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Asparagus

Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) is a perennial flowering plant species in the genus Asparagus native to Eurasia. Widely cultivated as a vegetable crop, its young shoots are used as a spring vegetable.

Description
Asparagus is an herbaceous, perennial plant growing to 100–150 cm tall, with stout stems with much-branched, feathery foliage. The 'leaves' are needle-like cladodes (modified stems) in the axils of scale leaves; they are 6 – long and 1 mm broad, and clustered in fours, up to 15, together, in a rose-like shape. The root system, often referred to as a 'crown', is adventitious; the root type is fasciculated. The flowers are bell-shaped, greenish-white to yellowish, 4.5 – long, with six tepals partially fused together at the base; they are produced singly or in clusters of two or three in the junctions of the branchlets. It is usually dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants, but sometimes hermaphrodite flowers are found. The fruit is a small red berry 6-10 mm in diameter, which is toxic to humans.

Plants native to the western coasts of Europe (from northern Spain to northwest Germany, north Ireland, and Great Britain) are treated as A. officinalis subsp. prostratus (Dumort.) Corb., distinguished by its low-growing, often prostrate stems growing to only 30 – high, and shorter cladodes 2 – long. Some authors treat it as a distinct species, A. prostratus Dumort.

Taxonomy
Asparagus was once classified in the lily family, as were the related Allium species onions and garlic. Genetic research currently places lilies, Allium, and asparagus in three separate families: the Liliaceae, Amaryllidaceae, and Asparagaceae, respectively. The latter two are part of the order Asparagales.

Etymology
The English word asparagus derives from classical Latin but the plant was once known in English as sperage, from the Medieval Latin sparagus. This term itself derives from the Greek aspharagos or asparagos, but the Greek terms are of uncertain provenance: the latter form admits the possibility of a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to jerk, scatter," directly or via a Persian descendant meaning "twig, branch"; but the Ancient Greek word itself, meaning "gully, chasm," seems to be of Pre-Greek origin instead.

In English, A. officinalis is widely known simply as "asparagus", or sometimes "garden asparagus".

Asparagus was corrupted in some places to "sparrow grass"; indeed, John Walker wrote in 1791 that "Sparrowgrass is so general that asparagus has an air of stiffness and pedantry". The name 'sparrow grass' was still in common use in rural East Anglia, England well into the twentieth century.

Distribution and habitat
Sources differ as to the plant's native range, but generally include most of Europe and western temperate Asia.

Cultivation
Since asparagus often originates in maritime habitats, it thrives in soils that are too saline for normal weeds to grow. Thus, a little salt was traditionally used to suppress weeds in beds intended for asparagus; this has the disadvantage that the soil cannot be used for anything else. Some regions and gardening zones are better-suited for growing asparagus than others, such as the west coast of North America and other more maritime, “Mediterranean” environments. The fertility of the soil is a large factor. "Crowns" are planted in winter, and the first shoots appear in spring; the first pickings or "thinnings" are known as sprue asparagus. Sprue has thin stems.

A breed of "early-season asparagus" that can be harvested two months earlier than usual was announced by a UK grower in early 2011. This variety does not need to lie dormant and blooms at 7 C, rather than the usual 9 C.

Purple asparagus differs from its green and white counterparts in having high sugar and low fibre levels. Purple asparagus was originally developed in Italy, near the city of Albenga and commercialized under the variety name 'Violetto d' Albenga'. Purple asparagus can also turn green while being cooked due to its sensitivity to heat.

Companion planting
Asparagus is said to be a useful companion plant for tomatoes, as the tomato plant repels the asparagus beetle. Asparagus may repel some harmful root nematodes that affect tomato plants.

Uses
The genome of the species has been sequenced as a model to study the evolution of sex chromosomes in plants and dioecy.

Nutrition
Water makes up 93% of asparagus's composition. Asparagus is low in food energy and very low in sodium. It is a good source of vitamin B6, calcium, magnesium, and zinc, and a very good source of dietary fibre, protein, beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, thiamin, riboflavin, rutin, niacin, folic acid, iron, phosphorus, potassium, copper, manganese, and selenium, as well as chromium, a trace mineral that regulates the ability of insulin to transport glucose from the bloodstream into cells. The amino acid asparagine gets its name from asparagus, from which it was first isolated, as the asparagus plant is relatively rich in this compound.

Culinary
Only young asparagus shoots are commonly eaten: once the buds start to open ("ferning out"), the shoots quickly turn woody. The roots contain starch.

The shoots are prepared and served in a number of ways around the world, typically as an appetizer or vegetable side dish. In Asian-style cooking, asparagus is often stir-fried. Cantonese restaurants in the United States often serve asparagus stir-fried with chicken, shrimp, or beef. It may also be quickly grilled over charcoal or hardwood embers, and is also used as an ingredient in some stews and soups.

Asparagus can also be pickled and stored for several years. Some brands label shoots prepared in this way as "marinated".

Stem thickness indicates the age of the plant (and not the age of the stalk), with the thicker stems coming from older plants. Older, thicker stalks can be woody, although peeling the skin at the base removes the tough layer. Peeled asparagus will poach much faster. The bottom portion of asparagus often contains sand and soil, so thorough cleaning is generally advised before cooking. Male plants tend to produce spears that are smaller and thinner, while female plants tend produce larger and thicker spears. Thickness and thinness are not an indication of tenderness or toughness. The stalks are thick or thin from the moment they sprout from the ground.

Green asparagus is eaten worldwide, and the availability of imports throughout the year has made it less of a delicacy than it once was. In Europe, according to one source, the "asparagus season is a highlight of the foodie calendar"; in the UK this traditionally begins on 23 April and ends on Midsummer Day. As in continental Europe, due to the short growing season and demand for local produce, asparagus commands a premium price.

Commercial production

The top asparagus importers (2016) were the United States (214,735 tonnes), followed by Germany (24,484 tonnes), and Canada (19,224 tonnes).

China is by far the world's largest producer: in 2017 it produced 7,845,162 tonnes, followed by Peru with 383,098 tonnes and Mexico with 245,681 tonnes. U.S. production was concentrated in California, Michigan, and Washington. The annual production for white asparagus in Germany is 57,000 tonnes (61% of consumer demand).

When grown under tunnels, growers can extend the harvest season. In the UK, it is estimated that the asparagus harvest season can begin as early as mid-February and continue into late autumn by growing cold-resistant cultivars under heated polytunnels. Furthermore, late season harvests can be achieved using 'reverse season growth' where spears are left to fern between March–August and harvested in September–October.

In Asia, an alternative approach to cultivating asparagus has been employed and is referred to as 'Mother Stalk Method' where three to five stalks per plant are allowed to develop into fern, while harvesting adjacent spears.

White asparagus
White asparagus is very popular in Europe and western Asia. White asparagus is the result of applying a blanching technique while the asparagus shoots are growing. To cultivate white asparagus, the shoots are covered with soil as they grow, i.e. earthed up; without exposure to sunlight, no photosynthesis starts, and the shoots remain white. Compared to green asparagus, the locally cultivated so-called "white gold" or "edible ivory" asparagus, also referred to as "the royal vegetable", is believed to be less bitter and much more tender. Freshness is very important, and the lower ends of white asparagus must be peeled before cooking or raw consumption.

Only seasonally on the menu, asparagus dishes are advertised outside many restaurants, usually from late April to June. For the French style, asparagus is often boiled or steamed and served with Hollandaise sauce, white sauce, melted butter or most recently with olive oil and Parmesan cheese. Tall, narrow asparagus cooking pots allow the shoots to be steamed gently, their tips staying out of the water.

During the German Spargelsaison or Spargelzeit ("asparagus season" or "asparagus time"), the asparagus season that traditionally finishes on 24 June, roadside stands and open-air markets sell about half of the country's white asparagus consumption.

In western Himalayan regions, such as Nepal and north-western India, wild asparagus is harvested as a seasonal vegetable delicacy known as kurilo	or jhijhirkani.

