Fast food is the term given to many items that can be prepared and served quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, such as TV dinners, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store which is rapidly prepared and served to the customer in a packaged form for take out/take away.Outlets may be stands or kiosks, which may provide no shelter or seating, or fast food restaurants (also known as quick service restaurants). Franchise operations which are part of restaurant chains have standardized foodstuffs shipped to each restaurant from central locations.The capital requirements to start a fast-food restaurant are relatively small, particularly in areas with non-existent or poorly enforced health codes. Small, individually-owned fast-food restaurants have become common throughout the world. Fast food restaurants with higher sit-in ratios, where customers can sit and have their orders brought to them, are known as fast casual restaurants.

Zagat reviewers pick 11 top American restaurants based on food, decor, cost and service. Not one Los Angeles resto makes the list, but Cincinnati, Dallas and Milwaukee well represented.

It's called barter. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said Central American and Caribbean states could pay for oil with services or products like bananas and sugar.

Catholic charities struggle to fulfill growing demand for services. Skyrocketing fuel and food costs are putting the financial squeeze on even the most economically stable American families this Christmas season, but for working poor families, the squeeze is more like a stranglehold.

For an industry paying lip service to the ideals of stamping out E. coli, the consumer beef industry will once again be cowing to criticism after yet another E. coli recall surfaced over the weekend. The American Foods Group has voluntarily recalled 96,000 pounds of ground meat after reports that two people were sickened.

Between 2002 and 2006 the number of clients receiving food service programs increased 60% and request for temporary shelter have increased 24%! Other key findings of the report show 45% of Catholic Charities' clients were either under 18-years old or over 65.