthy weight. The remaining sixty percent are either
overweight or obese. The unhealthy lifestyle adapted by Americans has led to
the increase in diabetes among the citizens. Further research indicates that
diabetes causes more preventable deaths than cigarette and alcohol combined.
This trend is not limited to adults but it also affects children and
adolescents.
More so, the level of highly processed
foods in the fast foods cause a variety of cancers including, breast, prostate
and colon cancers. Foods like chicken that are sold in fast food restaurants
are usually injected with hormones like estrogen to make them fat. These
hormones also aid them in growing fast than the usual maturity period. Since
animals have a high retention rate, the hormones are ingested directly into the
body of the consumer. Artificial hormones are not limited to animal alone.
Technology has enabled farmers to grow plants under artificially induced
conditions. Moreover, the pesticides and chemicals applied on the plants find
their way into the bodies of consumers, causing health problems. Ingesting
these hormones into the body causes hormonal imbalance, a condition that manifests
itself in different ways for example, low fertility and reproductive rates (Saxton).
The statistics are not any different
from Saudi Arabia although the number of diabetics, obese and overweight people
is definitely lower. However, the complications of lifestyle diseases resulting
from eating unhealthy fast -foods are catching up fast in Saudi Arabia. This is
because the younger generation strongly favors fast foods as opposed to
authentic Arab cuisine. Younger people are registering high rates of hypertension,
previously a disease of the old and weakened. More so, more young and
middle-aged people suffer from asthma and hormonal imbalance related diseases (Robin). The web of unhealthy eating has
entangled the children in Saudi Arabia, predisposing them to obesity and
diabetes.
The trend of the fast food is growing
too fast these days, this trend of fast food seen everywhere in the world. One
can easily get a fast food meal for only 6 to 7 dollars. People prefer fast food because they consider
that fast food makes their life easy and uncomplicated. It is also beneficial
for the parents as well, because if both the parents are working they can
easily get a fast food meal for their children. The three reasons they are
beneficial and are growing too fast is that they are low in cost, they give
fast service and the outlets of fast foods are available almost everywhere.
These benefits are seen in countries like Saudi Arabia and America as well.
(Jayleen, 2012)
The problem biggest problems of fast foods are that they lead the human
being to obesity. Fast food can give harm to the health in both long term and
short term. The fast food content has a high level of fat in them which leads
to high level of cholesterol level. The food with high calorie content with
high level of sugar can lead to obesity. Obesity is a big problem now days in
this modern era and in the young generation. To overcome this problem the
government can keep a check and balance on the fast food about what kind of
food they are providing and give them warnings and put on fines on them if they
are proving food that is injurious for health. The schools can come up with
programs that will aware the children about the problem of obesity and its side
effects on health. Mostly in Saudi Arabia and America this problem is
increasing day by day. In the last the fast food can provide a menu which is
heath and full of vegetarian food. (Mercola, 2013)
Fast foods consumption is a trend all
over the world. The old, middle-aged and the young all consume fast foods at
alarming rates. And it trends is increasing day by day. The only reason behind
this is that people do not have time to go home and cook for themselves due to
their busy and hectic routine. People consider this service to be fast, cheap in
price and also easy available. Citizens
of Saudi Arabia have picked up the fast food obsession. This is because of
western influence and the willingness of American brand names to invest in the
Saudi Arabian Market. This coupled with changing lifestyle preferences and a
high economic power has affected the eating styles of both children and adults
in the Arab country. The effects of eating fast foods are felt all over the
world. America has become an ‘overweight’ and grossly ‘obese’ country. Saudi
Arabia is under threat of the same invasion of lifestyle diseases. Meanwhile,
the fast food business is vibrant and the players in the food industry continue
to reap huge returns from their easy to prepare, easy to eat and even easier to
kill foods. So it is necessary to aware the people about the side effects fast
food or junk food can cause on health especially in our young generation. The
role the government can play in this is that I ban every TV advertisement
related to fast food and schools can conduct different seminars and programs
for the awareness of the side effects of fast food.
Works cited
John, Jakle. Fast food
: roadside restaurants in the automobile age . St. Cloud State University
MC Main Collection - Basement : Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University
Press, 2008.
Michael, Jacobson. The
fast-food guide : what's good, what's bad, and how to tell the difference . St.
Cloud State University MC Main Collection - Basement : New York : Workman Pub,
2009.
Robin, Leidner. Fast
food, fast talk : service work and the routinization of everyday life . California
Press: Berkeley : University of California Press, c1993., 2007.
Saxton, Freymann. Fast
food/slow food : the cultural economy of the global food system. Lanham, MD
: Altamira Press, 2006.
Schlosser, Eric. Fast
food nation : the dark side of the
all-American meal . New York: New York, NY : Harper Perennial, 2005.
Thorner, Marvin Edward. Convenience
and fast food handbook. St. Cloud State University MC Main Collection -
Basement : Westport, Conn., AVI Pub. Co., 2008.
Walker, Bynum Caroline. Fast
food, stock cars, and rock 'n' roll : place and space in American pop culture .
California: Lanham, Md. : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2008.
Jayleen. (2012, April 7). Studymode. Retrieved from
http://www.studymode.com/essays/Benefits-Of-Fast-Food-Restaurants-996568.html
Mercola,
D. ( 2013, August 24). Mercola. Retrieved from
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/08/24/fast-food-fat-profits.aspx
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