There was a time when fast food was nowhere to be found in Black neighborhoods. The earliest chains were in White urban space (e.g., White Castle), and the later chains that arose in the 1950s (e.g., McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC) located in White suburban space. Black diners rarely showed up in restaurant industry analyses. Restaurant owners were advised to consider the varied needs of customers ranging from blue-collar workers, to families, to mothers out shopping, to think about the kinds of menu items each group would find appealing, and the best means of outreach. Black communities and consumers were left off the map.

Today, public health studies have documented that Black neighborhoods are disproportionately dense in fast food, stimulating public and private actors to respond to inequities in fast food exposure. Even as local food environments have taken greater foothold in public discourse, we know little about the historical conditions that have made fast food endemic in Black space. White Burgers, Black Cash, published in April, 2023 at the University of Minnesota Press, interrogates the forces that moved fast food from its origins in exclusively White environments to predominantly Black communities, and at what cost. Visit the companion website for more information.