Friday, January 03, 2020
Fast food first
A lively article on fast food by Addison Del Mastro tied in nicely with my Great Smith screen-side truck.
Del Mastro misses a big part of the timeline for fast food. He seems to think that fast food developed mainly as a result of American car culture, spurred by the Interstates.
Fast food and slow food developed together. If we're talking about food as a money-making business, fast food came first. Subsistence farms and feudal plantations have been around forever, but those weren't businesses. They worked on family and tribal loyalty.
Restaurants began as roadside stands serving refreshing drinks and hand-carried food for weary travelers. Restaurant = refresher.
Every culture has its own version of hand-carried food for workers and travelers: Pasties, pies, piroshki, papadzules, pemmican, Pop-tarts. (Most seem to begin with lip-smacking bilabial sounds!) The sandwich is a late and rather crude version of these self-contained edible packages.
Stand-up cafes were common near big factories and workplaces. In the vehicle era fast food vendors were often the drivers, not the drive-up window. Even now in big cities, lunch pushcarts do a good business.
So here's the screenside Smith Truck in proper usage...
Labels: 1901
¶ 2:56 PM
