October 24, 2004

Fast Food

I saw Super Size Me (DVD, website, blog) last night.

Basic overview: Americans are hooked on fast food, and it is killing us, both corporately and individually.

I haven't been a big fan of fast food for quite some time. Fast Food Nation didn't help matters much, but my basic beef (pun intended) with fast food is that I just don't think it tastes very good.

I seem to be very much in the minority with my opinions about fast food. A large percent of the population loves the stuff. Add in the large amount of processed food found in the supermarket, and we're in big trouble here, folks.

The blame for this mess? Morgan Spurlock, director of Super Size Me points the finger at the food companies (he uses McDonalds as the prime whipping boy in the film). I think they are in line for a fair amount of the blame. The food industry counters that people choose to eat their products.

Let's look at this for a second. I see a couple of factors at play here. One is time. Most Americans just don't have time to spend cooking. I happen to really like cooking, as does my wife. But, we really only have time to make a "real" meal a few times a week. Other nights it is leftovers or a quick 'n easy meal rather than something too fancy. Fast food and processed food is attractive because, well, it's fast.

Fast food is also cheap. Eating good food is expensive. We've made the choice to spend our money on good food. That means shopping at our local organic-focused grocery store (PCC), as well as places like Whole Foods. (We also live close to the country's best farmer's market, making it easy to walk up the block and buy fresh produce.) These stores are pricey. Produce is good, but expensive. For us, it is a choice to pay for quality. We can afford to do it. Lots of folks can't. Fast food is cheap. 5000 calories for $5!

So, what can be done about this? I've been thinking about this ever since I saw the film. I don't think I have any grand solutions. But I do have a few wacky ideas.

What about an open source "fast food" restaurant? We need alternatives to the big fast food chains, and these alternatives need to be able to sell inexpensive, yet healthy food. Can a place sell good quality food? Yes, I think so. One way to compete with big food companies is to have people from around the country cooperatively come up with menu items, marketing ideas, and other aspects of restaurant design. Then local operators (franchisees--only they wouldn't have to pay a franchise fee) could take these ideas and turn them into reality. They could compete on price by lowering the overhead of having to come up with recipes and marketing pieces. And growth could be done quickly by allowing anyone who wanted to to open a location based on the open source ideas. Networks of people contributing know-how can be powerful. Open source software is one example. Even in the slightly more traditional food biz, connecting people can be powerful, as shown in Tom McMakin's book on Great Harvest bakeries.

Education is another place where change can happen. Super Size Me profiled a physical education course in Illinois that looked to be successful. Kids also need to be taught how to shop and how to cook. And schools probably need to get out of the business of serving junk food, and focus on serving healthy food to students.

I keep thinking that there must be many other ways to address this problem. Technology must have something up its sleeve, and I'm not just thinking of a magic pill. Any other ideas? Email me.