“Fast Eating” Culture in Hong Kong (by Janice A.Y.)

Nowadays, more and more fast food shop can be seen in Hong Kong, McDonalds’, KFC, Triple’O, Most Burgers, etc.  Once we feel hungry, we can easily find a nearby fast food shop.  Use Wan Chai as an example, there are several McDonalds’ or KFC or Fairwood in a certain area.  In Hong Kong, fast food shop not only could provide a convenience eating way for people, but also reflects our rhythm of livelihood, that is, the fast culture in Hong Kong.  Because of the hurried living rhythm, the competition between people is very large, it seems that people would be eliminated by the society if they cannot finish their work in a certain time, including having their meals.  In addition to the fast culture, the fast food shop in Hong Kong could also reflect some of the plastic culture. 

Although the fast food shop seems to be a culture which is specific in Hong Kong, we could see that most of the fast food shop is due to the result of Americanization.  If people take a careful look at the menu of the common fast food shop, we could find a surprise result that all the common fast food shop like McDonalds’, KFC or Fairwood would include different kinds of burgers and it is found that most people prefer eating these burgers when they are in a hurried.  The burgers, not only it is cheap and can be made easily, but also it can be consumed very conveniently, it is a popular fast food.  During lunch hour, it is not a surprising phenomenon that many workers having burgers at the street.  This could also reflect that people in Hong Kong are always in a hurry. 

In addition to the fast food shop, there are other restaurants that provide “fast food” to customers.  We could see that during rush hour, there is “fast food” being sold in some restaurant, like tea restaurant.  These lunch sets are favored by people in Hong Kong.  One of the reasons to explain is that these lunch sets not only could serve to the customers in a short time, but also they are quite big in size and can satisfy most people’s desire.

Moreover, it is discovered that the containers and the tableware used by the fast food shop are mostly made by plastic.  These days, nearly all famous fast food shop have installed the “octopus device”, in which, people could buy their food not only by their cash but also by their octopus card.  By using the octopus card, buying food becomes more and more convenience, a “doo” sound could help us buy our lunch.  Imagine after using our plastic octopus card, we could buy something which is carried by plastic and we use a plastic bag to get the lunch to home.  All of them are full of plastic.  This is the phenomenon of plastic culture. 

In conclusion, although people say Hong Kong is a heaven of delicious food, I think the most important food in Hong Kong is the fast food.  The rhythm of livelihood is so fast that people have to do everything in a hurry.  Therefore, fast food culture gradually becomes a sign for Hong Kong.