Fast food is the term given to many foods 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.

New York orders fast-food chains to list calorie counts on menu items

The best way to lose weight fast is NOT low fat foods. Low fat foods have been popular for more than 15 years, yet our society is getting more overweight as each year passes. This fact alone should tell you that eating a purely low fat menu is not the answer to losing weight.

The issue came up during a recent interview with Steve Easterbrook, the UK CEO for the McDonald's franchise. He talked about the measures they had taken to "slim down" their menu in the light of growing concern of childhood obesity, which is typically considered to be the fault of the fast food industry. QUoting Easterbrook's statement on this...

I visited six local fast food restaurants and ordered a burger off of their value menu using the drive-thru. The only stipulation for this taste testing was that each burger needed to be priced $1.00 or less.

Hardee's Comes Through Again Bucking the trend of adding marginally healthier menu items (see below), Hardee's recently reintroduced the heart-stopping "Phlly Cheese Steak Thickburger". Yes, it's exactly what the name says. It has 930 calories, 63g fat, and 1750mg sodium....