Explanation:
Cost prevents one of the biggest barriers to restaurants offering healthier menu options. Fast-food chains like McDonald's have made their fortune by offering food with a long shelf life, which tends to be less healthy. As pointed out in The New Yorker, even if every restaurant in America decided to drop the fries and embrace kale and watermelon radish salads, the U.S. lacks the agricultural infrastructure to support that kind of dietary shift. Big farm crops like soybeans (for frying oil), corn (for high fructose corn syrup), and grain (livestock feed) receive millions of tax breaks and other government subsidies, making it hard for smaller farms to compete.