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First of all, there are many types of food available in the modern world. However, these types of food can conveniently be divided into vegetables, fruits, or meats. In the same manner that we can divide food into three broad categories, we can also divide the methods that they are cooked or prepared. Foods can be eaten raw, boiled, pickled or roasted over some sort of fire. These methods of preparation of food fall on a time spectrum of immediate, almost immediate, and slow.
First, immediate foods include fast foods, such as hotdogs, hamburgers, and fried chicken. The reason these foods are called fast foods is because they are prepared by restaurants that prepare the foods in advance. Examples of hamburger places include McDonald’s, Wendys, and Burger King. In New York City, hotdogs are immediately available from vendors on the street. There are numerous fast food chicken places including Kentucky Fried Chicken and Brown’s Chicken. These types of food are usually not that nutritious and have been linked to obesity. People on diets should consider not eating at fast food establishments. The main advantage of this sort of food is that there are no dishes, pots, pans, spoons, and knives to clean up after the meal.
Next, prepared foods are usually cooked in the home kitchen. Frequently, if there is to be a Barbeque (BBQ), the man will go outside and do that portion of the meal. In the kitchen, there are a variety of food types and modes of preparation. Families usually eat a balanced meal that consists of the major food groups: meat, dairy, vegetable, and starch or grain. Chicken can be fried or baked in the oven. Steaks are usually broiled or cooked in butter on a pan. Fish can be oven baked, fried, or done in a skillet. Vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, and so forth can be either cooked or served raw. Strict vegetarians usually avoid milk and meat products, though some eat chicken and fish. Most people have eggs for breakfast, which can be boiled, fried, scrambled, or even poached. This category of medium time food requires clean up and set up of the utensils, such as pots, cups, pans, skillets, and other serving items.
Finally, slowly prepared foods can include turkey at Thanksgiving, which usually takes 4 to 6 hours. In addition, some people like to slowly smoke meat or fish, a process which can take weeks, if necessary. Pickling and canning vegetables, fruits, or even meats can store foods for a long time and take, even months for the process to be finished. Another example of a slow food includes yogurt and cheese, which takes days or months to complete. If wine and coffee beans are considered food, they also take time to cure in order to be ready to consume.
In conclusion, while there are a bewildering variety of foods, they fall into either fast, medium, or slow in their preparation times. Fast food includes the junk food category prevalent at drive in restaurants. Medium time foods usually include the cooking done in the home kitchen. Slow foods include special meals such as goose at Christmas, or pickling, canning, or smoking of foods or other means of curing. Each type of food requires different degrees of preparation and clean up.
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