Fast food is the most pervasive culinary trend of our time, for better and worse. Large multinational chains run an estimated one million outlets in virtually every corner of the world, serving hundreds of millions of customers every day. Scathing exposés have charged that the industry harms the environment, undermines the health of customers, degrades the diets of children, and underpays its workers. So why has this industry remained so successful? What makes observers so critical? And what are the options for the future? Andrew F. Smith, a culinary historian who teaches in the Food Studies Department at the New School in Manhattan, explores these questions and more. He is the author or editor of twenty-eight books, including his latest, Fast Food: The Good, Bad and Hungry (Reaktion, 2016). This free lecture, part of the Pepin Lecture Series in Food Studies and Gastronomy, will take place Wednesday, April 13 beginning at 6 pm in the College of Arts and Sciences at Boston University, 725 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 211. Register at www.bu.edu/foodandwine/