FAST FOOD

By Henar Marin

In 1912 the first automat food machines appeared in cafeterias in New York. They offered prepared food behind a glass window and customers paid by inserting coins into a slot. The system already existed in Berlin and in some US cities, such as Philadelphia.

The company Horn & Hardart popularized take-away food with the slogan "Less work for Mom”.

These machines were replaced by fast food restaurants. The most famous are: Kentucky Fried Chicken, Subway, Burger King, and McDonald's.

One of the most important features of fast food is that it can be consumed 
anywhere, and it can be served on the spot, delivered at home or eaten in the street. Examples of this type of food are pizza, hamburgers, fried chicken, 
tacos, sandwiches, chips, onion rings, etc.,

Nowadays, fresh food cooked at home is increasingly being replaced by industrial food 
cooked with preservatives and additives. Eating fast food and, furthermore, having bad habits like skipping breakfast, not eating fruit and vegetables on a daily basis, drinking soft drinks instead of water and eating sweets and junk food all damage people’s health and increase the levels of obesity.

More than nine million children and teenagers aged between 6 and 19 are considered overweight and obese.

Cartoons

By Sílvia Rovirosa

The cartoons I watched when I was a child were more suitable for children than the series nowadays, such as “Family Guy”, “The Simpsons”, ...

When I was child, the morst classic movies, and the prettiest, were Disney movies, such as “Cinderella”, who was a poor girl who overcame social obstacles through love, and “Pocahontas”, a nice story about racism and nature. Other popular movies were “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Little Mermaid”; these taught us that love is the most important thing and outer beauty doesn’t matter. None of these stories were very real but they showed what children should learn about life.

When I was child, the most classic cartoon series on television were “Winnie the Pooh”, “Mickey Mouse” and “Tom and Jerry”. They were innocent, educational and specifically made for children. But nowadays the cartoons made for children are too violent and unsuitable, as in the case of “Family Guy”, because the protagonist is rude and a man who sets a bad example to his children, who have psychological problems.