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Amber Grijalva

Mr. O'Meara

Adv Freshman English

29 November 2018

Globalization of Fast Food

The globalization of fast food must stop .The world is quickly becoming a fast food

nation. Nowadays fast food is becoming popular amongst everyone in the world, including less

developed countries. Corporations need to reduce the globalization of fast food because it causes

a lack of diversity in culture and it is unhealthy. Thanks to globalization a terrifying loss of

culture is occuring. Places are beginning to look the same and there is no uniqueness around the

world . In “China's Big Mac Attack” it states, “...every tenth building seems to sport a giant neon

sign advertising American Wares.... American food chains and beverages are everywhere in

central Beijing: Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Haagen-Dazs, Dunkin' Donuts,

Baskin-Robbins, Pepsi, TCBY, Pizza Hut, and of course McDonald's”(Watson 120). This quote

refers to Mcdonalds, which, as many know,is one of the biggest and fastest growing restaurants

in the world. Anywhere around the world one will surely expect to encounter a Mcdonalds

because surprisingly, about five McDonalds are built everyday. Fast food is slowly replacing

countries cultural dishes.Before, in China, travelers could expect to see mainly cultural dishes

but now, they can expect to see fast food restaurants like KFC, Burger king and even Jack in the

box. In the same article it states, “The cultural message we transmit through...Mcdonalds goes

out across the world to capture and also undermine other societies...unlike traditional conquerors

we are not content to merely subdue others but we insist on making them be like us” (Watson out
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across the world to capture and also undermine other societies...unlike traditional conquerors we

are not content to merely subdue others but we insist on making them be like us (Watson,120)”.

This quote was very meaningful because I feel like it is very true. For some reason everyone

wants to be equal and exactly the same as others when being different is what makes us who we

are. Diversity is what makes the world an interesting place because if we were all the same the

world would be a boring place. Many amazing cultures will be lost like folk culture along with

ancient cultures. Culture is crucial because it acknowledges who we are and where we came

from and that's something to be proud of. The food that came from our origin or what we eat is

what makes who we are. Whether we are Mexican, Indian, Chinese or African we should

continue with our roots and the food our cultures eat and not the same as everybody else. If we

were to go around the world we should be able to taste the food a culture has and see how they

differ from ours. Globalization of fast food also needs to stop because it is severely affecting the

health of the world. The article,“The influence of market deregulation on fast food consumption

and body mass index: a cross-national time series analysis “ states, “In the last decades, there

have been substantial increases in mean body weight in wealthy countries such changes

accomplished dramatic transitions in people's dietary patterns most notably an increase in the

consumption of ultra processed foods, including fast food…”(De Volgi, 99). As more and more

fast food restaurants are being created everyday more and more are eating it whether it's

Americans have such high obesity rates is because of all the fast food they have at their

disposal to eat. Obesity is a very bad thing that is very common around the world nowadays due

to the increased consumption of fast food. Obesity means excess weight, this can lead to deadly

illnesses such as diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and many more. Life expectancy
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is dropping a lot and it is closely tied to all these condition occurring because of the globalization

of fast food. In earlier years people use to have a higher life expectancy but as time passed its

started to drop due to bad eating habits. This is pretty sad, especially for the young people

because if we keep eating like this we might only get to live a few more years. In conclusion the

globalization of fast food needs to be stopped because culture is being lost and people's health is

severely being affected. The whole world must try to slow down this globalization of fast food

because if it is not stopped, the human population will end up a Fast Food Nation.