In culture
Asparagus has been used as a vegetable owing to its distinct flavor, and in medicine due to its diuretic properties and its purported function as an aphrodisiac. It is pictured as an offering on an Egyptian frieze dating to 3000 BC. In ancient times, it was also known in Syria and in the Iberian Peninsula. Greeks and Romans ate it fresh when in season, and dried the vegetable for use in winter. Emperor Augustus coined the expression "faster than cooking asparagus" for quick action.

A recipe for cooking asparagus is given in one of the oldest surviving collections of recipes (Apicius's 1st century AD De re coquinaria, Book III). In the second century AD, the Greek physician Galen, highly respected within Roman society, mentioned asparagus as a beneficial herb, but as dominance of the Roman empire waned, asparagus' medicinal value drew little attention until al-Nafzawi's The Perfumed Garden. That piece of writing celebrates its purported aphrodisiacal power that the Indian Ananga Ranga attributes to "special phosphorus elements" that also counteract fatigue.

By 1469, asparagus was cultivated in French monasteries. Asparagus appears to have been little noticed in England until 1538, and in Germany until 1542.

Asparagus was brought to North America by European settlers at least as early as 1655. Adriaen van der Donck, a Dutch immigrant to New Netherland, mentions asparagus in his description of Dutch farming practices in the New World. Asparagus was grown by British immigrants as well; in 1685, one of William Penn's advertisements for Pennsylvania included asparagus in a long list of crops that grew well in the American climate.

The points d'amour ("love tips") were served as a delicacy to Madame de Pompadour (1721–1764).

Effects on urine
The effect of eating asparagus on urine excreted afterwards has long been observed:

[Asparagus] cause a powerful and disagreeable smell in the urine, as everybody knows.
 * — Treatise of All Sorts of Foods, Louis Lémery, 1702

asparagus... affects the urine with a foetid smell (especially if cut when they are white) and therefore have been suspected by some physicians as not friendly to the kidneys; when they are older, and begin to ramify, they lose this quality; but then they are not so agreeable.
 * — "An Essay Concerning the Nature of Aliments", John Arbuthnot, 1735

A few Stems of Asparagus eaten, shall give our Urine a disagreeable Odour...
 * — "Letter to the Royal Academy of Brussels", Benjamin Franklin, c. 1781

Asparagus "...transforms my chamber-pot into a flask of perfume."
 * — Marcel Proust (1871–1922)

Asparagus contains asparagusic acid. When the vegetable is digested, a group of volatile sulfur-containing compounds is produced.

Certain compounds in asparagus are metabolized to yield ammonia and various sulfur-containing degradation products, including various thiols and thioesters, which following consumption give urine a characteristic smell. Some of the volatile organic compounds responsible for the smell are:
 * methanethiol
 * dimethyl sulfide
 * dimethyl disulfide
 * bis(methylthio)methane
 * dimethyl sulfoxide
 * dimethyl sulfone

Subjectively, the first two are the most pungent, while the last two (sulfur-oxidized) give a sweet aroma. A mixture of these compounds form a "reconstituted asparagus urine" odor. This was first investigated in 1891 by Marceli Nencki, who attributed the smell to methanethiol. These compounds originate in the asparagus as asparagusic acid and its derivatives, as these are the only sulfur-containing compounds unique to asparagus. As these are more present in young asparagus, this accords with the observation that the smell is more pronounced after eating young asparagus. The biological mechanism for the production of these compounds is less clear.

The onset of the asparagus urine smell is remarkably rapid while the decline is slower. The smell has been reported to be detectable 15 to 30 minutes after ingestion and subsides with a half-life of approximately four hours. Asparagus has been eaten and cultivated for at least two millennia but the association between odorous urine and asparagus consumption was not observed until the late 17th century when sulfur-rich fertilisers became common in agriculture. Small-scale studies noted that the "asparagus urine" odour was not produced by all individuals and estimates as to the proportion of the population who are excretors (reporting a noticeable asparagus urine odour after eating asparagus) has ranged from about 40% to as high as 79%. When excretors are exposed to non-excretor urine after asparagus consumption, however, the characteristic asparagus urine odour is usually reported. More recent work has confirmed that a small proportion of individuals do not produce asparagus urine, and amongst those that do, some cannot detect the odour due to a single-nucleotide polymorphism within a cluster of olfactory receptors.

Debate exists about the universality of producing the sulfurous smell, as well as the ability to detect it. Originally, this was thought to be because some people digested asparagus differently from others, so some excreted odorous urine after eating asparagus, and others did not. In the 1980s, three studies from France, China, and Israel published results showing that producing odorous urine from asparagus was a common human characteristic. The Israeli study found that from their 307 subjects, all of those who could smell "asparagus urine" could detect it in the urine of anyone who had eaten asparagus, even if the person who produced it could not detect it. A 2010 study found variations in both production of odorous urine and the ability to detect the odor, but that these were not tightly related. Most people are thought to produce the odorous compounds after eating asparagus, but the differing abilities of various individuals to detect the odor at increasing dilutions suggests a genetically determined specific sensitivity.

In 2010, the company 23andMe published a genome-wide association study on whether participants have "ever noticed a peculiar odor when [they] pee after eating asparagus". This study pinpointed a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in a cluster of olfactory genes associated with the ability to detect the odor. While this SNP did not explain all of the difference in detection between people, it provides support for the theory that genetic differences occur in olfactory receptors that lead people to be unable to smell these odorous compounds.

Celebrations
The green crop is significant enough in California's Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta region that the city of Stockton holds a festival every year to celebrate it. Oceana County, Michigan, the self-proclaimed "asparagus capital of the world" hosts an annual festival complete with a parade and asparagus queen; The Vale of Evesham in Worcestershire is the largest producer within Northern Europe, celebrating with the annual British Asparagus Festival involving auctions of the best crop, an "Asparagus Run" modelled on the Beaujolais Run and a weekend "Asparafest" music festival.

Many German cities hold an annual Spargelfest (asparagus festival) celebrating the harvest of white asparagus. Schwetzingen claims to be the "Asparagus Capital of the World", and during its festival, an Asparagus Queen is crowned. The Bavarian city of Nuremberg feasts a week long in April, with a competition to find the fastest asparagus peeler in the region; this usually involves generous amounts of the local wines and beers being consumed to aid the spectators' appreciative support.

Helmut Zipner, who peeled a ton of asparagus in 16 hours, holds the world record in asparagus peeling.

title: Asparagus


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Herring soup

Herring soup is a fish soup consisting of a thick mix of water, barley-meal and red herring.

title: Herring soup


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Flatfish

A flatfish is a member of the ray-finned demersal fish order Pleuronectiformes, also called the Heterosomata, sometimes classified as a suborder of Perciformes. In many species, both eyes lie on one side of the head, one or the other migrating through or around the head during development. Some species face their left sides upward, some face their right sides upward, and others face either side upward.

Many important food fish are in this order, including the flounders, soles, turbot, plaice, and halibut. Some flatfish can camouflage themselves on the ocean floor.

Taxonomy
Over 800 described species are placed into 16 families. Broadly, the flatfishes are divided into two suborders, Psettodoidei and Pleuronectoidei, with > 99% of the species diversity found within the Pleuronectoidei. The largest families are Soleidae, Bothidae and Cynoglossidae with more than 150 species each. There also exist two monotypic families (Paralichthodidae and Oncopteridae). Some families are the results of relatively recent splits. For example, the Achiridae were classified as a subfamily of Soleidae in the past, and the Samaridae were considered a subfamily of the Pleuronectidae. The families Paralichthodidae, Poecilopsettidae, and Rhombosoleidae were also traditionally treated as subfamilies of Pleuronectidae, but are now recognised as families in their own right. The Paralichthyidae has long been indicated to be paraphyletic, with the formal description of Cyclopsettidae in 2019 resulting in the split of this family as well.

The taxonomy of some groups is in need of a review. The last monograph covering the entire order was John Roxborough Norman's Monograph of the Flatfishes published in 1934. In particular, Tephrinectes sinensis may represent a family-level lineage and requires further evaluation e.g. New species are described with some regularity and undescribed species likely remain.

