#fast-food

#fast-food

Picture this: It's late. You're tired. You're hungry. You open up a delivery app, choose your go-to menu items from your favorite fast-food chain, and hit order. You sit back, relax, and your food arrives in less than 20 minutes. (Fun fact: Research suggests people start losing their patience with waiting for a food delivery at around 29 minutes.) But not only is your food delivered quickly, it's also hot and tasty, making you a satisfied customer.

But McDonald's Filet-O-Fish is also a wildly popular fast food item with a colorful origin story. Created out of a necessity for the meatless Fridays of Lent, the Filet-O-Fish got its start as a part of a cooking competition in the 1960s. The Filet-O-Fish beat out a fruit-centric pineapple pattied Hula burger, and quickly became an instant hit with Lent-observing Christians.

One day at lunchtime, my dad was driving home from playing tennis with some friends and felt an unusual sensation - hunger. A McDonald's just north of our town had opened up several years before, but no one in our family had ever stopped there. Now, as he saw the restaurant's giant yellow M glinting in the sun ahead of him, Daddy felt a strangely powerful urge to stop.

The hamburger may bear the name of some distant German city, but the food is as American as it comes. Though the idea of a meat patty served with bread took shape in various cultures over the centuries, the food we know and love today bears the unique American traits of being very meaty, easy to mass-produce, and a friend to condiments like our beloved ketchup and mayo. In fact, Americans consume an estimated 50 billion burgers each year.

Vermont is not entirely without big-name fast food places. It has 30 McDonald's locations, yet remains the only state in the U.S. without one in the capital city. There are also seven Kentucky Fried Chickens, but again, not a single one in Montpelier. The state capital is also the only one without a Starbucks, even though the coffee chain has about a dozen locations elsewhere in Vermont. As you can see, breaking into Vermont is not an easy feat.

I am not here to critique the essentials of fast food (I love it). If you want someone who will come over like the critic in Ratatouille, you're just going to have to go and rewatch Ratatouille. I am merely here to eat six festive specials, and ask myself: do I feel Christmassy, punk? Impressive' Wagamama chicken cranberry katsu curry. Photograph: Wagamama

When it comes to fast food's biggest burgers, the prices are often stacked just as high as the patties. Hikes in fast-food prices and " shrinkflation" - a phenomenon in which people say menu items get smaller while either remaining the same price or costing more - are deterring customers, and chains have released meal deals aimed at luring them back.

A spud hasn't truly lived until it's been blasted with a generous amount of melty fromage. Once it has been, it makes for a combination that's salty, savory, and downright soul-warming. Just think of all the comforting cheesy potato dishes out there, from hash brown casseroles to creamy au gratins. Cheese and potatoes show up in many forms, and for good reason.

Can you imagine a world without fast food? We'll hazard a guess, and it's probably a no. As there are roughly half a million fast food restaurants in the world, it's not surprising that most of us have grown up with fast food all around us. This means that it's hard to picture a life without drive-thru burgers and fries on tap. But it did exist, albeit quite a long time ago.

Going out for fast food can be such a satisfying treat, but doing it too often can have a serious impact on your wallet, not to mention your health. Most of us assume that we could never emulate the indulgent treats served in popular restaurants and cafes, but that is often not the case. To help you skip the drive-through queue and make your favorite fast food treats at home, we've rounded up some of the best copycat recipes that can be whipped up in your home kitchen.

Fast food fans who love a quick meal of Mexican-inspired comfort know the joy that comes from heeding Taco Bell's call to "live más." With a wide variety of standard fare and other items specific to Taco Bell's innovations, its menu adds up to quite the well-rounded selection. If you've ever wondered what might be the very best selling Taco Bell food, one disc-like handheld known as the Crunchwrap Supreme stands out above the rest.