The pervasiveness of the Golden Arches is a sign of the huge demand for convenience food in the modern world.
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It's been a long-running trend that has led many Australians on a concerning trajectory towards poor health.
Many are already gripped by diet-related chronic health problems.
Federal data shows one in four children and two in three adults are overweight or obese.
The Hunter and Central Coast regions are heavily caught up in this trend.
Their rates of overweight and obese people are usually worse than state and national averages and linked to higher levels of socioeconomic disadvantage.
Given this, plans for a new 24-hour McDonald's across the street from a primary school on a busy Central Coast road have understandably raised concerns.
The $5 million plan in the Toukley/Noraville area has attracted more than 130 objections, including from Wyong MP David Harris.
The objections cite concerns about the potential economic effect on small locally-owned businesses.
They also highlight the problems with having a fast-food restaurant, already heavily marketed to children, across the road from Toukley Public School.
One problem with this, though, is that everyone has to pay for the big public health bills that inevitably come with poor diets.
As well as children being exposed to McDonald's advertisements on their screens, they are also facing the fast food messaging during sport. For example, McDonald's has sponsored children's matches at half-time intervals of Central Coast Mariners games.
For those with a passion for good nutrition, this is a concerning situation.
But of course, many others would cry "nanny state" and argue people should not be told what to eat.
One problem with this, though, is that everyone has to pay the big public health bills that inevitably come with poor diets.
Being overweight and obese is strongly linked to preventable chronic diseases of the heart and lungs, diabetes, certain cancers, depression, arthritis and other illnesses.
Many nutritionists will say that people aren't to blame for this predicament. They're victims of mass marketing.
And the stresses of modern life, with longer working hours and both parents/partners working, means it's easy to eat fast food.
In 2019, University of Newcastle Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics Clare Collins called for a national policy to tackle the accelerating number of health problems caused by poor nutrition.
"There's been no national nutrition policy in Australia since 1992," Professor Collins said at the time.
The government did release the National Preventive Health Strategy 2021-2030 and is reviewing the Australian Dietary Guidelines.
But this can be undermined by planning laws that allow fast food outlets to spread across the land unchecked.
