Objective:
Learn about the birth of fast food, then dine at an establishment through the lens of an ethnographer.
Details:
1) Read “A Crispy, Salty, American History of Fast Food” from Anna Diamond and Smithsonian Magazine.
2) Visit a fast food restaurant. We encourage you to choose a restaurant chain that was established in or before that 1960’s.
3) You’ve most likely dined at a fast food restaurant many times during your life! However, during this trip, put on your ethnographer hat! Observe the restaurant through the eyes of a researcher and take notes!
4) Answer the following questions:
What is the “role” of the restaurant patrons? In what ways are they behaving?
What is the “role” of the restaurant employees? Are all of the employees serving the same roles? Can you tell the difference based on their behavior?
What function(s) does the restaurant serve for the community it resides in?
What aspects of your observations support Anna Diamond’s reporting?
How do you think this restaurant (either this particular restaurant, or the chain as a whole) has changed since the 1960’s? What is/is not present now that was/was not now?