Hybrids
Hybrids are well known in flatfishes. The Pleuronectidae have the largest number of reported hybrids of marine fishes. Two of the most famous intergeneric hybrids are between the European plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) and European flounder (Platichthys flesus) in the Baltic Sea, and between the English sole (Parophrys vetulus) and starry flounder (Platichthys stellatus) in Puget Sound. The offspring of the latter species pair is popularly known as the hybrid sole and was initially believed to be a valid species in its own right.

Distribution
Flatfishes are found in oceans worldwide, ranging from the Arctic, through the tropics, to Antarctica. Species diversity is centered in the Indo-West Pacific and declines following both latitudinal and longitudinal gradients away from the Indo-West Pacific. Most species are found in depths between 0 and 500 m, but a few have been recorded from depths in excess of 1500 m. None have been confirmed from the abyssal or hadal zones. An observation of a flatfish from the Bathyscaphe Trieste at the bottom of the Mariana Trench at a depth of almost 11 km has been questioned by fish experts, and recent authorities do not recognize it as valid. Among the deepwater species, Symphurus thermophilus lives congregating around "ponds" of sulphur at hydrothermal vents on the seafloor. No other flatfish is known from hydrothermal vents. Many species will enter brackish or fresh water, and a smaller number of soles (families Achiridae and Soleidae) and tonguefish (Cynoglossidae) are entirely restricted to fresh water.

Characteristics
The most obvious characteristic of the flatfish is its asymmetry, with both eyes lying on the same side of the head in the adult fish. In some families, the eyes are usually on the right side of the body (dextral or right-eyed flatfish), and in others, they are usually on the left (sinistral or left-eyed flatfish). The primitive spiny turbots include equal numbers of right- and left-sided individuals, and are generally less asymmetrical than the other families. Other distinguishing features of the order are the presence of protrusible eyes, another adaptation to living on the seabed (benthos), and the extension of the dorsal fin onto the head.

The surface of the fish facing away from the sea floor is pigmented, often serving to camouflage the fish, but sometimes with striking coloured patterns. Some flatfishes are also able to change their pigmentation to match the background, in a manner similar to some cephalopods. The side of the body without the eyes, facing the seabed, is usually colourless or very pale.

In general, flatfishes rely on their camouflage for avoiding predators, but some have aposematic traits such as conspicuous eyespots (e.g., Microchirus ocellatus) and several small tropical species (at least Aseraggodes, Pardachirus and Zebrias) are poisonous. Juveniles of Soleichthys maculosus mimic toxic flatworms of the genus Pseudobiceros in both colours and swimming mode. Conversely, a few octopus species have been reported to mimic flatfishes in colours, shape and swimming mode.

The flounders and spiny turbots eat smaller fish, and have well-developed teeth. They sometimes seek prey in the midwater, away from the bottom, and show fewer extreme adaptations than other families. The soles, by contrast, are almost exclusively bottom-dwellers, and feed on invertebrates. They show a more extreme asymmetry, and may lack teeth on one side of the jaw.

Flatfishes range in size from Tarphops oligolepis, measuring about 4.5 cm in length, and weighing 2 g, to the Atlantic halibut, at 2.5 m and 316 kg.

Species and species groups

 * Brill
 * Dab
 * Sanddab
 * Flounder
 * Halibut
 * Megrim
 * Plaice
 * Sole
 * Tonguefish
 * Turbot

Reproduction
Flatfishes lay eggs that hatch into larvae resembling typical, symmetrical, fish. These are initially elongated, but quickly develop into a more rounded form. The larvae typically have protective spines on the head, over the gills, and in the pelvic and pectoral fins. They also possess a swim bladder, and do not dwell on the bottom, instead dispersing from their hatching grounds as plankton.

The length of the planktonic stage varies between different types of flatfishes, but eventually they begin to metamorphose into the adult form. One of the eyes migrates across the top of the head and onto the other side of the body, leaving the fish blind on one side. The larva also loses its swim bladder and spines, and sinks to the bottom, laying its blind side on the underlying surface.

Origin and evolution
Scientists have been proposing since the 1910s that flatfishes evolved from percoid ancestors. There has been some disagreement whether they are a monophyletic group. Some palaeontologists think that some percomorph groups other than flatfishes were "experimenting" with head asymmetry during the Eocene, and certain molecular studies conclude that the primitive family of Psettodidae evolved their flat bodies and asymmetrical head independently of other flatfish groups. Many scientists, however, argue that pleuronectiformes are monophyletic.

The fossil record indicates that flatfishes might have been present before the Eocene, based on fossil otoliths resembling those of modern pleuronectiforms dating back to the Thanetian and Ypresian stages (57-53 million years ago).

Flatfishes have been cited as dramatic examples of evolutionary adaptation. Richard Dawkins, in The Blind Watchmaker, explains the flatfishes' evolutionary history thus:

"...bony fish as a rule have a marked tendency to be flattened in a vertical direction.... It was natural, therefore, that when the ancestors of [flatfish] took to the sea bottom, they should have lain on one side.... But this raised the problem that one eye was always looking down into the sand and was effectively useless. In evolution this problem was solved by the lower eye 'moving' round to the upper side."

The origin of the unusual morphology of flatfishes was enigmatic up to the 2000s, and early researchers suggested that it came about as a result of saltation rather than gradual evolution through natural selection, because a partially migrated eye were considered to have been maladaptive. This started to change in 2008 with a study on the two fossil genera Amphistium and Heteronectes, dated to about 50 million years ago. These genera retain primitive features not seen in modern types of flatfishes. In addition, their heads are less assymteric than modern flatfishes, retaining one eye on each side of their heads, although the eye on one side is closer to the top of the head than on the other. The more recently described fossil genera Quasinectes and Anorevus have been proposed to show similar morphologies and have also been classified as "stem pleuronectiforms". Suchs findings lead Friedman to conclude that the evolution of flatfish morphology "happened gradually, in a way consistent with evolution via natural selection—not suddenly, as researchers once had little choice but to believe."

To explain the survival advantage of a partially migrated eye, it has been proposed that primitive flatfishes like Amphistium rested with the head propped up above the seafloor (a behaviour sometimes observed in modern flatfishes), enabling them to use their partially migrated eye to see things closer to the seafloor.

While known basal genera like Amphistium and Heteronectes support a gradual acquisition of the flatfish morphology, they were probably not direct ancestors to living pleuronectiforms, as fossil evidence indicate that most flatfish lineages living today were present in the Eocene and contemporaneous with them. It has been suggested that the more primitive forms were eventually outcompeted.

As food
Flatfish is considered a Whitefish because of the high concentration of oils within its liver. Its lean flesh makes for a unique flavor that differs from species to species. Methods of cooking include grilling, pan-frying, baking and deep-frying.

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Flat tax

A flat tax (short for flat-rate tax) is a tax with a single rate on the taxable amount, after accounting for any deductions or exemptions from the tax base. It is not necessarily a fully proportional tax. Implementations are often progressive due to exemptions, or regressive in case of a maximum taxable amount. There are various tax systems that are labeled "flat tax" even though they are significantly different. The defining characteristic is the existence of only one tax rate other than zero, as opposed to multiple non-zero rates that vary depending on the amount subject to taxation.

A flat tax system is usually discussed in the context of an income tax, where progressivity is common, but it may also apply to taxes on consumption, property or transfers.

Major categories
Flat tax proposals differ in how the subject of the tax is defined.

True flat-rate income tax
A true flat-rate tax is a system of taxation where one tax rate is applied to all personal income with no deductions.

Marginal flat tax
Where deductions are allowed, a 'flat tax' is a progressive tax with the special characteristic that, above the maximum deduction, the marginal rate on all further income is constant. Such a tax is said to be marginally flat above that point. The difference between a true flat tax and a marginally flat tax can be reconciled by recognizing that the latter simply excludes certain types of income from being defined as taxable income; hence, both kinds of tax are flat on taxable income.

