Do you know when the fast food industry was born and where? And how about its spread all over the world?

By watching the following videos and reading the information on the web pages, you will know something more about the world of fast food: where it was born, the main fast food brands in Europe, as well as the spread of this type of restaurant in our continent and in your countries.

• A very interesting explanation of the fast food industry comes from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q3qwnTLGrc&t=264s
• Webpage where you can find very useful information about the main fast food restaurants in Europe, also broken down by countries https://europetravelerguide.com/home/home/traveling-in-europe/sleep-eat/fast-food-in-europe/
• How the fast food production have spread all over the world and in your own countries? Let it knows by watching these videos about the power of the advertising in promoting fast food consumption, especially among children: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0MK_OUbKHw and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a021-mXrS-c

Wow… that’s incredible isn’t it? The world of fast food is not something that has existed for ages, since it is the result of very recent decisions and precise factors, such as advertising.

But is this type of food healthy and friendly to the body?

Mmmmh, maybe not.. find it out by consulting these documents, videos and links:

• Is JUNK FOOD Really BAD For You? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOusNCEXFZw
• How to tackle with the childhood obesity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsZlTe_4LTU
• 10 Reasons You Shouldn’t Eat Junk food! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ2q_JGzWqk
• Fast Food – Is it the Enemy? https://www.obesityaction.org/resources/fast-food-is-it-the-enemy/

As you can see, fast food is something that you should handle with care to preserve your body from very negative health consequences.

But the production of this type of food can also have a very serious impact on the environment due to the huge amount of plastic and waste that the fast food industry produces every single day.

Furthermore, the ingredients used by this type of industry affect the environment and the lives of animals due to the gas emissions produced, and the conditions in which the animals are raised.

Check out these links and videos to get an idea of the kind of environmental consequences fast food production generates:

• How Fast Foods Are Changing The World and Our Environment! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYL1WJXnXy0
• Top 10 Reasons WHY McDonald’s is so CHEAP! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u0Jxj8JDDk (from min. 2.00 to min. 9.05)
• Recycling Fast Food Waste. Some fast food chains cut waste voluntarily, but tougher regulation is needed https://www.treehugger.com/slow-progress-recycling-fast-food-waste-1204147
• The Startling Reality of Food Waste in Restaurants https://moveforhunger.org/startling-reality-food-waste-restaurants

Yes, it is true… the fast food industry is a very dangerous sector!!

But there are many choices you can make not to be complicit in this system by adopting alternatives to fast food.

The first step is to know what types of foods are healthier than fast foods and what habits you can adopt to follow a very healthy and green diet.

Finally, it is very important to be able to recognize restaurants, cafes, etc. respectful of the environment and health.

Let’s have a look at these links… maybe they could be very very interesting…

• The food piramid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KbA8pFW3tg
• Healthy Food Vs Junk Food Song! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE8lezHs19s
• Healthy Eating Habits For Kids | Learn Good Habits & Avoid Junk Food https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZp6Ntomljc
• A very interesting example of Tackling food waste and obesity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFHH7saikp0

Well done! You are now aware of the main fast food industry impacts!

The next step is to create a campaign to share your knowledge with all your schoolmates, to try to make this world more sustainable by raising people’s awareness.

Perhaps it could be useful to design a poster containing all the findings about the topics you went through during your research:

• What is the fast food industry
• When and where it was born
• How it have spread all around the world and in Europe
• What are the main impact of the fast food production on the human health
• What are the main impacts of the fast food production on the environment
• Alternatives of the fast food production. What you can do to stop the spread of this kind of industry.

   

  Once created, you can hang the poster in the corridor or the main hall of your school to reach as many people as possible, including students and their parents!