Essay on Local Food vs Globalization

McDonald’s is the global foodservice business with more than 20,000 local restaurants serving more than 30 million customers each day. McDonald’s has spread through over 100 countries, including countries in East Asia (Watson, 3). In the book “Golden Arches East: McDonald’s in East Asia” by James L. Watson, he studied three countries which were Beijing, Seoul, and Japan. Also, he wrote how McDonald’s has played a role in each countries cultures that he mentioned. He mentioned how different countries McDonald’s share similarities and differences the way cultures were impacted economically and politically, and also, how people viewed the American cultures coming to their countries. In this essay, I’ll be writing about how McDonald’s has been

Food is used in different circumstances in life represents a culture, but can also reflect one's personality, lifestyle, and socio-economic

Significant eatery networks, McDonald's noticeable among them, work outlets around the globe. Garments brands and styles cross seas and national limits effortlessly. This procedure has met resistance from individuals and gatherings, (for example, the global Moderate Sustenance development that promoters against society's inordinate liberality in fast food and ways of life) resolved to keep up conventional

Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser, is a stark and unrelenting look into the fast food industry that has ingrained itself in not only American culture, but in culture around the world. There is almost no place on earth that the golden arches has not entered. Aside from Antarctica, there is a McDonalds on every continent, and the number of countries that have fast food restaurants is growing on a daily basis. Schlosser describes in detail what happens behind the scenes, before the hamburger and fries come wrapped in environmentally safe paper and are consumed by millions of people daily

Sociocultural factors influence and restrict consumption ideas, needs, desires and purchase behavior. People from different countries and different regions have different life patterns and different sociocultures. These differences directly influence the products that industries want to produce because people may even have different attitudes and value toward the same product due to different sociocultural factors. With the rapid development of modern society and the continuous improvement of living standards, the degree of attention paid to health has increased. “Franchise businesses continue to pay close attention to their customers' need for convenience, new flavors and, yes,

So with the introduction of a foreign symbol into a host country like a new McDonald’s restaurant, the impact is not so dramatic and the host country does not fully take in the American culture but shapes it in a way to suit their lifestyle and tastes. For example, the food and names of the food at McDonald’s in Tokyo is slightly different to those in America. In India, it serves lamb burgers and in Germany beer is available. This shows that the American formula was not as international as had been hoped, and local cultural practices had to be acknowledged.

The story of the fast food industry and its effect on the world is well told in the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. Schlosser makes the claim that, what started out as a special treat for the kids eventually ended up defining a way of life. During a brief period of time, the fast food industry has helped transform not only the American diet, but also our countryside, economy, workforce, and popular culture. The book thoroughly describes how important the two factors of money and power are in today's society. The book clearly establishes the broader thesis that as consumers, we should know what we eat even if it makes us uncomfortable by the knowledge.

The segment of the general environment that ranks the highest between the global and socio-cultural considerations is the socio-cultural. The reason being that McDonald’s represents a very strong aspect of the American culture and a major part of the American culture is the food industry. The food industry, in terms of American food consists of a good old- fashioned hamburger, French Fries, and soda and McDonald’s mastered this concept of American food to perfection. On the other hand the global segment especially in

In contemporary American society, the issue of fast food is a contentious one since the fast food culture significantly underlies the country’s obesity crisis. The obesity problem is not as a result of Americans’ lack of self-control, but, it is the toxic food environment; the numerous strops of fast food restaurants along roadways, as well as the barrage of pizza and burger advertising on media. The first thing that comes to mind at the thought of fast food is oily, greasy, and unhealthy food, yet most Americans consume fast food on a frequent basis. According to Murray (33) there are over three hundred thousand different fast food restaurants in America, the renowned ones being Burger King, Popeye’s, Subway, McDonalds, Wendy’s, and so forth.

“By participating in a meal, we participate in a moment, an experience, a sliver of life." (Horton, 2012). When people think about a certain culture, they initially think of the food associated with it. Food is a part of a culture’s identity, and because of that, it is a part of the individual’s identity as well. For example, the US is associated with hamburgers, Italy with pasta, and Mexico with tacos. This cultural association to the food we eat helps us to figure out who we are. Over time, food has become more of a spiritual act, rather than one of survival. We eat food for the feelings it elicits and the experiences it gives us. In a way, we really are what we eat.

Eric Schlosser is one of the authors who describes the fast food phenomenon in his book Fast Food Nation. According to him, the biggest problem is the fast food industry that is increasing day by day. Fast food has affected not only the restaurants and the market, but also all the sectors of people's life, from the professional life to the personal one. This affirmation is sustained by Schlosser's statement: "Fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American society. " ( Schlosser 3 ) The fast food industry has got into institutions and parts of the world that no one believed would be affected. Moreover, the power of fast food can be seen by taking a look at the American individual, who gives fast food different

The New York Times bestseller Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal is one of the most riveting books to come out about fast food restaurants to date (Schlosser, 2004). Fast food consumption has become a way of life for many in the United States as well as many other countries in the world. The author Eric Schlosser an investigative reporter whose impeccable researching and bold interviewing captures the true essence of the immense impact that fast food restaurants are having in America (2004). Beginning with McDonald’s, the first fast food restaurant, which opened on April 15, 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois to current trends of making fast food a global realization McDonald’s has paved the way for many fast food

The fast food industry has been growing dramatically during the last few years. For this reason, we should try to find out what are the several factors why fast food consumption keeps growing among young people and adults. Therefore, as we have seen, the popularity of fast food is spreading rapidly among many people due to the following three main reasons: good taste, convenient time, and price. Personally, working for a fast food restaurant for a brief moment in my life, I can attest to this. Marketing also plays a big part to more people eating fast food. It’s in our culture in America to expect fast food companies to market and strategize their ways to make us, the consumers, to buy more food and consume more food so they can make more profit. Especially now with commercials and social media. The fast food industry has thrived in the modern era. It’s thriving so much, the industry is growing faster than the U.S economy, at

This paper will discuss the multifaceted relationships among food, and culture. I will be looking at the relationships people have with food, and explore how this relationship reveals information about them. Their food choices of individuals and groups, can reveal their ideals, likes and dislikes. Food choices tell the stories of where people have travelled and who they have met along the way.

Food is very much a part of pop culture, and the beliefs, practices, and trends in a culture affect its eating practices. Pop culture includes the ideas and objects generated by a society, including foods, and other systems, as well as the impact of these ideas and objects on society. For example, Mcdonald's is another of the thousands of fast food chains that populate our cities though they often use the term “popular culture” only to refer to media forms. Their popularity has also increased internationally. Although all humans need food to survive, people's food habits and how they obtain, prepare, and consume food, are the result of learned behaviors. Mcdonald’s, like other food chains, has made an effort to ‘localize’ its products so that they will be more successful in each different cultural context. These collective behaviors, as well as the values and attitudes they reflect, come to represent a group’s pop culture.