Isabella La Rocca González

My parents came to the US as adults from Italy and Mexico respectively.   I grew up speaking their languages, visiting my family in Mexico and Europe, and eating as they did - meals are eaten slowly and with others.  Fast food, with its shiny, brightly colored facades and super savory or sweet meals was exotic and beguiling.  Fast food is widely available, cheap, and filling. For some people, there are few affordable or accessible alternatives.  In its early days, fast food was marketed to women, promising freedom from the work and responsibility of feeding the family. But the industry is based largely on worker exploitation - mostly women of color, many of whom are single moms.  Fast food, heavily processed and based on animal agriculture, is linked to diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and cancer.  Animal agriculture produces more greenhouse gases than all the transportation in the world. It displaces wild life habitats, is responsible for devastating ground water, river, and ocean pollution, and contributes to the current mass extinction event. The animals bred for this industry live under torturous circumstances until they are slaughtered. And ironically, fast food wastes imperiled resources "“ water, energy, and grain - and ultimately increases world hunger.