Flat tax with limited deductions
Modified flat taxes have been proposed which would allow deductions for a very few items, while still eliminating the vast majority of existing deductions. Charitable deductions and home mortgage interest are the most discussed examples of deductions that would be retained, as these deductions are popular with voters and are often used. Another common theme is a single, large, fixed deduction. This large fixed deduction would compensate for the elimination of various existing deductions and would simplify taxes, having the side-effect that many (mostly low income) households will not have to file tax returns.

Hall–Rabushka flat tax
Designed by economists at the Hoover Institution, Hall–Rabushka is a flat tax on consumption. Principally, Hall–Rabushka accomplishes a consumption tax effect by taxing income and then excluding investment. Robert Hall and Alvin Rabushka have consulted extensively in designing the flat tax systems in Eastern Europe.

Negative income tax
The negative income tax (NIT), which Milton Friedman proposed in his 1962 book Capitalism and Freedom, is a type of flat tax. The basic idea is the same as a flat tax with personal deductions, except that when deductions exceed income, the taxable income is allowed to become negative rather than being set to zero. The flat tax rate is then applied to the resulting "negative income," resulting in a "negative income tax" that the government would owe to the household—unlike the usual "positive" income tax, which the household owes the government.

For example, let the flat rate be 20%, and let the deductions be $20,000 per adult and $7,000 per dependent. Under such a system, a family of four making $54,000 a year would owe no tax. A family of four making $74,000 a year would owe tax amounting to 0.20 × (74,000 − 54,000) = $4,000, as would be the case under a flat tax system with deductions. Families of four earning less than $54,000 per year, however, would experience a "negative" amount of tax (that is, the family would receive money from the government instead of paying to the government). For example, if the family earned $34,000 a year, it would receive a check for $4,000. The NIT is intended to replace not just the USA's income tax, but also many benefits low income American households receive, such as food stamps and Medicaid. The NIT is designed to avoid the welfare trap—effective high marginal tax rates arising from the rules reducing benefits as market income rises. An objection to the NIT is that it is welfare without a work requirement. Those who would owe negative tax would be receiving a form of welfare without having to make an effort to obtain employment. Another objection is that the NIT subsidizes industries employing low-cost labor, but this objection can also be made against current systems of benefits for the working poor.

Capped flat tax
A capped flat tax is one in which income is taxed at a flat rate until a specified cap amount is reached. For example, the United States Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax is 6.2% of gross compensation up to a limit (in 2022, up to $147,000 of earnings, for a maximum tax of $9,114). This cap has the effect of turning a nominally flat tax into a regressive tax.

Requirements for a fully defined schema
In devising a flat tax system, several recurring issues must be enumerated, principally with deductions and the identification of when money is earned.

Defining when income occurs
Since a central tenet of the flat tax is to minimize the compartmentalization of incomes into myriad special or sheltered cases, a vexing problem is deciding when income occurs. This is demonstrated by the taxation of interest income and stock dividends. The shareholders own the company and so the company's profits belong to them. If a company is taxed on its profits, then the funds paid out as dividends have already been taxed. It's a debatable question if they should subsequently be treated as income to the shareholders and thus subject to further tax. A similar issue arises in deciding if interest paid on loans should be deductible from the taxable income since that interest is in-turn taxed as income to the loan provider. There is no universally agreed answer to what is fair. For example, in the United States, dividends are not deductible but mortgage interest is deductible. Thus a Flat Tax proposal is not fully defined until it differentiates new untaxed income from a pass-through of already taxed income.

Policy administration
Taxes, in addition to providing revenue, can be potent instruments of policy. For example, it is common for governments to encourage social policy such as home insulation or low income housing with tax credits rather than constituting a ministry to implement these policies. In a flat tax system with limited deductions such policy administration, mechanisms are curtailed. In addition to social policy, flat taxes can remove tools for adjusting economic policy as well. For example, in the United States, short-term capital gains are taxed at a higher rate than long-term gains as means to promote long-term investment horizons and damp speculative fluctuation. Thus, if one assumes that government should be active in policy decisions such as this, then claims that flat taxes are cheaper/simpler to administer than others are incomplete until they factor in costs for alternative policy administration.

Minimizing deductions
In general, the question of how to eliminate deductions is fundamental to the flat tax design; deductions dramatically affect the effective "flatness" in the tax rate. Perhaps the single biggest necessary deduction is for business expenses. If businesses were not allowed to deduct expenses, businesses with a profit margin below the flat tax rate could never earn any money since the tax on revenues would always exceed the earnings. For example, grocery stores typically earn pennies on every dollar of revenue; they could not pay a tax rate of 25% on revenues unless their markup exceeded 25%. Thus, corporations must be able to deduct operating expenses even if individuals cannot. A practical dilemma arises as to identifying what is an expense for a business. For example, if a peanut butter producer purchases a jar manufacturer, is that an expense (since the producer has to purchase jars somehow) or a sheltering of income through investment? Flat tax systems can differ greatly in how they accommodate such gray areas. For example, the "9-9-9" flat tax proposal would allow businesses to deduct purchases but not labor costs, which effectively taxes labor-intensive industrial revenue at a higher rate. How deductions are implemented will dramatically change the effective total tax, and thus the flatness of the tax. Thus, a flat tax proposal is not fully defined unless the proposal includes a differentiation between deductible and non-deductible expenses.

Diminishing marginal utility
Flat tax benefits higher income brackets progressively due to decline in marginal value. If a flat tax system has a large exemption, it is effectively a progressive tax. As a result, the term "flat tax" is actually a shorthand for the more proper marginally flat tax.

Administration and enforcement
One type of flat tax would be imposed on all income once; at the source of the income. Hall and Rabushka proposed an amendment to the U.S. Internal Revenue Code that would implement the variant of the flat tax they advocate. This amendment, only a few pages long, would replace hundreds of pages of statutory language (although most statutory language in taxation statutes is not directed at specifying graduated tax rates).

As it now stands, the U.S. Internal Revenue Code is over several million words long, and contains many loopholes, deductions, and exemptions which, advocates of flat taxes claim, render the collection of taxes and the enforcement of tax law complicated and inefficient.

It is further argued that current tax law slows economic growth by distorting economic incentives, and by allowing, even encouraging, tax avoidance. With a flat tax, there are fewer incentives than in the current system to create tax shelters, and to engage in other forms of tax avoidance.

Flat tax critics contend that a flat tax system could be created with many loopholes, or a progressive tax system without loopholes, and that a progressive tax system could be as simple, or simpler, than a flat tax system. A simple progressive tax would also discourage tax avoidance.

Under a pure flat tax without deductions, every tax period a company would make a single payment to the government covering the taxes on the employees and the taxes on the company profit. For example, suppose that in a given year, a company called ACME earns a profit of 3 million, spends 2 million in wages, and spends 1 million on other expenses that under the tax law is taxable income to recipients, such as the receipt of stock options, bonuses, and certain executive privileges. Given a flat rate of 15%, ACME would then owe the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) (3M + 2M + 1M) × 0.15 = 900,000. This payment would, in one fell swoop, settle the tax liabilities of ACME's employees as well as the corporate taxes owed by ACME. Most employees throughout the economy would never need to interact with the IRS, as all tax owed on wages, interest, dividends, royalties, etc. would be withheld at the source. The main exceptions would be employees with incomes from personal ventures. The Economist claims that such a system would reduce the number of entities required to file returns from about 130 million individuals, households, and businesses, as at present, to a mere 8 million businesses and self-employed.

However, this simplicity depends on the absence of deductions of any kind being allowed (or at least no variability in the deductions of different people). Furthermore, if income of differing types are segregated (e.g., pass-through, long term cap gains, regular income, etc.) then complications ensue. For example, if realized capital gains were subject to the flat tax, the law would require brokers and mutual funds to calculate the realized capital gain on all sales and redemption. If there were a gain, a tax equal to 15% of the amount of the gain would be withheld and sent to the IRS. If there were a loss, the amount would be reported to the IRS. The loss would offset gains, and then the IRS would settle up with taxpayers at the end of the period. Lacking deductions, this scheme cannot be used to implement economic and social policy indirectly by tax credits and thus, as noted above, the simplifications to the government's revenue collection apparatus might be offset by new government ministries required to administer those policies.

