America at 250: How Chicago revolutionized the fast food industry
One way to get to know any culture is to try its food. Like it or not, fast food is undeniably American, and Chicago helped revolutionize the industry.
Long before the golden arches of McDonald's, Americans have had an appetite for food prepared fast. Chicago found a way to satisfy those cravings, and the story is as American as apple pie.
Alongside the most American of roads, Route 66, the most American of foods has a new monument. McDonald's built a 35-foot fried apple pie in Joliet. Eric Cochran's grandparents fried the original McDonald's fried apple pie in East Tennessee.
"We call it grandmom's apple pie," he said.
Eric is a McDonald's owner/operator, just like his dad and grandpa. Like the Cochran family, the story of fast food in America goes back generations.
Bruce Kraig knows the history of the hot dog and the backstory of the burger better than anyone. He's written 13 books on food.
Kraig said the fast food story begins in Chicago.
"The reason Chicago was the center is because it was a rapidly growing city in the 19th century," he said.
The Loop was the most densely packed working place in the country.
"The people who worked there needed to be fed," Kraig said.
Chicago's ingenious cafeterias and lunch counters fed workers fast.
"They have a central commissary. Everything is prepared in one place," Kraig said.
The fast food concept is now iconic thanks to a Chicagoan named Ray Kroc.
"Who was a musician and a mixer salesman, and then came across this place in San Bernadino, California, and decided, 'This hamburger stand really works well. I'll see what I can do,' and then it became McDonald's," Kraig said.
On any given day, one in three American adults eats fast food, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Just before America turned 250 years old, McDonald's revived a family recipe and brought the celebration to Route 66.
America's appetite might be bigger than the monument. The McDonald's fried apple pie was just temporary, both as a monument and a menu item, but Chicago's mark on the history of fast food is everlasting.
