Fast food (also known as Quick Service Restaurant or QSR within the industry itself) is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a packaged form for take-out/take-away. The term "fast food" was recognized in a dictionary by Merriam–Webster in 1951.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 involved in opening up a non-franchised fast food restaurant are relatively low. Restaurants with much higher sit-in ratios, where customers tend to sit and have their orders brought to them in a seemingly more upscale atmosphere, may be known in some areas as fast casual restaurants.
In areas which had access to coastal or tidal waters, 'fast food' would frequently include local shellfish or seafood, such as oysters or, as in London, eels. Often this seafood would be cooked directly on the quay or close by. development of trawler fishing in the mid nineteenth century would lead to the development of a British favourite fish and chips partly due to such activities.British fast food had considerable regional variation. Sometimes the regionality of dish became part of the culture of its respective area.The content of fast food pies has varied, with poultry (such as chickens) or wildfowl commonly being used. After World War II, turkey has been used more frequently in fast food.A particularly British form of fast food is the sandwich, popularised by John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich in 1762 when he wrapped dried meat in bread so as not to interrupt his work or his gambling (accounts vary).[7][8] The sandwich has similarities in other cuisines and cultures such as the filled baguettes popular in France. Despite its wide appeal and consumption in the UK, it is only in recent years that the sandwich in its various forms has been considered to be fast food, initially being promoted as such by niche chains such as Subway and Pret a Manger.
As well as its native forms, the UK has adopted fast food from other cultures, such as pizza (Italian), Chinese noodles, kebab, curry and various other forms of fast foods come from other parts of the Commonwealth of Nations. And further afield. In some areas imported fast food has become part of both the local, and British culture in general. More recently healthier alternatives to conventional fast food have also emerged.A 2008 study was conducted worldwide counting the number of fast food restaurants per person.The UK has claimed this title with Australia second and the United States third. England alone accounted for 25% of all fast food.
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