Junk food and fast food is a huge global business. However, the disastrous health effects of our enormous appetite for processed fat- and sugar-loaded foods are increasingly well-publicised, and most dramatically shown in "Super Size Me" (2004), filmmaker Morgan Spurlock's 30-day all-McDonald's diet. Through increased globalisation, American popular food culture is being increasingly emulated elsewhere in the world, with the potential for similar disastrous consequences. This A-to-Z reference work is the first to focus on the junk food and fast food phenomena from a multitude of angles in addition to health and diet concerns. More than 250 essay entries objectively explore the scope of the topics to illuminate the American way through products, corporations and entrepreneurs, social history, popular culture, organisations, issues, politics, commercialism and consumerism, and much more. Each entry ends with suggested reading. An introduction, timeline, glossary, bibliography, resource guide, and photos enhance the text.