Fast food is the term given to many items that can be prepared and served quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, such as TV dinners, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store which is rapidly prepared and served to the customer in a packaged form for take out/take away.Outlets may be stands or kiosks, which may provide no shelter or seating, or fast food restaurants (also known as quick service restaurants). Franchise operations which are part of restaurant chains have standardized foodstuffs shipped to each restaurant from central locations.The capital requirements to start a fast-food restaurant are relatively small, particularly in areas with non-existent or poorly enforced health codes. Small, individually-owned fast-food restaurants have become common throughout the world. Fast food restaurants with higher sit-in ratios, where customers can sit and have their orders brought to them, are known as fast casual restaurants.

Some convenience food can be as healthy as home cooked meals, say food experts. The advice comes as stricter controls on the health claims made on food are being drawn up by the European Commission.

This quirky device cooks burgers by being attached to a car's exhaust pipe. The Iranian invention uses the heat created by a car's engine to do the cooking, while a sealed shell keeps nasty fumes away from the food.

The big food chain’s domination hasn’t reached the Congo yet. No need for a MacDonald or a Quick joint when one feels a little hungry but doesn’t want to cook. You will find fast-food made in Congo practically all over the place. Goat meat, grilled fish, kebabs, chicken, you have a wide choice and it’s not expensive.

Around holiday time, a common comment I hear is, "I cooked for 6 hours and we ate everything in 20 minutes." Well, aside from the fact that there must be zero socializing at that holiday table, it seems to me that eating a couple thousand calories in 20 minutes is a little fast. Could you enjoy the food just as much by slowing down?

Yeah, it's better to cook meat on the bone. But realistically, meals made from canned turkey, chicken or roast beef can be easy, fast, high in protein and low in saturated fats. Here are recipes to make these quick meals so tasty you'll skip fatty fast food for these homemade dishes.