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why fast is good
The fast company has begotten the fast employee. “Staying in one place is a career hindrance. Within a few years, you appear to be a liability,” says Alan Kearns, head coach of Canadian career coaching company CareerJoy. “The people who are getting ahead are the ones who have experience across different industries, who have portability.” Buzz terms like job surfing, job hopping and job hopscotch reflect the fast employee’s tendency to pick up skills at different jobs and move on. Kearns calls it the “Starbucks effect”: the proliferation of coffee choices as a metaphor for the changing career landscape. “It used to be caffeinated or decaf. Now the consumer expects a wide variety of choice.” The idea that our dads stayed in one career for life is more cliché than truth. (The 1970s average was six jobs per lifetime; now it’s 10.) But it is true that today’s trimmer companies give workers less room for mobility. Which means that if you want new challenges, you may have to switch companies to get them. So go ahead – caffeinate that career.
Fast food is no longer crappy food. The key ingredients of the new quick-serve gourmet concepts are rapid, friendly service and freshly prepared foods that cater to time-strapped gourmands. At Flaming Nora in London, England, your chicken shish with chunky chips and salad is prepared and assembled before your eyes. No precooking here (most meats are marinated, safely reducing cooking times), and only the best ingredients are used (100 percent Aberdeen Angus beef and fresh yellowfin tuna). At Toronto’s Veda, the $6 takeout curry combos keep things quick and easy in the kitchen. “Our chefs have developed a proprietary cooking process that requires no oil in most dishes,” explains Veda’s ghee whiz, Jared Ross. While we may be stuck in thinking of fast-food regulars as taste-poor peasants, a new study by U.K. researchers GfK NOP shows that burger-joint regulars are more likely to be adventurous and independently minded (surprise, surprise) than the rest of the foodie chain. The new fast food might not be so hard to swallow after all. |
Pronto Gourmet