You are what you eat.

Souplad: “Fillet O Fish please”

Wide-eye-16-something-gal: “Meal?”

Souplad: “No, just the burger”

Wide-eye-16-something-gal: “Would u like to have an apple pie to go along?”

Souplad: “No.”

Wide-eye-16-something-gal: “How about drinks?”

Souplad: “No thanks”

For goodness sake. I just want that damned burger.

Souplad: “Can I have some chilli sauce?”

Wide-eye-16-something-gal: “How many?”

Souplad: “One box”

Wide-eye-16-something-gal: “Huh”

Yah.. I’m kidding. And clearly, she’s not loving it.

On a slightly more serious note, I believe fast food has manifested itself as a revolutionary force in many corners of this chaotic world, both literally and metaphorically. What we eat nowadays has somehow inevitably related to a complex interplay of social, economic and technological forces.

Given any day in Singapore, most of us --the working coolies and the impressionable teenagers patronise a fast food restaurant. On 27 October 1979 (Macdonald’s finds its way in Liat Towers, Orchard Road) fast food has begun to transform what Singaporeans eat. Besides the significant influence in our daily diet, fast food has also lays its hands on our culture, landscape, economy, workforce and our future.

Never mind the aesthetics of burgers and fries. They are of much less concern to me as I usually gobble and hardly masticate. What perturbs me is the impact fast food has on kids. I am rather serious about this as my 2-year-old-kid-nephew has started to utter “habi meul” (a.k.a. Happy Meal)

Fast-food has been aggressively marketed to kids and prepared by lads and gals who were barely older than kids. Macdonald’s is smart to target at these group of consumers, at the same time use them to market their products. I think. Particularly the kids…. I see that as an attempt by Macdonald’s to use them to “bait” their parents.

I ate quite a fair bit of fast food when I was a boy and when I am lazy. The reason why me and the rest of the folks continue to buy fast food is, these junkies taste good and they are inexpensive and pretty convenient. I think.

Everyday, countless people like me buy burgers and fries without giving it much thoughts or hoot. I will probably forget what I have said because the whole experience of buying fast-food is so transitory and routine. You hardly notice the ramifications of buying fast-foods; what creeps among those fries and lies between those buns.

i'm loving it.