CAT #4

In the article "Let Them Eat Fat" Greg Crister talks about how fast food restaurants are convenient, for the fact that they are cheap and quick. He also talks about how fast food places are also very unhealthy. "The total caloric content of the meal has been jacked up from 680 calories to more than 1,340 calories." The author is talking about a meal from McDonald's and says how that is more than a teenager's recommended calorie consumption. Another thing he states in the article is that fast food places have grown a lot in poor-inner-city communities.

I believe that fast food places have a major effect on poor communities. "It was the poor, and their increasing need for cheap meals consumed outside the home that fueled the development." I agree with this statement from the article because as we seen on the slides in class, the majority of fast food restaurants are all around poor communities. It is rare and hard to find a grocery store, but every block or two has different kinds of fast food places. That fact that fast food places are affordable are the cause of numerous restaurants in these areas of low income. It makes sense because you would not put an expensive restaurant in a poor community for different reasons. If the people of the community can not afford to eat there, the place would most likely always be dead and make no money. This will eventually cause the restaurant to go out of business. By adding fast food places around the low income areas, the people are being satisfied.

 Firstly, they can afford to eat there. Places like McDonald's and Wendy's for example have menus where things cost only a dollar. It also supplies jobs, a place where young people can work to make ends meet, save some money up or help out to provide for themselves and their families. The article says "one of every four hamburgers sold by the good folks at McDonald's, for example is now purchased by inner city consumers." This quote shows how these places are a good source for a job.Being that it is a fast food place, people can quickly have something to eat, especially if they were working all day and do not have time to cook or too are tired. They can quickly get something from these fast food places. "At my local McDonald's, located in a lower middle income area of Pasadena, California... goes into high gear at above 5 p.m.when the various urban caballeros .. get off work and head for a quick bite." This is probably because its a more convenient way for them to have a meal and its also faster.

Fast food places developed to help poor communities and is still increasing. It all has to mainly do with the economic status of the area. Unfortunately, because these places are also very unhealthy for you but the people in these areas probably do not focus on that, being that it is providing their needs to eat and their content. Low income communities would probably struggle more just to eat and feed their family if it was not for these fast food places. They are easily available every where, and the majority of them being in poor communities. Therefore, the placement of fast food restaurants has a majority effect on the community its in.