Revenues
Russia was considered a prime case of the success of a flat tax; the real revenues from its personal income tax rose by 25.2% in the first year after the country introduced a flat tax in 2001, followed by a 24.6% increase in the second year, and a 15.2% increase in the third year.

The Russian example is often used as proof of the validity of this analysis, despite an International Monetary Fund study in 2006 which found that there was no sign "of Laffer-type behavioral responses generating revenue increases from the tax cut elements of these reforms" in Russia or in other countries.

In 2021, Russia ended its flat tax on personal income as it introduced a second higher tax rate.

Bulgaria's entry into the EU in 2007 was marked by a spur of reforms aimed at reducing the large share of informal economic activity, estimated at 43% in 2006. Parliament approved the introduction of a 10% corporate income tax rate for 2007, to be followed by a 10% personal income tax rate the next year. The IMF was wary of this reform, arguing that the simplified tax system would lower the budget surplus and encourage a larger current account deficit. At the time of these discussions, however, the Bulgarian government did not need external financing and proceeded with its reform plans. The year 2007 brought a huge growth of revenue from corporate income tax (by 39% compared with the previous year) and surpassed the Ministry of Finance's own forecast (27% year on year). The budget surplus rose despite considerable emergency spending at the end of the year. There were several reasons for this beneficial effect: (i) the tax rate limited the incentives for tax evasion, (ii) the optimism at the beginning of the country's EU membership, (iii) and the increase in foreign direct investment, which reached an all-time annual record of €9 billion (about 11% of GDP).

Overall structure
Taxes other than the income tax (for example, taxes on sales and payrolls) tend to be regressive. Under such a structure, those with lower incomes tend to pay a higher proportion of their income in total taxes than the affluent do. The fraction of household income that is a return to capital (dividends, interest, royalties, profits of unincorporated businesses) is positively correlated with total household income. Hence a flat tax limited to wages would seem to leave the wealthy better off. Modifying the tax base can change the effects. A flat tax could be targeted at income (rather than wages), which could place the tax burden equally on all earners, including those who earn income primarily from returns on investment. Tax systems could utilize a flat sales tax to target all consumption, which can be modified with rebates or exemptions to remove regressive effects, such as the proposed FairTax in the United States.

Border adjustable
A flat tax system and income taxes overall are not inherently border-adjustable; meaning the tax component embedded into products via taxes imposed on companies (including corporate taxes and payroll taxes) are not removed when exported to a foreign country (see Effect of taxes and subsidies on price). Taxation systems such as a sales tax or value added tax can remove the tax component when goods are exported and apply the tax component on imports. The domestic products could be at a disadvantage to foreign products (at home and abroad) that are border-adjustable, which would affect the global competitiveness of a country. However, it's possible that a flat tax system could be combined with tariffs and credits to act as border adjustments (the proposed Border Tax Equity Act in the United States attempts this). Implementing an income tax with a border adjustment tax credit is a violation of the World Trade Organization agreement. Tax exemptions (allowances) on low income wages, a component of most income tax systems could mitigate this issue for high labour content industries like textiles that compete Globally.

In a subsequent section, various proposals for flat tax-like schemes are discussed, these differ mainly on how they approach with the following issues of deductions, defining income, and policy implementation.

Around the world
Most countries tax personal income at the national level using progressive rates, but some use a flat rate. Most countries that have or had a flat tax on personal income at the national level are former communist countries or islands.

In some countries, subdivisions are allowed to tax personal income in addition to the national government. Many of these subdivisions use a flat rate, even if their national government uses progressive rates. Examples are all counties and municipalities of the Nordic countries, all prefectures and municipalities of Japan, and some subdivisions of Italy and of the United States.

National or single level
The table below lists jurisdictions where personal income is taxed by only one government level, using a flat rate. It includes independent countries and other autonomous jurisdictions. The tax rate listed is the one that applies to income from work, but does not include mandatory contributions to social security. In some jurisdictions, different rates (also flat) apply to other types of income, such as from investments.

Subnational jurisdictions
The table below lists jurisdictions where personal income is taxed by multiple government levels, and at least one level uses a flat rate. The tax rates listed are those that apply to income from work, except as otherwise noted. Where a range of rates is listed, it means that the flat rate varies by location, not progressive rates.

Jurisdictions without permanent population
Despite not having a permanent population, some jurisdictions tax the local income of temporary workers, using a flat rate.

Jurisdictions reputed to have a flat tax

 * 🇦🇮 Anguilla does not have a general income tax, but since 2011 it imposes an "interim stabilisation levy" on salaries, composed of a portion paid by the employer and another paid by the employee through withholding. Each portion has a flat rate of 3%. This tax is in addition to a mandatory contribution to social security.
 * 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan imposes progressive tax rates of 14% and 25% on income from employment in the oil and gas and public sectors, but a flat tax rate of 14% on income from employment in other sectors and on investment income. It also imposes a flat tax rate of 20% on business income.
 * British Virgin Islands do not have a general income tax, but impose a payroll tax on salaries, composed of a portion paid by the employer and another paid by the employee through withholding. The employee portion has a flat rate of 8%. This tax is in addition to mandatory contributions to social security and national health insurance.
 * 🇭🇰 Hong Kong: Some sources claim that Hong Kong has a flat tax, though its salary tax structure has several different rates ranging from 2% to 17% after deductions. Taxes are capped at 15% of gross income, so this rate is applied to upper income returns if taxes would exceed 15% of gross otherwise. Accordingly, Duncan Black of the progressive media-monitoring group Media Matters for America says "Hong Kong's 'flat tax' is better described as an 'alternative maximum tax.'" Alan Reynolds of the right-libertarian think tank Cato Institute similarly notes that Hong Kong's "tax on salaries is not flat but steeply progressive."
 * 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia does not have a general income tax, but it imposes zakat (wealth tax) on the business assets of residents who are nationals of GCC countries, and income tax on the business income of residents who are not nationals of GCC countries and of nonresidents. Zakat has a flat rate of 2.5%, and income tax has a flat rate of 20%.
 * 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates do not have a general income tax, but tax business income exceeding a threshold at a flat rate of 9%.

