Suggested Invention

Invention Fast Food -- Health Food The United States has become royalty of the fast food industry and there have even been books and documentaries concerning the culture. Families today are on the move constantly, whether going to work, school, sports events, meetings, or social events. Driving through the "drive-through" has become a common routine and for many, a daily ritual. Society has become a "drive-through" society for everything from banking to prescriptions to dry-cleaning. People do not like to get out of their cars unless it is absolutely necessary.

And driving up to a window to pick up food has become as much a way of life as the remote control for electronics. In the year 2000, people in the United States spent approximately $110 billion on fast food (Fast pp). Fast food is undoubtedly a multi-billion dollar industry that is only going to continue to grow as lifestyles continue to become more mobile and fewer people cook at home (Fast pp). However, during the past few years, the industry has drawn much criticism from the health conscious.

Fast food generally consists of burgers, fries, tacos, nachos, chicken, -- all of which are fried or dripping in cheese or grease. Complaints concerning typical fast food is that it contains poor nutritional value and thus contributes to obesity and that it contributes to environmental damage because of the excessive packaging (Fast pp).

Although some fast food chains have begun to offer alternative choices such as salads and fresh fruit, most people view this as simply a "tokenistic" and commercial measure rather than a genuine response to health and ecology (Fast pp). Fast food restaurants are not changing their menu out of idealism, but because today's society is consistently growing toward health conscious decisions (Fast pp).

Therefore, since society is well established as a "drive-through" society and is becoming increasingly health conscious, there seems to be a market for fast food -- "drive-through" health food.

The format would be identical to the fast food restaurants, however, instead of driving up to a menu that offers fried fish or processed burgers, the menu would offer healthy choices such as avocado/sprout sandwiches on whole wheat, vegetarian burgers, chicken salad, tuna salads, raw vegetables, variety of salad selections with healthy dressings instead of the heavy cheese dressings offered by most fast food restaurants. Packaging could be.