DB—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 19,1981
Fast food generation
Do you ever get the feeling that
the fast food industry is trying to
replace the family dinner table?
That its ultimate goal is to com
pletely take over the feeding of
America’s people?
It hasn’t happened yet, but given
enough time and the current trend,,
there’s little doubt that mom’s
cooking will be replaced by some
fast food creation in a plastic box
complete with napkins, salt and
pepper, a packet of ketchup
everything but the Alka Seltzer.
I can see the time when
youngsters will grow up not
knowing the joys of good home
cooking, and instead of bragging
about their mother’s cooking they
will debate the merits of the
various fast food outlets.
Fast food restaurants are very
perceptive when it comes to un
derstanding the American mind.
They study the trends of working
mothers, school kids and busy
families that lack the time and the
motivation to gather around the
dinner table two or three times a
day. And so they offer in foil and
plastic a variety of food items
ranging from your basic ham
burger to make-believe spare ribs.
There’s hardly a food entree that
some fast food organization hasn’t
at least experimented with to see if
it can be sold in a ready-to-go
Farm
Talk
Jerry Webb
package.
While hamburgers and
cheeseburgers are still number
one and number two, it’s in
teresting to note that number three
and number four are a ham and
cheese sandwich and a plain ham
sandwich. Then there are all of
those other combinations like
Canadian bacon, beef steak,
chicken, fish, sizzle chops, and on
and on.
What was once a simple ham
burger and french fry business has
turned into a 24 hour a day
operation providing all your daily
needs from a cup of coffee to a full
dinner. And it’s still ready in a
hurry and packaged to go.
I remember quite vividly my
first visit to a McDonalds. That
was back in the late 1950 s in
Missouri and I was attending a
wedding in the state capitol.
Following a rehearsal, we went out
for a quick bite and someone
directed us to McDonalds.
There it was, looking like a
procelam gas station, with big
yellow arches holding it up. As I
recall, hamburgers were about 15
cents and french fries were a dime
and they were made from real
potatoes right on the premises. It
wasn’t home cooking but it was
quick and cheap, and it met a
nr'ntiouai need ....
habit.
Now those fast food restaurants
are everywhere, springing up like
gas stations at busy intersections,
touting their products on television
and in the newspapers and offering
all kinds of incentives including
games, special glasses, cash
prizes, comic books, and trick or
treat coupons.
It’s interesting to note that the
generic name that is applied to
these places has been and probably
always will be fast food
restaurants. I suppose that
designation excuses a multitide of
sms, including too much grease,
not enough flavor, and more
wrapping than content.
I’ve often though at the con
clusion of one of those gastronomic
experiences that if possible I might
be better off to eat the packaging
and throw the food away. There
would be more of it and it might
even taste better.
It’s not that I’m against fast food
restaurants; they clearly have a
place. But when I realize that
somewhere in the future they may
be the only place to eat, I get
concerned.
When the current generation
grows up on McDonalds and
Burger Kings and Roy Rogers and
all of those others, and only oc
casionally gets the rare treat of a
PETERSHEIM'S STORE
RDI Christiana, PA
1 mi. East of Nickel Mines
Hours; Mon -Fn. 7-8: Sat. 7-6
home cooked meal, what will
another generation do? Will our
society become populated with
people who won’t realize that beef
also comes in roasts and steaks?
Or that a whole „ham properly
prepared and served with the right
additions is much tastier and more
nutritious ■ than a ham sandwich
and fries.
’’M ...uid
And will the job of eating home
cooked foods with all of their ethnic
and regional variations be
replaced by the corporate ham
burger, reconstituted and frozen
french fries and a shake that
contains no dairy products?
Despite a recent study! that
USDA announces CCC
WASHINGTON, D.C. -
Beginning Jan. 1, the interest rate
on Commodity Credit Corporation
loans will be set at the rate
charged CCC by the U.S. Treasury
during the month that the loan is
issued, according to Secretary of
Agriculture John R. Block.
Loans disbursed since April 1,
1981, and which have interest rates
subject to change, will have their
interest rates adjusted Jan. 1.
These loans, which currently have
at a» a
TRUCKLOAD jjlfcT .
of citrus
FRUIT
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FROM
FLORIDA
SHRIMP &
OYSTERS
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• Helps hold the line on home
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PHONE (716) 343-5411
interest rate change
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supports the nutritional merits of
fast food, I still hope for the con
tinuation of home cooking. I hope
that children boys and girls
will still learn to cook and that a
fast food dinner will be the ex
ception rather than the rule
reserved for - the occasional time
when nobody in the family has
time to cook.
Maybe I long for a simpler time
a bygone day with family
gathered around a dinner table
piled high with the best of
agriculture’s abundance.
Somehow I just can’t picture that
table loaded up with, today’s fast
food cardboard containers and foil
wrappers.
a 14.5 percent interest rate, will be
adjusted to the interest rate
charged CCC by the Treasury in
January. Previously, CCC interest
rates were set semi-annually ow
April land Oct. 1.
The interest rate paid by CCC
has declined from a peak of 16.75
percent in October to 13,625 per
cent mis month. Farmers should
benefit from this downward trend
in interest rates, Block said.
Only
s sB9°°
IC.
*1