Take-out is cooked food, which is sold for consumption away from the place where it was prepared. It also known as take-away in the United Kingdom and parcel (in Indian and Pakistani English.
The concept of prepared meals to be eaten elsewhere dates back to Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome where market and roadside stalls selling food were common.
The Romans introduced the first fast food commercial establishment, called a thermopolium, that sold hot ready-to-eat food. Hot meals were served and stored in smaller pots. Lentils, meat, cheese, nuts and a type of fish sauce known as garum were all staples. The word thermopolium literally means "a place where something hot is sold."
Thermopolium were mainly used by the poor or those who simply could not afford a private kitchen, sometimes leading them to be scorned by the upper class. In the ruins of Pompeii and the nearby town of Herculaneum, archaeologists have found 200 thermopolia. As there is a distinct lack of formal dining and kitchen area in these homes, this suggests that eating take-out food was very common there.
French fries originated in Belgium in the 18th century where Belgian street vendors sold thin fried potatoes called "Belgian fries" from pushcarts. The French later adapted the idea and their version was known as "French Fries".
In 1789 Thomas Jefferson brought back with him to America the joys of fried potatoes after sampling them in Paris. He described them as "potatoes, fried in the French manner" with beefsteak.
In England, french fries are known as chips. Their popularity there received a huge boots in the 1860s as a result of the opening of fish and chip shops such as Joseph Malin's in London.
In Victorian England, the streets flowed with traders selling, baked potato, meat pudding, fried fish, hot eels, pickled whelks, oysters, trotters and pea soup. In the 1850s there were 500 London traders selling hot eels alone.
The first time a food takeaway order was made by telephone was in 1922 at a Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles called Kin-Chu Cafe.
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| Pixiebay |
The concept of prepared meals to be eaten elsewhere dates back to Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome where market and roadside stalls selling food were common.
The Romans introduced the first fast food commercial establishment, called a thermopolium, that sold hot ready-to-eat food. Hot meals were served and stored in smaller pots. Lentils, meat, cheese, nuts and a type of fish sauce known as garum were all staples. The word thermopolium literally means "a place where something hot is sold."
Thermopolium were mainly used by the poor or those who simply could not afford a private kitchen, sometimes leading them to be scorned by the upper class. In the ruins of Pompeii and the nearby town of Herculaneum, archaeologists have found 200 thermopolia. As there is a distinct lack of formal dining and kitchen area in these homes, this suggests that eating take-out food was very common there.
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| Thermopolium in Herculanum. By Aldo Ardetti at Italian Wikipedia, |
French fries originated in Belgium in the 18th century where Belgian street vendors sold thin fried potatoes called "Belgian fries" from pushcarts. The French later adapted the idea and their version was known as "French Fries".
In 1789 Thomas Jefferson brought back with him to America the joys of fried potatoes after sampling them in Paris. He described them as "potatoes, fried in the French manner" with beefsteak.
In England, french fries are known as chips. Their popularity there received a huge boots in the 1860s as a result of the opening of fish and chip shops such as Joseph Malin's in London.
In Victorian England, the streets flowed with traders selling, baked potato, meat pudding, fried fish, hot eels, pickled whelks, oysters, trotters and pea soup. In the 1850s there were 500 London traders selling hot eels alone.
The first time a food takeaway order was made by telephone was in 1922 at a Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles called Kin-Chu Cafe.
In 1940 Colonel Harland Saunders who owned a small restaurant and petrol station in Corbin, Kentucky invented his Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe with a secret blend of 11 herbs and spices. The first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise opened for business in Salt Lake City twelve years later.
In the late 1940s, it was common to see carhops serving those who wanted to order food from their motor vehicle. Harry Snyder of Baldwin Park, California had the idea of a drive through hamburger stand where customers could order through a two-way speaker box. He opened in 1948 California's first drive through hamburger stand, named "In-N-Out Burger".
Eight years after brothers Dick and Maurice McDonald opened a tiny hamburger restaurant on a street corner in San Bernardino, Los Angeles, in 1940, they replaced the trained cooks in their eatery with low-paid teenagers who simply flipped burgers and dunk fries in oil. The menu was reduced to a few items and cutlery and china was discarded. Customers had to queue for their food and eat out of a cardboard carton with their hands. Products were offered as either "eat-in" or "take-out". Prices were reduced and people piled in. By 1988, 51% of McDonald's turnover was being generated by drive-throughs, with 31% of all US take-out turnover being generated by them by 1990.
In 1954, James McLamore and David Edgerton founded Burger King. They sold burgers and milkshakes for 18 cents each.
In 1982, American Ingrid Kosar, inspired by ski clothes, invented the thermal bag for keeping takeaways warm. Domino's Pizza bought her invention.
In the Western world today, many barely know how to cook. With frozen foods that just need to be heated up and the ready availability of takeout foods, they no longer have to.
In addition in the west the increase in different members of a family working different shifts and a growing number of single households is resulting in around half of all meals taken at home now being a solitary experience. Frequently dinner is a ready meal heated up in a microwave and consumed in front of the television.
In the Western world today, many barely know how to cook. With frozen foods that just need to be heated up and the ready availability of takeout foods, they no longer have to.
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| Take out collage. Wikipedia |
In addition in the west the increase in different members of a family working different shifts and a growing number of single households is resulting in around half of all meals taken at home now being a solitary experience. Frequently dinner is a ready meal heated up in a microwave and consumed in front of the television.
The Deliveroo algorithm that is used to ensure customers receive the correct food is based on India's 'dabbawala' delivery system, a method of marking lunch boxes that was devised in the 1890s.
Sila Suthara is a roadside vendor in Phetchaburi, Thailand, who for 20 years has used a grill made of 1,000 mirrors to focus sunlight to cook chicken and pork. A chicken cooks in about 12 minutes.
Sources Food For Thought by Ed Pearce, Daily Mail Weekend magazine
Sila Suthara is a roadside vendor in Phetchaburi, Thailand, who for 20 years has used a grill made of 1,000 mirrors to focus sunlight to cook chicken and pork. A chicken cooks in about 12 minutes.
Sources Food For Thought by Ed Pearce, Daily Mail Weekend magazine
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