-[A] valuable contribution which will be helpful to a wide range of readers and students —Reference Reviews

-Fast food is ready-to-eat foods served promptly after ordering. Alphabetically arranged entries cover the types of junk food (Extruded snacks, Ginger ale, Hot dogs); specific brands (Moon Pie, Mounds Bar, Mountain Dew); companies (Frito-Lay, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Panda Express); health issues (Diabetes, Foodborne illnesses); and a variety of other related topics, from Animal rights movement, Anti-unionization, and Architecture and design to Sports sponsorships, Vending machines, and Waste. In addition to an alphabetical list of entries, there is a list of entries by topic (for example, Bakery Goods, Beverages). A chronology highlights milestones in the fast-food and junk-food industry....The volume concludes with a glossary, selected bibliography, resource guide, and an index. This would be ideal for public libraries as well as undergraduate and high-school libraries. —Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin

-[T]his volume provides a valuable record of the decline of the American diet over the twentieth century, with the transition from junk food as an occasional treat to junk food as a replacement for real food. There is a fine entry on gross-out candy, a new phenomenon of deliberately revolting confectionary; and a coolly disturbing account of hamburgers....Smith confirms that, with junk food, the joy and the horror are never far apart. —Times Literary Supplement