Fast food restaurants and takeout food are our reality. Even though we know how unhealthy a certain food can be, it often seems very tasty to us. There is, however, a reason why people keep coming back to it – there’s something in the taste itself, but also in other psychological tricks.
Influence of Corona Crisis to Fast Food Intake
At the moment, there’s one more thing that somehow pushes people in the world toward fast food and takeout – the coronavirus pandemic. The six of the 10 countries that searched for takeout food the most from March to May saw a three-figure percentage increase in order.
The biggest spike was in Mexico, with monthly searches increasing by 1,223 %. Interestingly, one of those top 10 nations had a decreased demand for takeaway food during the same period – the UK. Despite having the third-highest search volume, demand for takeaway food was down in the UK by 20 %.
What About Guam?
Although they didn’t completely fall under the influence of fast food “hysteria”, people in Guam like to order food. Of course, fast food restaurants had to adjust their offer to the cuisine that got accustomed to the region.
The vast majority of restaurants in Guam remained open during the pandemic, producing meals and deliver it on a contactless basis, but it, unfortunately, caused staff layoffs off many of the people who normally would serve meals at the tables. Hungry people who are forced to be quarantined have turned to food brands’ apps.
Implications of Modern Diet to People in Guam
Food has always had an important place in the way of living of people in Guam. Actually, it had a central place in the cultural practices and traditions that have shaped daily life in this region.
There are inevitable fiestas, which are considered modern food events, church gatherings, and various other social events that consist of unhealthy dishes and processed food which is calorie-dense.
Settings of fiestas are the biggest example of the modernization of the diet in Guam. That mostly results in well-established nutrition transition from high consumption of vegetables, which was a widely spread diet before the “modernization”, to intake of food high in calories which don’t provide necessary nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. So, that’s the food currently associated with celebrations in Guam.
Earlier on gatherings, local fruits and vegetables, such as taro, sweet potato, pipinu, breadfruit, and guavas, as well as seafood, were at the forefront of the food table. Now, at fiestas, they are replaced by store-bought stuff. And due to lack of beneficial nutrients and fibers, such habits will definitely have an impact on the health of Guamanians in the long run.
We say that, not only because of the obvious switch from traditional to modern diet under the influence of the Western world but also because of the fact that there’s an increase in the amount of food being consumed during the new food-related events. Fiestas in Guam now have several dozen different dishes with the countless number of calories.
How Do Fast Food Objects Battle Corona Crisis?
When the first cases of COVID-19 were revealed in Guam, what some restaurants did was to adjust their working hours. Given that people were scared and wanted to avoid crowds due to recommended social distancing, they visited these objects even later than these objects set their working hours. And, restaurants stopped preparing food for breakfast soon afterward.
Then, restaurants had to shorten already shortened hours because authorities announced that businesses would have to close earlier in an attempt to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. With loans and other debts to pay, it’s an especially difficult situation for small businesses that have opened just before the corona crisis began.
So, takeout and drive-thru orders were only food businesses that continued operating on a basis that enables some sort of profit. Others had no choice but to close their doors to customers, especially because of the recent minimum wage increase. Those Island restaurants who survived the last few months joyfully welcomed the re-opening of dine-in services on May 29. Although conditional, the re-opening will partially bring back life into Guam.
