As American As Apple Pie

The truth is, though, that families in the US eat together less often than they used to. Instead of meeting at the dinner table, families often meet in the kitchen, around the refrigerator. There's no time for old-fashioned cooking. Quick snacks all through the day have taken its place. And to save trouble, people eat wherever they like, in the street, in front of the TV, or at their desks.

An enormous fast-food industry gives hungry Americans the snacks they want when they want them. Ice cream, popcorn, and hot dogs are on sale everywhere. Best known, perhaps, is the McDonald's hamburger business.

But if more and more Americans eat fast food, more and more Americans also worry about it. Fast food makes you fat, and Ameri­cans are the fattest people in the world. They are also the most interested in their health, and snack food is not healthy. The fashion for health food is growing all the time. Among middle-class people, salads, beans, and fruit have taken the place of steak and ice cream. Drinking is going down too. Only 67 percent of adults drink alcohol at all, and one-third of those drink less than they used to. Smart businesspeople order mineral water, not wine, at their business lunches.

Being fat, in fact, can cause real problems for an American. He or she will find it harder to get a good job, or even to make friends. If you want to do well, you must be thin. It doesn't seem fair, does it? Advertisers and fast-food sellers scream at people to eat, eat, eat. But inside, there is another voice saying 'stop, stop, stop.'