Fast Food: Roadside Restaurants in the Automobile Age

by John A. Jakle, Keith A. Sculle

Eating on the run has a long history in America, but it was the automobile that created a whole new category of "fast food." In the final volume of their "Gas, Food, Lodging" trilogy, John Jakle and Keith Sculle contemplate the origins, architecture, and commercial growth of fast food restaurants from White Castle to McDonald's. Illustrated with 217 maps, postcards, photographs, and drawings, Fast Food makes clear that the story of these unpretentious restaurants is the story of modern American culture. The first roadside eateries popularized once-unfamiliar foods -- hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, milkshakes, burritos -- that are now basic to the American diet. By the 1950s, drive-ins and diners had become icons of rebellion where teenagers sought freedom from adult authority. Like the gas station and the motel, the roadside restaurant is an essential part of the modern American landscape -- where intentional sameness of design "welcomes" every interstate driver.

Genres: Food

416 pages, Hardcover

First published October 12, 1999

Reviews

[Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

After a couple of chapters documenting the genesis of restaurants in general, it presents a well-researched account of the rise of fast food restaurants catering to people arriving in cars in particular. The author discusses each restaurant segment in turn, spending most of the time on hamburgers, which clearly still dominate drive-up food choices, but discusses seafood, chicken, Mexican, and other types of food as well. "Fast Food" turned out to be more academic than I had thought, but I still found it enjoyable and informative.

[This is V! · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the collection of these books , they are super informative and they have an array of images to look at . If you want to know the whole story of America’s restaurants then this is the book for you

[ASC Library]

647.95 Jak

[Liz]

i am always reading this book