Jurisdictions that had a flat tax

 * 🇦🇱 Albania introduced a flat tax of 10% on personal income in 2008, and replaced it with two rates of 13% and 23% in 2014.
 * Artsakh introduced a flat tax of 21% on personal income in 2014, reduced to 20% in 2019, 15% in 2021, 14% in 2022, and 13% in 2023.  In 2024, the country was dissolved and reintegrated into Azerbaijan.
 * 🇧🇾 Belarus introduced a flat tax of 12% on personal income in 2009, increased to 13% in 2015. It introduced a second higher rate of 25% in 2024.
 * 🇨🇿 Czech Republic introduced a flat tax of 15% on personal income in 2008. However, this tax also applied to employer contributions to social security and health insurance, for an effective tax rate of about 20% on income from work up to the contribution limit. In 2013, a tax of 7% was added to income from work above the contribution limit, for an effective second rate of 22%. In 2021, the tax rates became 15 and 23%, both applying to all types of income and no longer to employer contributions.
 * 🇬🇩 Grenada had a flat tax of 30% on personal income until 2014, when it introduced a second lower rate of 15%.
 * 🇬🇾 Guyana had a flat tax of 30% on personal income until 2017, when it replaced it with progressive rates of 28% and 40%.
 * 🇮🇸 Iceland introduced a national flat tax on personal income in 2007, at a rate of 22.75%. With the additional municipal tax, which was already flat, the total tax rate was up to 36%. In 2010, Iceland replaced its national flat tax with progressive rates of 24.1% to 33%. With the additional municipal tax, which remained flat, the top rate became 46.28%.
 * 🇯🇲 Jamaica had a flat tax of 25% on personal income until 2010, when it introduced additional higher rates of 27.5% and 33%. It restored the flat tax of 25% in 2011, and introduced a second higher rate of 30% in 2016.
 * 🇱🇻 Latvia introduced a flat tax of 25% on personal income in 1997. The rate was changed to 23% in 2009, 26% in 2010, 25% in 2011, 24% in 2013, and 23% in 2015. In 2018, Latvia replaced its flat tax with progressive rates of 20%, 23% and 31.4%.
 * 🇱🇹 Lithuania introduced a flat tax of 33% on personal income in 1995. The rate was changed to 27% in 2006, 24% in 2008, and 15% in 2009. In 2019, Lithuania replaced its flat tax with progressive rates of 20% and 27%.
 * 🇲🇬 Madagascar had a flat tax of 20% on personal income until 2021, when it introduced additional lower rates of 5, 10 and 15%.
 * 🇲🇺 Mauritius introduced a flat tax rate of 15% on personal income in 2009. In 2017, it introduced an additional "solidarity levy" of 5% on high income, for a combined top rate of 20%. In 2018, it introduced an additional lower rate of 10%.
 * 🇲🇳 Mongolia had a flat tax of 10% on personal income until 2023, when it introduced additional higher rates of 15 and 20%.
 * 🇲🇪 Montenegro introduced a flat tax of 15% on personal income in 2007, reduced to 12% in 2009 and 9% in 2010. It introduced a second higher rate of 15% in 2013, reduced to 13% in 2015, 11% in 2016, and eliminated in 2020, thus returning to a flat tax of 9%. It reintroduced a second higher rate of 15% in 2022.
 * 🇷🇺 Russia introduced a flat tax of 13% on personal income in 2001, and a second higher rate of 15% in 2021.
 * Saint Helena introduced a flat tax of 25% on personal income in 2012, and replaced it with two rates of 26% and 31% in 2015.
 * 🇸🇨 Seychelles had a flat tax of 15% on personal income until 2018, when it introduced additional higher rates of 20% and 30%.
 * 🇸🇰 Slovakia introduced a flat tax of 19% on personal income in 2004, and a second higher rate of 25% in 2013.
 * 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago had a flat tax of 25% on personal income until 2017, when it introduced a second higher rate of 30%.
 * 🇹🇻 Tuvalu had a flat tax of 30% on personal income until 2009, when it introduced a second lower rate of 15%.

Subnational jurisdictions

 * Alberta introduced a flat tax of 10% on personal income in 2001, and additional higher rates of 12, 13, 14 and 15% in 2016. This flat tax was in addition to the progressive rates imposed by the federal government of Canada.
 * Massachusetts introduced a flat tax of on personal income in 1917. The general rate was initially 1.5% and was changed many times, reaching a maximum of 6.25% in 1990 and 5% in 2020. Different flat rates applied to some types of investment income. In 2023, the state introduced a surtax of 4% on higher income, thus ending its flat tax system. During its existence, this flat tax was in addition to the progressive rates imposed by the federal government of the United States.
 * Tennessee introduced a flat tax on interest and dividends in 1929, at a rate of 5%. The rate was changed to 6% in 1937, 5% in 2016, 4% in 2017, 3% in 2018, 2% in 2019, 1% in 2020, and the tax was repealed in 2021. This flat tax was in addition to the progressive rates imposed by the federal government of the United States.

title: Flat tax


text:
Stone Soup

Stone Soup is a European folk story in which hungry strangers convince the people of a town to each share a small amount of their food in order to make a meal. In varying traditions, the stone has been replaced with other common inedible objects, and therefore the fable is also known as axe soup, button soup, nail soup, bolt soup, and wood soup.

Story
Some travelers come to a village, carrying nothing more than an empty cooking pot. Upon their arrival, the villagers are unwilling to share any of their food stores with the very hungry travelers. Then the travelers go to a stream and fill the pot with water, drop a large stone in it, and place it over a fire. One of the villagers becomes curious and asks what they are doing. The travelers answer that they are making "stone soup", which tastes wonderful and which they would be delighted to share with the villager, although it still needs a little bit of garnish, which they are missing, to improve the flavor.

The villager, who anticipates enjoying a share of the soup, does not mind parting with a few carrots, so these are added to the soup. Another villager walks by, inquiring about the pot, and the travelers again mention their stone soup which has not yet reached its full potential. More and more villagers walk by, each adding another ingredient, like potatoes, onions, cabbages, peas, celery, tomatoes, sweetcorn, meat (like chicken, pork and beef), milk, butter, salt and pepper. Finally, the stone (being inedible) is removed from the pot, and a delicious and nourishing pot of soup is enjoyed by travelers and villagers alike. Although the travelers have thus tricked the villagers into sharing their food with them, they have successfully transformed it into a tasty meal which they share with the donors.

Variations

 * An Eastern European variation of the story (which is similar to the Northern European rendition) is called "axe soup", with an axe as the catalyst.
 * In the French, Hungarian and Russian versions of the tale, the travelers are soldiers returning home.
 * In the Hungarian version, a single starving soldier tries to obtain food from villagers. He comes upon an old woman and tricks her into giving him the ingredients needed for the soup; At the end of the tale, they share the soup, and he sells the rock to the woman.
 * In Russian tradition, a soldier prepares "axe kasha" (Каша из топора). The tale ends with the soldier taking the axe when leaving, claiming he will eat it on the road.
 * Johann Peter Hebel wrote a German version, "Der schlaue Pilgrim" ("The Cunning Pilgrim", 1811), in which a wily pilgrim, allegedly on his way to Jerusalem, tricks a hostess step-by-step into adding rich soup ingredients to his pebble stones, finally leaving the stones uneaten.
 * In Northern European and Scandinavian countries, as well as Poland, the story is most commonly known as "nail soup", and the main character is typically a tramp looking for food and lodgings, who convinces an old woman that he will make a tasty nail soup for the both of them if she would just add a few ingredients for the garnish.
 * In the Portuguese tradition, the traveler is a monk, and the story takes place around Almeirim, Portugal. Nowadays sopa de pedra is considered a regional dish of Almeirim.

Cultural and historical references
In the Aarne–Thompson–Uther folktale classification system, this tale and set of variants is type 1548.

"Stone soup"-like collaborations
There are many examples of projects referencing the "Stone Soup" story's theme of making something significant by accumulating many small contributions. Examples include:
 * Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, a computer game which expanded on an abandoned project using contributions from many different coders
 * Stone Soup, a children's literary magazine published by the California-based Children's Art Foundation since 1973
 * Stone Soupercomputer, a computer composed of many small units
 * Stone Soup, an open-source software project aimed at providing researchers and practitioners with a framework for the development and testing of Bayesian target tracking and state estimation algorithms.

Film
The film Fandango (1985) contains a wedding sequence towards the end which builds on the Stone Soup theme. The protagonists need to hold a wedding ceremony, but they lack the necessary funds. Therefore, they set up a folding card table by the main street of a sleepy Texas town, dust it off, and invite passersby to come to the wedding. As they concoct stories of delinquent caterers and crashed champagne trucks, the friendly townspeople contribute their time and resources, the result being a magical wedding ceremony.

Literature
Gerald P. Murphy's stage adaptation of "Stone Soup" was published by Lazy Bee Scripts in 2008 and has had successful productions in US, UK and France.

Gerald Griffin wrote "The Collegians" (1829) which includes a version of limestone soup in chapter 30.

William Butler Yeats' play The Pot of Broth (1904) tells a version of the story in which a clever Irish tramp uses his wits to swindle a shrewish medieval housewife out of her dinner.

The story is the basis of Marcia Brown's 1947 children's book Stone Soup: An Old Tale (1947), which features soldiers tricking miserly villagers into cooking them a feast. The book was a Caldecott Honor book in 1948 and was read aloud by the Captain (played by Bob Keeshan) on an early episode of Captain Kangaroo in the 1950s, as well as at least once in the 1960s or early 1970s.

In 1965, Gordon R. Dickson published a short story called "Soupstone", where a headstrong pilot is sent to solve a problem on a planet under the guise of a highly educated and competent official. He succeeds by pretending to understand everything, but actually merely making the locals apply their already present knowledge and abilities to the task.

