Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale and with a strong priority placed on “speed of service” versus other relevant factors involved in culinary science. Fast food was originally created as a commercial strategy to accommodate the larger numbers of busy commuters, travelers and wage workers who often did not have the time to sit down at a public house or diner and wait for their meal. By making speed of service the priority, this ensured that customers with strictly limited time (a commuter stopping to procure dinner to bring home to their family, for example, or an hourly laborer on a short lunch break) were not inconvenienced by waiting for their food to be cooked on-the-spot (as is expected from a traditional “sit down” restaurant). For those with no time to spare, fast food became a multibillion-dollar industry. In 2018, the fast food industry was worth an estimated $570 billion globally.[1]
The fastest form of “fast food” consists of pre-cooked meals kept in readiness for a customer’s arrival (Boston Market rotisserie chicken, Little Caesars pizza, etc.), with waiting time reduced to mere seconds. Other fast food outlets, primarily the hamburger outlets (McDonald’s, Burger King, etc.) use mass-produced pre-prepared ingredients (bagged buns & condiments, frozen beef patties, prewashed/sliced vegetables, etc.) but take great pains to point out to the customer that the “meat and potatoes” (hamburgers and french fries) are always cooked fresh (or at least relatively recently) and assembled “to order” (like at a diner).
Although a vast variety of food can be “cooked fast”, “fast food” is a commercial term limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a packaged form for take-out/take-away.
Fast food restaurants are traditionally distinguished by their ability to serve food via a drive-through. Outlets may be stands or kiosks, which may provide no shelter or seating,[2] or fast food restaurants (also known as quick service restaurants).[citation needed] Franchise operations that are part of restaurant chains have standardized foodstuffs shipped to each restaurant from central locations.[3]
Fast food began with the first fish and chip shops in Britain in the 1860s. Drive-through restaurants were first popularized in the 1950s in the United States. The term “fast food” was recognized in a dictionary by Merriam–Webster in 1951.[citation needed]
Eating fast food has been linked to, among other things, colorectal cancer, obesity, high cholesterol, and depression.[4][5][6][7] Many fast foods tend to be high in saturated fat, sugar, salt and calories.[8]
Pizza (Italian: [ˈpittsa], Neapolitan: [ˈpittsə]) is a savory dish of Italian origin, consisting of a usually round, flattened base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (anchovies, olives, meat, etc.) baked at a high temperature, traditionally in a wood-fired oven.[1] A small pizza is sometimes called a pizzetta.
In Italy, pizza served in formal settings, such as at a restaurant, is presented unsliced and eaten with the use of a knife and fork.[2][3] In casual settings it is cut into wedges to be eaten while held in the hand.
The term pizza was first recorded in the 10th century in a Latin manuscript from the Southern Italian town of Gaeta in Lazio, on the border with Campania.[4] Modern pizza was invented in Naples, and the dish and its variants have since become popular in many countries.[5] It has become one of the most popular foods in the world and a common fast food item in Europe and North America, available at pizzerias (restaurants specializing in pizza), restaurants offering Mediterranean cuisine, and via pizza delivery.[5][6] Many companies sell ready-baked frozen pizzas to be reheated in an ordinary home oven.
The Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (lit. True Neapolitan Pizza Association) is a non-profit organization founded in 1984 with headquarters in Naples that aims to promote traditional Neapolitan pizza.[7] In 2009, upon Italy’s request, Neapolitan pizza was registered with the European Union as a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed dish,[8][9] and in 2017 the art of its making was included on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage.[10