Manypeople believe that fast food not only represents American lifestyle,but also had its origins in the United States. To some degree, thesebeliefs are understandable when one considers the significant impacton traditional cultures that the American media has had, that theterm “fast food” did not appear in the popular vocabulary until1954, the success of McDonald’s since Ray Kroc took over managementcontrol in 1955, and that the top ten global fast-food brands areUS-owned and generate sales of over US$75 billion collectively.

       However,fast food owes its existence to Europe, with a considerable history.For example, John Stow’s 1598 survey of London mentionsfast-food-like items, as does Henry Mayhew in his social history ofLondon in the 1840s and 1850s. The hamburger derived from the Balticprovinces of Russia in the Middle Ages, where various tribes ate“steak tartar.” The tribesmen from this region, or Tartars,introduced the delicacy to their German trading partners from theport of Hamburg. The Germans fried the meat and seasoned it withonions. When German immigrants arrived in the United States, theybrought this steak dish with them.

       Attributableto the United States is the standardized chain-owned fast-foodconcept, the subsequent innovations that improved the efficiency ofthese operations, and their growth through franchising from 1925.Frederick Harvey, an Englishman, is noted as the pioneer who, in1876, created the uniformity in signs, décor and furnishings, andservice staff attire that has become the hallmark of modern fast-foodretailing. These features were also apparent in the development ofthe cafeteria in the 1890s. Within the fast-food market, the originof the standardized chain is attributed to the White Castle Companyin the U.S., when Walter Anderson and Edgar Ingram opened their firststore in 1921.