"Stone Soup" (1968), written by Ann McGovern and illustrated by Nola Langner, tells the story of a little old lady and a hungry young man at the door asking for food, and how he tricks her into making stone soup.

In 1975, Walt Disney Productions published a Wonderful World of Reading book titled Button Soup. Daisy Duck tricks Scrooge McDuck to share his food to help flavor her Button Soup.

Canadian children's author Aubrey Davis adapted the story to a Jewish context in his book Bone Button Borscht (1996). According to Davis, he wrote the story when he was unable to find a story that he liked for a Hanukkah reading. Barbara Budd's narration of Bone Button Borscht traditionally airs across Canada on CBC Radio One's As It Happens, on the first day of Hanukkah.

French author and illustrator Anais Vaugelade published a children's picture book, Une soupe au caillou, in which the tramp from the original folktale is replaced by a wandering wolf, and the old woman by a curious hen. All characters in the story are animals, gathering to help making the stone soup, each of them carrying an ingredient for the final dish.

Jon J. Muth's children's book based on the story, also called Stone Soup (2003), is set in China, as is Ying Chang's The Real Story of Stone Soup (2007).

Robert Rankin's book Nostradamus Ate My Hamster features a version of the story introduced as an old Irish tale.

Music
Shel Silverstein's song "The Wonderful Soup Stone" tells a version of this story. Bobby Bare included the song on his album Lullabys, Legends and Lies (1973). and Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show included the song on their album Belly Up! (1973).

A version of the tale written by Tom Chapin and John Forster appears on Chapin's album Mother Earth (1990).

Stone Soup – an album released in November 2001 by the UK artist Moss (a.k.a. Bernard Moss) on Pork Recordings (catalogue ref. PORK 091).

Television

 * Jim Henson's The Storyteller series contains one tale called "A Story Short", in which the Storyteller himself (played by John Hurt) is the main character. In the beginning, he arrives at a castle where a man is thrown out for begging for food. He proceeds to trick the King's cook into making stone soup. After the people are happily fed, the cook realizes what has happened and pleads with the King to let him boil the Storyteller in oil, but the King instead offers a way out — to tell him a story every day for a year instead.
 * The PBS Kids show Between the Lions featured an episode with a version of the story being read. In this version, the strangers were replaced by aliens.
 * The tale was adapted as an episode of the show Hungarian Folktales.
 * A Soviet cartoon based on the Russian variant of the tale was made in 1982.
 * Land of the Lost (1974 TV series) Season 1, Episode 14 is entitled "Stone Soup" in which Marshal (the father) uses Stone Soup to get his children to help gather things for dinner. Ta brings a bearded dragon (called an iguana) to the soup, although the second season states that Pakuni are vegetarians.
 * Little House on the Prairie Season 8, Episode 13 is entitled "Stone Soup" and has this story as its theme.
 * Robot Chicken Season 9, Episode 13 is entitled "Gimme That Chocolate Milk" and has a short sketch making fun of this parable. In it, the villagers kill the stranger who tricked them into sharing in order to cover up their "communal embarrassment".
 * The Walking Dead Season 10, Episode 21. Carol mentions the "Stone Soup" story.

Lucky Iron Fish
A contemporary twist on "nail soup" helps relieve real-world iron-deficiency anemia. The Lucky Iron Fish is a cast iron ingot in the shape of the "Try Kantrop" fish that many villagers in Cambodia consider lucky. When immersed into a simmering pot of soup, enough of the iron dissolves into the liquid to add the critical amounts of a trace nutrient needed to prevent iron-deficiency anemia.

Military tactics
US Army General George S. Patton referred to the "rock soup method" of acquiring resources for attacks in the face of official disapproval by his superiors for offensive operations. In the military context, he sent units forward, ostensibly on reconnaissance missions, where he knew resistance was to be met. "Surprised" at the enemy resistance, Patton would later request support for his scouts, and these missions eventually turned into small scale probing attacks. Then, once full combat had begun, Patton would request (or make the executive decision) to encircle or push full force against enemy resistance, under the rationale that the reinforcements were either bogged down or unable to retreat. He did this during the Battle of Sicily, in the advance on Palermo, and again in the campaign in northwest Europe, near Metz when his 3rd US Army was officially halted during Operation Market Garden.

Places
A large pool located on Karl Johan street in Oslo, funded by the steel company Christiania Spigerverk ("Christiania Nail Factory"), is nicknamed Spikersuppa ("Nail Soup") as a humorous reference to the story.

title: Stone Soup


text:
Passerine

A passerine is any bird of the order Passeriformes (from Latin passer 'sparrow' and formis '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their toes (three pointing forward and one back), which facilitates perching.

With more than 140 families and some 6,500 identified species, Passeriformes is the largest order of birds and among the most diverse clades of terrestrial vertebrates, representing 60% of birds. Passerines are divided into three suborders: Acanthisitti (New Zealand wrens), Tyranni (composed mostly of South American suboscines), and Passeri (oscines or songbirds). Passerines originated in the Southern Hemisphere around 60 million years ago.

Most passerines are insectivorous or omnivorous that eat both insects and fruit or seeds.

The terms "passerine" and "Passeriformes" are derived from the scientific name of the house sparrow, Passer domesticus, and ultimately from the Latin term passer, which refers to sparrows and similar small birds.

Description
The order is divided into three suborders, Tyranni (suboscines), Passeri (oscines or songbirds), and the basal Acanthisitti. Oscines have the best control of their syrinx muscles among birds, producing a wide range of songs and other vocalizations, though some of them, such as the crows, do not sound musical to human beings. Some, such as the lyrebird, are accomplished mimics. The New Zealand wrens are tiny birds restricted to New Zealand, at least in modern times; they were long placed in Passeri.

Most passerines are smaller than typical members of other avian orders. The heaviest and altogether largest passerines are the thick-billed raven and the larger races of common raven, each exceeding 1.5 kg and 70 cm. The superb lyrebird and some birds-of-paradise, due to very long tails or tail coverts, are longer overall. The smallest passerine is the short-tailed pygmy tyrant, at 6.5 cm and 4.2 g.

Anatomy
The foot of a passerine has three toes directed forward and one toe directed backward, called anisodactyl arrangement. The hind toe (hallux) is long and joins the leg at approximately the same level as the front toes. This arrangement enables passerine birds to easily perch upright on branches. The toes have no webbing or joining, but in some cotingas, the second and third toes are united at their basal third.

The leg of passerine birds contains an additional special adaptation for perching. A tendon in the rear of the leg running from the underside of the toes to the muscle behind the tibiotarsus will automatically be pulled and tighten when the leg bends, causing the foot to curl and become stiff when the bird lands on a branch. This enables passerines to sleep while perching without falling off.

Most passerine birds have 12 tail feathers but the superb lyrebird has 16, and several spinetails in the family Furnariidae have 10, 8, or even 6, as is the case of Des Murs's wiretail. Species adapted to tree trunk climbing such as treecreepers and woodcreeper have stiff tail feathers that are used as props during climbing. Extremely long tails used as sexual ornaments are shown by species in different families. A well-known example is the long-tailed widowbird.

Eggs and nests
The chicks of passerines are altricial: blind, featherless, and helpless when hatched from their eggs. Hence, the chicks require extensive parental care. Most passerines lay colored eggs, in contrast with nonpasserines, most of whose eggs are white except in some ground-nesting groups such as Charadriiformes and nightjars, where camouflage is necessary, and in some parasitic cuckoos, which match the passerine host's egg. The vinous-throated parrotbill has two egg colors, white and blue, to deter the brood parasitic common cuckoo.

Clutches vary considerably in size: some larger passerines of Australia such as lyrebirds and scrub-robins lay only a single egg, most smaller passerines in warmer climates lay between two and five, while in the higher latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, hole-nesting species like tits can lay up to a dozen and other species around five or six. The family Viduidae do not build their own nests, instead, they lay eggs in other birds' nests.

The Passeriformes contain several groups of brood parasites such as the viduas, cuckoo-finches, and the cowbirds.

