Slow Food Movement

According to an article, the food industry has been trying to move the public away from the term "fast food"over the past 5 years, shifting the term to "quick service restaurant" or "fast casual restaurants". Within the US, fast food restaurants have been losing market share to so-called fast casual restaurants, which offer somewhat better and more expensive foods. In 2002, the McDonald's Corporation posted its first quaterly loss. Because they rely on monoculture, on foodstuffs purchased on global commondity markets and on its displacement of local eating habits, for that reason, the fast-food industry is seen by many as destroying local styles of cuisine.

For these reasons and more, the Slow Food Movement trend has taken its place in the food industry, and it seeks to preserve local cuisines and ingredients, also, it directly opposes laws and habits that favours fast-food choices. Although, fast-food restaurants are often seen as a mark of modern technological culture, slow food movement strives to educate consumers' palates to prefer the richer and more varied local tastes of fresh ingredients harvested in season with a standard of nutrition balance.

For some cultures, such as Asian culture or Asian restaurants, the term "fast-food" is rather deveiving when applied to Asian restaurants. While it is fitting to describe the restaurants as fast-service, the same does not apply to customers. Among cinemas and shopping arcades, people are just as likely to sit down and socialize (over a cup of tea, soup or other food) as they are to grab a bag and take off. With French, they generally do not go to fast-food restaurants for quick meals, but often buy take-away food from bakeries. French food culture is fairly sophisticated, leading to some outright hostility against typical fast-food restaurants.