What is your opinion on Fast food, Hero or undercover Devil?

[Anthony Vieira Da Cruz]

Life today is a rat race. Many feel they simply do not have the time to cook or simply have not learnt how to cook as they grew up.

Fast food restaurants are very happy to help you. My question to you is... What's you opinion about Fast food stores. Are these business's hero's or are they a huge problem for mankind?

[Nina Iordache]

Hello, everyone!

Anthony, the truth is simply that most fast food restaurants are not very healthy and I am speaking from personal experience (when I was working from 8 to 5 in an office, I had to eat during my lunch breaks ....and I had to be fast, too). Now in Romania one can still find a few places when one can eat for more or less money and enjoy more natural foods. A preferred place (and not only for me) would be the numberless Shwarmashops where for 3 US dollar one can get a shwarma sandwhich, or other such fast food sandwiches which are cooked in front of you and which contain mostly fresh ingredients: all types of salads and such. Sauces are a personal preference thing and they may make all the difference when deciding to eat more or less natural. We even have a more expensive (not much more) version for Shwarma lovers: Spring Time Restaurants, full of different and tasty salads, shwarma and other chicken or lamb based dishes.

Having said that, sometimes I would simply grab a hot small cheese/meat/apple/pumpkin pie (merdenea/strudel, etc in Romanian) or even a kind of Romanian pretzel (covrig) on the corner of the street where they have them fresh from the oven and the smell is well, enchanting ...

Otherwise, a well stocked lunch box: home made sandwiches, salads, fruit, yoghurts, is always a better choice than going to Mac or other such.

Any other opinions?

[Renny Bakke Amundsen]

Hi folks and thanks Anthony for bringing up the subject. I'm a Slow Food fan and came over their organisation in Oslo, Norway last year. A fan first of all because I believes in recognizing the importance of pleasure connected to food. We should learn to enjoy the vast range of recipes and flavours, recognize the variety of places and people growing and producing food. We should respect the rhythms of the seasons and conviviality.
Some facts that emphasise this subject too: Today, we rely on very few crop species for human nutrition - less than 30 plants provide 95% of the world’s nutrition. In the past century, 300 000 plant species have become extinct. Since the beginning of the twentieth century America has lost 93% of its agricultural products, Europe almost 85%.

You can read more about my meeting with Slow Food in Oslo on my blog: http://www.terella.no/2007/06/12/how-about-lazy-summer-day-with-slo...

[Angelique Frew]

I think there are differences between resturants. Fast food joints are in a separate category & I feel that yes you get food hot, tasty & fast but @what cost to your health? Very questionable whether you will be buying foods that will not harm you & seeing how frequent people hang around these places is quite frightening. You could whip up something similar @ home for half the price after all thats why they are there.To make money!!!!!!!!!