Is there as much junk food in Europe as in America?

Question

We Americans have so much junk food, and fast food restaurants, and huge, greasy portions at most other restaurants it disgusts me! Our grocery stores are filled with crap that we shouldn't eat or feed our loved ones, and yet we do it anyhow. Anyways, I was wondering if this is as much a probelm in Europe.

Please only answer if you live in Europe or have stayed there before.

Answer 1

I have lived in the UK for 3 years, Spain for three years and Greece for the last two years and I can tell you that the consumption of fast food and junk food is as bad or worse as in the US.

Fast food joints in Spain are not just a meeting place. The Spaniards flock and swarm fast food restaurants as if they were fountains of youth.

The supermarket isles in Europe now are indistinguishable from American ones. All the same junk food crap is available here now too.
Lets not forget all of the pizza delivery guys on mopeds zooming all over the place in ALL cities in Europe. Telepizza in Spain, Dominoes in Greece, you name it.
Walk down the street of any European capitol and you find McDonald's and local varieties of falaffel houses and fast food, and the people in there are not just in there drinking coffee and shooting the breeze they are packed with people eating the food and lots of it.

As far as the ¨Mediterranean Diet¨. I can tell you this is a myth. The Spaniards above all eat the heaviest, greasiest food of all. With their high fat jamones, chorizos, chuletas cabrito, secreto Iberico, croquetas, and they serve french fries with almost every meal even in high class restaurants.

Americans always take a bad rap and are portrayed as having a lot of problems. Believe me this is only because we are critical of ourselves and recognize our problems.

For instance when I was living in Spain in 2000 a big mad cow scare was sweeping through Europe and the Spaniards all thought that was another countries problem, until they started testing for it. The day they started testing for it in Spain the cattle market in Spain collapsed for two months. This is because they realized 30% of Spanish raised cattle in fact were infected by the malicious prion.
This is just one example of how Europe on a whole has a problem with introspection. Of course they would, they have the good ol USA to beat on why would they pick on themselves.

Answer 2

The younger generations in Europe have greater access to junk food and fast food than previous generations. But their fast food is also different than ours. Yes they have McD, BK, and Subway. Germany also has a fastfood fish chain called Nordsee. In Germany, they have the Döner, and bratwurst stands all over the place. In large cities in Germany, you can see people with a portable gas grill strapped to their chests selling brats, with the propane tank on their backs. I think it has just been much more prevalent in the US for a much greater time span than in Europe, but its catching up to them too. It was also more gradual in the US, whereas its hitting them like an 18-wheeler flying down the side of a mountain with no brakes.

Answer 3

No, fortunately not... At least in Spain where I live, and in France where my children are, it's about the same.
We do have the typical "burger" places like McDonalds and Burger King, and in some places you can find a KFC.
But that's about it... And these are mostly used as meeting places for the teen get-togethers. We still haven't been invaded by Taco Bell, Wendy's, Roy Rogers, etc...
The mediterranean diet is still going strong! Thank goodness! And healthy food is being promoted by advertising campaigns, sponsored by the spanish government, to keep us eating fruit and vegetables...