This fascinating and revealing work examines the incredible power of junk food and fast food—how nostalgic we are about them, the influence of the companies that manufacture or sell them, and their alarming effect on our country’s state of health. In the last half century, junk food and fast food have come to play an extremely important role in American economic, historical, cultural, and social life. Today, they have a major influence on what Americans eat—and how healthy we are (or aren’t). *Fast Food and Junk Food: An Encyclopedia of What We Love to Eat* tells the intriguing, fun, and incredible stories behind the successes of these commercial food products and documents the numerous health-related, environmental, cultural, and politico-economic issues associated with them. With more than 700 alphabetically arranged entries, this two-volume encyclopedia contains enough listings to allow readers to research a wide range of fascinating topics. The author treats the massive amount of subject material within this reference title in a fair and balanced manner. A secondary focus of this encyclopedia is to chart the spread of some American fast food chains and commercially produced junk foods internationally. * More than 700 A–Z entries on fast food, comfort food, and junk food, ranging from breakfast cereals to burgers and fries to snack chips and candy * A chronology of the significant events in the history of junk food and fast food * A bibliography containing more than 200 entries with citations to books, articles, and websites * A glossary of important terms used in the encyclopedia * A Resource Guide containing important DVDs, films and videos, and television series