Fast Food

Fast Food of AmericaHave you ever enjoyed a hamburger,sitting on a lawn? May be you re against all these hot dogs and cheeseburgers,because it s a junk food. Anyway, it is always interesting to find outsomething about the origin and history of such trifles, which make our lifemore comfortable.They really make life more pleasant, especially outdoors,don t they?Pop-CornIt s impossible to imagine Americantake-away food or snacks without popcorn. Clear as a day, it is made from corn.But what about the first part of the word pop . Actually, when you put akernel of corn on a fire, the water inside makes the corn explode.

This makes a pop noise. That is why we call it popcorn. It s an interesting thing to knowthat not all corn pops. A seed of corn must contain 14 water in it. Otherkinds of corn have less waters and do not pop. The American Indians, who poppedcorn a long time ago, knew that special sort. They introduced corn to the firstsettlers.In 1620 when Pilgrims had a Thanksgiving dinner they invited theIndians, who brought popcorn with them. Since that time Americans continued topop corn at home. But in 1945 a new machine was invented that changed thehistory of the product. The electric machineenabled to pop corn outside the home. And soon movies started selling popcornto make more money.

The famous American habit of eating popcorn at the moviesis well-known. Many people like to put salt or melted butter in their popcorn,some preper to have it without.Either way Americans love their popcorn.

The Hot DogThe original name of the hot dog wasthe frankfurter, after the German city of Frankfurt. In the United Statesfrankfurters, sausages on buns, were first sold in the 1860s. But for Americansthe name dachshund sausage seemed to be a good one for the frankfurter. Inactual fact, a dachshund is a dog from Germany with a very long body and shortlegs.Dachshund sausages first became popular in New-York especially atbaseball games, where they were sold by men keeping them warm in hot watertanks.

The men walked up and down the rows of people and yelled Get your hot dachshundsausages here! And in 1906 the newspaper cartoonist Tad Dorgan saw the menwith the dachshund sausages and got an idea for a cartoon he drew a bun with adachshund inside not a sausage but a dog. The cartoonist didn t know how tospell the word dachshund and under the picture he just wrote Get your hotdogs! The cartoon was a sensation as well as the name. If you go to a baseballgame today, you can still see sellers walking around with hot water tanks andyelling, Get your hot dogs here! Get your hot dogs here! The HamburgerAn obligatory item on the list offast food, the hamburger has no connection to ham, but with the German town ofHamburg, which was famous for its ground steak.

German immigrants to the UnitedStates introduced the hamburger steak . At the St. Louis World s Fair in 1904,hamburger steaks were served on buns for the first time. It was convenient andtasty and became a usual way of eating hamburgers.

But how did the hamburgers becomethe most popular, most typical American food? The introduction of the bun isthe important part of the answer. Another important part, due to whichhamburgers have become well-known and favourite all around the world isMcDonald s, the fast food restaurant.The first restaurant was opened in SanBernadino, California, in 1949 and hamburgers were the main item on its menu,as well as the hamburger remains the main item in all McDonald s restaurantstoday.

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola The world famousfresh drink Coca-Cola first was an all-purpose medicine, made in 1886 by adruggist from Atlanta, who made a brown syrup by mixing coca leaves and colanuts. The syrup wasn t a success and then another druggist, Jacobs, had an ideaof selling Coca-Cola as a soda fountain drink. He mixed the syrup with sodawater.Soon everyone was going to soda fountains and asking for Coca-Cola. Animmigrant from Ireland, Asa Candler bought the recipe of the drink and havingregistered the company, became its father in 1892. In 1899 the first bottlingfactory was opened.

The shaped bottle, as we know it today was invented in 1916to protect the trademark. And again the World War II helped to make Coca-Colapopular outside America, when the Coca-Cola Company sent bottles of the drinkto US soldiers fighting in Europe.It became so popular with the soldiers thatthe US Army asked the company to start ten factories in Europe.

It s a curiousthing but of 1903 coca leaves were no longer used in the drink. The exactingredients and the quantities are not known the Coca-Cola Company keeps itsrecipe a secret.