Fast food can be good healthy food

There are dozens of different kinds of fast foods doting the highways, byways and corners of our cities and suburban neighborhoods. Everything from burgers, chicken, pizza and hot dogs to quick Chinese meals, take out India, Mexican and almost anything else that can be slapped on a grill, cooked in a wok or fired on the stove.

The word has long been out regarding how much fat, carbs and calories these kinds of foods have in them and how bad they are for your heart and your waistline. With the world searching for a better way to eat on the go its amazing it only took about 25 years for these establishments to finally come around to providing meals that have a healthy slant to them.

Unfortunately for the general populace the satisfaction of biting into a fork full of lettuce has yet to grab hold of our taste buds the way a nice juicy cheese burger does.

MacDonald’s, Burger King, Carl’s Jr., and Wendy’s have all tried to come up with some form of health conscious menu for those of us that want something quick but don’t like the thought of swallowing loads of grease or tons of cholesterol. Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut have yet to invest much in the health craze and though all of them offer some kind of salad its not really taking the concept to heart.

Burger King does have a vegetarian garden burger that isn’t that bad but it’s never going to get a carnivore to put down his meat sandwich and try it.

In order to seize the upper hand of the fast fat free food concessions the giants of the industry need to look at how vegans and lac-to – vegetarians put together healthy food on the fly.

There are a multitude of vegetable, meatless protein and lean protein dishes that can be made at low cost and terrific taste. The key is real imagination.

Just throwing a bunch of greens in a bowl with a strip of chicken or a pile of beans isn’t using your brain and it has not been very successful at solving the riddle of how to serve good food fast and at a profit.

Any farmer will tell you its a lot cheaper all the way around to raise food from the ground than on top of it.

Incorporating various kinds of wraps that aren’t made with lard or trans fats is a start.

Now throw in some interesting greens, veggies with crunch and a selection of tangy, creamy or spicy sauces and you may have something there. Don’t be afraid of using fruits and nuts but use them carefully. To much and it will over power and ruin it.

Tofu isn’t the only thing in the vegan arsenal but it does have the wonderful distinction of being quite the impersonator. Properly cooked with the right seasoning and sauce it can taste a lot like beef, chicken or anything else you whip it up in. A firm piece well done will have the correct consistency of some of your animal protiens.

The problem most cooks have with it is they tend to under cook it and make it too soft.

If you are trying to hit the hard core meat crowd with this I doubt you’ll make a dent, but in general there are a lot of recipes that will give any protein fiend their due.

Fast food doesn’t have to be bad, it just needs to be thoughtful.