ancient Rome

Today, you cannot walk outside without seeing a McDonald’ s, a Burger King, a KFC, or some other fast food joint. Hundreds of these fast food restaurants open every day around the world, and it is a big "fat" business. In the United States alone, it is a 110 billion dollar business annually, but today’s mega corporations that run these fast food chains don’ t have the character that fast food locales had in years past.
      The first fast food stands appeared in ancient Rome. The Romans enjoyed this quickly prepared food, and it consisted mainly of bread and wine. In Asia, ancient fast food was served up at noodle stands. And in India, potato pancakes have been prepared and eaten by pedestrians for hundreds and hundreds of years.
      In general, these ancient fast food corners prepared their regions’ comfort food in a healthy manner. Those days are over, though. Today’ s giant corporations are serving high calorie, high fat and highly processed food that is directly linked to heart disease and many other minor illnesses. Today, countries are waging war against fast food. The Malaysian government has banned fast food advertisements during children’s TV programmes. In the US, an area of Los Angeles, California, has banned the building of more fast food chains for a period of time. This district wants to educate parents and consumers in this area about the problems with a fast food diet. This is not an easy task. Fast food is convenient, and generally it tastes very good. Old habits die hard!