Gender, Fast Food, and Nutritional Perspectives in Contemporary Philippines

Abstract

Local health and foodways are exposed to new and problematic elements as corporate fast food becomes increasingly ubiquitous. A 2005 consumer survey completed by 160 college-age women and men in provinces in the Philippines elucidates how fast food is conceptualized and its effects mediated locally. Paying attention to intersections of gender and fast food amid ongoing rivalries between global (McDonald’s) and local (Jollibee) restaurant chains, this paper addresses the (dis)similarities underlying: (1) how fast food is regarded in terms of diet, nutrition, and hunger satisfaction; and (2) how prevailing consumption patterns manifest themselves within the gendered framework of local populations.