Fast Food vs Fresh Food in America

Inside Look Into America

There seems to be quite a bit of readers and writers from outside America on read.cash. This gave me an idea: I live in America so I can write about topics and debates currently happening here that foreigners are not aware of. An insider perspective is valuable because it gives people insight they would otherwise not have.

For my first article in the “Inside Look Into America” series, I chose the topic of food. Specifically, I’ll write about a debate that’s been happening in America for years now. Is it more affordable to buy fast food (McDonalds, Burger King, etc.) or fresh food to cook at home? One argument in this debate supports the idea that people believe it's cheaper to buy fast food, and this is resulting in many overweight and obese people because fast food is very high in calories and low in nutritional content. This article will explore whether fast food is more affordable than fresh food in America.

Since my primary audience is people born and raised in countries outside of America, I’ll begin by explaining what American fast food is.

What is Fast Food in America?

Fast food gets its name from a simple idea: a person goes to a restaurant, orders his/her food, and the food is ready in just a few minutes or faster. One example is I go to the drivethrough speaker, order my food, pay at the first window, and when I get to the second window the food is ready. This process usually takes less than a minute or two if it's not busy. That's fast.

I'm sure most people outside of America have heard of the biggest fast food restaurants: McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, KFC, and many more. Here in America, the quality of fast food is usually very bad. The food is over-salted, greasy, high in calories, low in nutrition, and the dessert options make things much worse. There are many items single items, like milkshakes or burgers, that are as high as one thousand calories {insert link}. Most people, unless you are a professional athlete or do something to burn a lot of calories, don't need these many calories from food in one meal.

Now that you know what American fast food is let's look at fresh food options.

Fresh Food

Fresh food are items such as rice, beans, vegetables, nuts, fruits, and fresh meat. When a person cooks fresh food, they are eating food that is much lower in calories than fast food and it's full of nutrients that fast food doesn't have. That's a win for fresh food in two ways that fast food can never match. The only problem is you have to cook the food, and most Americans don't like doing that. To put it simply, Americans are spoiled and addicted to fast food.

There's not much else to say about fresh food, so let's compare prices.

What's More Affordable

Central to the debate of why so many Americans are overweight or obese is the argument that junk food and fast food is cheaper than buying fresh food. Let's look at some simple numbers.

How much does a Big Mac meal cost? Price may be different by state, but $5.99 is the typical price. This gets you a hamburger, medium fries, and a medium drink. There are 1080 calories in a Big Mac meal.

Six dollars for a meal does sound cheap. That's until you realize there will be no leftovers for later. A Big Mac meal is enough to eat once and that's it. You get over a thousand calories in a single meal, with very low nutrition.

How much fresh food can the same amount of money as the cost of a Big Mac buy us?

Let's buy some fresh food items. I found one pound (0.45 kilos) of black beans for $1.14. Current average price for one pound (0.45 kilos) of white rice is .80 cents. One tomato will costs less than 50 cents. And a piece of fish enough to satisfy an adult will cost around $3 (if you live in an expensive city then the fish may cost a bit more). How much do we have? A total of $5.54.

Some people may think that a 50 cent difference isn't much. But the difference isn't just monetary. You get a lot more nutrition from the $5.54 spent on fresh food than the $5.99 spent on the Big Mac meal. And unlike the Big Mac meal, you can continue eating several more times from the fresh food the $5.54 bought us. Cheaper, much more nutritious, and eating several times from a $5.54 purchase compared to eating once from a $5.99 purchase that makes a person sick and unhealthy. What would you choose?

The above example is for one person. Fast food gets much more expensive when feeding a family.

Conclusion

The problem is that people in America are addicted to junk food and fast food. The American culture of eating high calorie, high sugar, high salt, low nutritional food is a huge problem, and that is the reason why so many are overweight or obese. Some of you may not believe that a lot of Americans are overweight and obese, but I'll tell you that it's true. Not all of us of course, but too many.

The argument that promotes the idea that people buy junk or fast food because they think it's cheaper is false. Most people know fresh food is more affordable. But they would rather eat the food that satisfies their addiction. Or they don't know any better because they were never taught to cook and to make good decisions about food. And some just don't care.

I hope this article gave you insight into the obesity debate happening in America. Thank you for reading :)

P.S.

If you want to be amazed, or disgusted, or both, visit this link to see many fast food single items with over a thousand calories in America. It doesn't get any worse, or better depending on who you are, than this.

Take care of your body and your body will take care of you.