Greetings!

While we often think of "Fast Food Restaurants" being a modern thing--and also a nutritional scourge--and in many ways, they are very modernistic.

However, in ancient Rome, the Romans also had fast food restaurants. These places were not rare or unusual, but common. They may have stayed open well into the night--to accommodate customers wanting a late dinner or snacks. Still, whatever business hours these restaurants had, they specialized in providing quick, simple food for customers. The Roman equivalent of sandwiches, soup, chili, hot dogs. Something simple and quick that could be made and served by just a few people, working with a simple grill, hearth, and so on.

One food item that was popular was a kind of Fish-sauce chili, eaten in a bowl by itself, or as a side utem with other foods. It was made of fermented fish guts, with herbs or spices sometimes added to it. Yeah. Not something we would typically enjoy, but the Romans liked it, and in truth, even before the Romans, the Carthaginians had created a system where they created a similar food item that they mass produced, stored and preserved, and shipped to markets all over the Mediterranean world on regular schedules and routes of delivery. This Fish Stew was hugely popular everywhere, and was a salient and regular diet item for communities everywhere from Iberia and Gaul, to Turkey, the Levant, Egypt, Greece, and Italy. Everyone ate this fish stew.

However, the Romans also served up other food items, like meat sandwiches and that kind of thing. Fast Food restaurants were a very important economic component and food provider in the city of Rome, and in the Roman Empire beyond. Pretty interesting stuff!

So, yes, you can have fast food restaurants in your fantasy cities and towns!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Since a good deal of the gaming I do is in modern urban fantasy/horror, the answer to this is yes. though some extra clarification on that.

In my setting there is a large international mega conglomerate company called Mal-Vex (very inspired by Pentex, weyland-yutani, Roxxon) their shitck more or less is they are the beachhead/mortal facing enterprise of Hell, as in literal biblical hell, the board of executives being made up of literal demoniacs, undead liches, and unseelie fae nobles.

they actively run multiple large fast food chains and are actively attempting to harm the population by making them more suspectible to spiritual possession and corruption. basically imagine if every hamburger you ever ate was ever-so slightly metaphysically tainted, and slowly empowering an egregore spirit by consuming the brand product associated.

I have a lot of the fast-food brands by this company as sort of a slow building hint to the wider setting in the playtest I've been running, my next campaign is going to actively feature Mal-Vex rather than hint at them.

I know this isn't strictly fantasy fast food, but I thought I'd chime in and bump the thread.
 

Even in my fantasy worlds, the cities often have street vendors selling food that is already cooked (or quickly cooked fresh) - a version of a food truck or hotdog stand. That's pretty much fast food to me and the vibe feels right.

Quote from: SHARK on April 22, 2025, 07:43:04 PMGreetings!

While we often think of "Fast Food Restaurants" being a modern thing--and also a nutritional scourge--and in many ways, they are very modernistic.

However, in ancient Rome, the Romans also had fast food restaurants. These places were not rare or unusual, but common. They may have stayed open well into the night--to accommodate customers wanting a late dinner or snacks. Still, whatever business hours these restaurants had, they specialized in providing quick, simple food for customers. The Roman equivalent of sandwiches, soup, chili, hot dogs. Something simple and quick that could be made and served by just a few people, working with a simple grill, hearth, and so on.

One food item that was popular was a kind of Fish-sauce chili, eaten in a bowl by itself, or as a side utem with other foods. It was made of fermented fish guts, with herbs or spices sometimes added to it. Yeah. Not something we would typically enjoy, but the Romans liked it, and in truth, even before the Romans, the Carthaginians had created a system where they created a similar food item that they mass produced, stored and preserved, and shipped to markets all over the Mediterranean world on regular schedules and routes of delivery. This Fish Stew was hugely popular everywhere, and was a salient and regular diet item for communities everywhere from Iberia and Gaul, to Turkey, the Levant, Egypt, Greece, and Italy. Everyone ate this fish stew.

However, the Romans also served up other food items, like meat sandwiches and that kind of thing. Fast Food restaurants were a very important economic component and food provider in the city of Rome, and in the Roman Empire beyond. Pretty interesting stuff!

So, yes, you can have fast food restaurants in your fantasy cities and towns!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

This began as a parody of fast food chains in the Official Traveller Universe, but it quickly took on a life of its own. Astroburgers has become a regular in my games, it is just too good not to use. Created by Martin J. Dougherty originally.

