for: Fast Food (video game) thumb|A typical fast food meal in the United States consists of fries and a burger (or other main item). Pictured here is a variety of items from In-N-Out Burger.

Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with low quality preparation and served to the customer in a packaged form for take-out/take-away. The term "fast food" was recognized in a dictionary by Merriam–Webster in 1951.

Outlets may be stands or kiosks, which may provide no shelter or seating, or fast food restaurants (also known as quick service restaurants). Franchise operations which are part of restaurant chains have standardized foodstuffs shipped to each restaurant from central locations.

The capital requirements involved in opening up a fast food restaurant are relatively low. Smaller, individually-owned fast food restaurants are becoming much more common throughout the world.Fact: date=December 2008 Restaurants with much higher sit-in ratios, where customers tend to sit and have their orders brought to them in a seemingly more upscale atmosphere, may be known in some areas as fast casual restaurants.

History

thumb|Pulling wheat dough into thin strands to form lamian

The concept of ready-cooked food for sale is closely connected with urban development. In Ancient Rome cities had street stands that sold bread and wine. A fixture of East Asian cities is the noodle shop. Flatbread and falafel are today ubiquitous in the Middle East. Popular Indian fast food dishes include vada pav, panipuri and dahi vada. In the French-speaking nations of West Africa, roadside stands in and around the larger cities continue to sell—as they have done for generations—a range of ready-to-eat, char-grilled meat sticks known locally as brochettes (not to be confused with the bread snack of the same name found in Europe).

Pre-modern Europe

In the cities of Roman antiquity, much of the urban population living in insulae, multi-story apartment blocks, depended on food vendors for much of their meals. In the mornings, bread soaked in wine was eaten as a quick snack and cooked vegetables and stews later in the day at a popina, a simple type of eating establishment. In the Middle Ages, large towns and major urban areas such as London and Paris supported numerous vendors that sold dishes such as pies, pasties, flans, waffles, wafers, pancakes and cooked meats. As in Roman cities during antiquity, many of these establishments catered to those who did not have means to cook their own food, particularly single households. Unlike richer town dwellers, they could often not afford to rent housing with kitchen facilities or even to buy cooking equipment. This was recognized by authorities, and in English cities like Coventry and London, price controls on meat pies were enforced. Travellers, such as pilgrims en route to a holy site, whether rich or poor, were also among the customers.