Let’s talk about fast food — and I bet you have a jingle in your head right now, because according to a new book, on any given day in America, an estimated one third of all American adults is eating something at a fast food restaurant. But fast food doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone everywhere. For some, owning a franchise has been a path to wealth, but fast food restaurants are hyper-concentrated in some of the country’s lowest-income and most segregated areas. And according to the Centers for Disease Control, African Americans are more likely to eat fast food than any other racial group in America — which is why fast food is also seen as the culprit for the high rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease among black people. So how did that happen? And is fast food the hero or the villain in black America? In her new book Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America , history professor Marcia Chatelain traces what she calls the hidden history of the relationships between the
The Y'allywood Reporter
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