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ASTROBURGERS

    The Astroburgers chain started out as a joke, albeit a rather expensive one. The founders, living off a legacy and essentially just looking for something to do with their time, created the tackiest advertising campaign they could think of, and an equally downmarket burger chain to go with it. In an equally crass piece of exploitation, they invented themed burgers for practically every possible occasion, event, or cause.

    Astroburgers have burgers celebrating not merely the navy, for example, but elements within it. Thus there is a burger commemorating the cruiser service, one for the patrol forces, one for the battleship crews, and so forth. The crews of tankers and logistics vessels are commemorated by one of the largest fast food items in known space – which is itself a piece of unsubtle marketable-concept creation on the part of Astroburgers.

    Astroburgers was, unaccountably, a huge success in the marketplace, and now has tens of thousands of outlets. Its management are prone to extravagant and evermore-silly publicity stunts, which are themselves now a trademark. One of the most questionable to date is the commission of an antipiracy patrol at the burger chain's expense. The words 'This space battle was brought to you by Astroburgers' are currently enshrined as the most appallingly crass piece of advertising in history... though there are many who secretly wonder how Astroburgers is going to top that one.

    As might be expected from such an immense restaurant chain, Astroburgers also has holdings in the supply industry. Its investment program is surprisingly ethical, pumping hard cash into weak agricultural economies and providing a steady buyer for their produce. The embarrassment of having a giant Astroburgers logo at the gateway to a ranch is perhaps offset for many small-time farmers by being able to keep their land and make a decent living.


Astroburgers

    Astroburgers, despite its unbelievably archaic title, is the biggest fast-food franchise in the Marches. The stylized silver "A" against an Imperial starburst symbol is known throughout Imperial space. The secret of Astroburgers' runaway
success is their aggressive expansion policy of opening a franchise in every port and on every world, no matter what the dangers. MA pulled off a tremendous media coup during the 1118 Zyra police action when their new-market team hit the planet surface 11 minutes after the first assault drop and were serving Big Sentient burgers before the perimeter was secured. Vids of Imperial Marines "advancing to the Astroburgers position" – and burger-joint staff exchanging fire with local rebels during the counterattack – trebled sales overnight and launched the AssaultBurger line. Similar dangerous media stunts have led to a series of indictments against Astroburger executives.

Nah, I'm good with good ol'fashioned ration...



I regret my life choices.

IIRC, Eberron had fast food chains run by a halfling Dragonmarked House.

I've featured an airport TGI Fridays, a Roy Rogers and a lot of road-side diners.

The silly dungeon with the killer vending machines (vending machines kill more adventurers than dragons every year), the brass dragon quiz show host, and the kobold who lights up the warning signs, has a break room that's like a modern fast food outlet.  The player characters usually break the soda machine while trying to figure it out.

I've had lizard-on-a-stick available from street venders since I saw Conan and Subatai eat them. But I don't really bother with PCs and food so much, its the sort of thing I mention others as doing.

I also have most inns and taverns serve stew in a bread bowl which is portable and fast and could be considered fast food of sorts.

This brings up a thought I've long had from watching the Zatoichi movies. He frequently has a ball of rice to eat as he walks. They don't usually show him buying it so I don't know if its leftovers, if he buys it from a restaurant to go, or from a street vender or what. Does anyone know how that thing worked in medieval Japan?

The PC have not visited the central street/square on market day, but I imagine that fast/fair food is an important part of it.

Funny thing is that there was "fast food" in the medieval period:

My campaign is in the 1980s, so yes.

There'ss even a tie in with McDonalds' "When the U.S. Wins, You Win!" promotion and the McDonald's Menu song record.

Street vendors with cooked food was absolutely a thing in medieval times, and it's a good parallel. I think the biggest misconception is the idea of restaurants as well as shops.

Having a dedicated restaurant building you could walk into and order from a menu - either at a counter or from a waiter - comes well after the medieval era, and even taverns came fairly late in the medieval era. An assembly line of food workers is a modern invention.

If you could walk into a place, it was generally someone's home where they sold food or drink they made. One could absolutely make a living with one's house being an alehouse, but it was the place they lived, and usually not very big. The food could be "fast" mostly because there wasn't any choice - you'd pay and get whatever food they are making.

In our Traveller campaign, we have a vending machine for food in the cargo bay. And one of my alt's goals is to create a fast food empire.