Fast Food: The Healthy Alternative*

Don't blame McDonald's for America's obesity problem—in fact, thank it for providing a relatively healthy alternative to the even-fattier fare of "dives and diners," which offer delicacies like the "10-Storey Challenge Burger" and 72-ounce steaks, writes Greg Beato in Reason Magazine. Despite the graver health crimes of such “greasy-spoons,” fast-food chains are the ones demonized and targeted for legal action.

While fast-food chains are called characterless and aggressive, diners are “touted as the very (sclerosed) heart” of their towns, despite “sandwiches so big they could plug the Lincoln Tunnel.”  Why, asks Beato, aren’t these places under attack? Instead of trying to regulate fast-food chains out of business, he says, we should celebrate the fact that they keep us away from "landfills of onion rings." (More fast food stories.)