Origin and evolution
The evolutionary history of the passerine families and the relationships among them remained rather mysterious until the late 20th century. In many cases, passerine families were grouped together on the basis of morphological similarities that, it is now believed, are the result of convergent evolution, not a close genetic relationship. For example, the wrens of the Americas and Eurasia, those of Australia, and those of New Zealand look superficially similar and behave in similar ways, yet belong to three far-flung branches of the passerine family tree; they are as unrelated as it is possible to be while remaining Passeriformes.

Advances in molecular biology and improved paleobiogeographical data gradually are revealing a clearer picture of passerine origins and evolution that reconciles molecular affinities, the constraints of morphology, and the specifics of the fossil record. The first passerines are now thought to have evolved in the Southern Hemisphere in the late Paleocene or early Eocene, around 50 million years ago.

The initial diversification of passerines coincides with the separation of the southern continents in the early Eocene. The New Zealand wrens are the first to become isolated in Zealandia, and the second split involved the origin of the Tyranni in South America and the Passeri in the Australian continent. The Passeri experienced a great radiation of forms in Australia. A major branch of the Passeri, the parvorder Passerida, dispersed into Eurasia and Africa about 40 million years ago, where they experienced further radiation of new lineages. This eventually led to three major Passerida lineages comprising about 4,000 species, which in addition to the Corvida and numerous minor lineages make up songbird diversity today. Extensive biogeographical mixing happens, with northern forms returning to the south, southern forms moving north, and so on.

Earliest passerines
Perching bird osteology, especially of the limb bones, is rather diagnostic. However, the early fossil record is poor because passerines are relatively small, and their delicate bones do not preserve well. Queensland Museum specimens F20688 (carpometacarpus) and F24685 (tibiotarsus) from Murgon, Queensland, are fossil bone fragments initially assigned to Passeriformes. However, the material is too fragmentary and their affinities have been questioned. Several more recent fossils from the Oligocene of Europe, such as Wieslochia, Jamna, Resoviaornis, and Crosnoornis, are more complete and definitely represent early passeriforms, and have been found to belong to a variety of modern and extinct lineages.

From the Bathans Formation at the Manuherikia River in Otago, New Zealand, MNZ S42815 (a distal right tarsometatarsus of a tui-sized bird) and several bones of at least one species of saddleback-sized bird have recently been described. These date from the Early to Middle Miocene (Awamoan to Lillburnian, 19–16 mya).

Early European passerines

In Europe, perching birds are not too uncommon in the fossil record from the Oligocene onward, belonging to several lineages: That suboscines expanded much beyond their region of origin is proven by several fossils from Germany such as a presumed broadbill (Eurylaimidae) humerus fragment from the Early Miocene (roughly 20 mya) of Wintershof, Germany, the Late Oligocene carpometacarpus from France listed above, and Wieslochia, among others. Extant Passeri super-families were quite distinct by that time and are known since about 12–13 mya when modern genera were present in the corvoidean and basal songbirds. The modern diversity of Passerida genera is known mostly from the Late Miocene onward and into the Pliocene (about 10–2 mya). Pleistocene and early Holocene lagerstätten (<1.8 mya) yield numerous extant species, and many yield almost nothing but extant species or their chronospecies and paleosubspecies.
 * Wieslochia (Early Oligocene of Frauenweiler, Germany) - suboscine
 * Resoviaornis (Early Oligocene of Wola Rafałowska, Poland) - oscine
 * Jamna (Early Oligocene of Jamna Dolna, Poland) - basal
 * Winnicavis (Early Oligocene of Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland)
 * Crosnoornis (Early Oligocene of Poland) - suboscine
 * Passeriformes gen. et sp. indet. (Early Oligocene of Luberon, France) – suboscine or basal
 * Passeriformes gen. et spp. indet. (Late Oligocene of France) – several suboscine and oscine taxa
 * Passeriformes gen. et spp. indet. (Middle Miocene of France and Germany) – basal?
 * Passeriformes gen. et spp. indet. (Sajóvölgyi Middle Miocene of Mátraszőlős, Hungary) – at least 2 taxa, possibly 3; at least one probably Oscines.
 * Passeriformes gen. et sp. indet. (Middle Miocene of Felsőtárkány, Hungary) – oscine?
 * Passeriformes gen. et sp. indet. (Late Miocene of Polgárdi, Hungary) – Sylvioidea (Sylviidae? Cettiidae?)

American fossils
In the Americas, the fossil record is more scant before the Pleistocene, from which several still-existing families are documented. Apart from the indeterminable MACN-SC-1411 (Pinturas Early/Middle Miocene of Santa Cruz Province, Argentina), an extinct lineage of perching birds has been described from the Late Miocene of California, United States: the Palaeoscinidae with the single genus Palaeoscinis. "Palaeostruthus" eurius (Pliocene of Florida) probably belongs to an extant family, most likely passeroidean.

Systematics and taxonomy
The Passeriformes is currently divided into three suborders: Acanthisitti (New Zealand wrens), Tyranni, (suboscines) and Passeri (oscines or songbirds). The Passeri is now subdivided into two major groups recognized now as Corvides and Passerida respectively containing the large superfamilies Corvoidea and Meliphagoidea, as well as minor lineages, and the superfamilies Sylvioidea, Muscicapoidea, and Passeroidea but this arrangement has been found to be oversimplified. Since the mid-2000s, studies have investigated the phylogeny of the Passeriformes and found that many families from Australasia traditionally included in the Corvoidea actually represent more basal lineages within oscines. Likewise, the traditional three-superfamily arrangement within the Passeri has turned out to be far more complex and will require changes in classification.

Major "wastebin" families such as the Old World warblers and Old World babblers have turned out to be paraphyletic and are being rearranged. Several taxa turned out to represent highly distinct lineages, so new families had to be established, some of theirs – like the stitchbird of New Zealand and the Eurasian bearded reedling – monotypic with only one living species. In the Passeri alone, a number of minor lineages will eventually be recognized as distinct superfamilies. For example, the kinglets constitute a single genus with less than 10 species today but seem to have been among the first perching bird lineages to diverge as the group spread across Eurasia. No particularly close relatives of theirs have been found among comprehensive studies of the living Passeri, though they might be fairly close to some little-studied tropical Asian groups. Nuthatches, wrens, and their closest relatives are currently grouped in a distinct super-family Certhioidea.

Taxonomic list of Passeriformes families

This list is in taxonomic order, placing related families next to one another. The families listed are those recognised by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC). The order and the division into infraorders, parvorders, and superfamilies follows the phylogenetic analysis published by Carl Oliveros and colleagues in 2019. The relationships between the families in the suborder Tyranni (suboscines) were all well determined but some of the nodes in Passeri (oscines or songbirds) were unclear owing to the rapid splitting of the lineages.

Suborder Acanthisitti

 * Acanthisittidae: New Zealand wrens

Suborder Tyranni (suboscines)
Infraorder Eurylaimides: Old World suboscines Infraorder Tyrannides: New World suboscines
 * Philepittidae: asities
 * Eurylaimidae: typical broadbills
 * Calyptomenidae: African and green broadbills
 * Sapayoidae: broad-billed sapayoa
 * Pittidae: pittas

Parvorder Furnariida Parvorder Tyrannida
 * Melanopareiidae: crescentchests
 * Conopophagidae: gnateaters and gnatpittas
 * Thamnophilidae: antbirds
 * Grallariidae: antpittas
 * Rhinocryptidae: typical tapaculos
 * Formicariidae: antthrushes
 * Furnariidae: ovenbirds and woodcreepers
 * Pipridae: manakins
 * Cotingidae: cotingas
 * Tityridae: tityras and allies
 * Tyrannidae: tyrant flycatchers

Suborder Passeri (oscines or songbirds)

 * Atrichornithidae: scrub-birds
 * Menuridae: lyrebirds
 * Climacteridae: Australian treecreepers
 * Ptilonorhynchidae: bowerbirds
 * Maluridae: fairywrens, emu-wrens and grasswrens
 * Dasyornithidae: bristlebirds
 * Pardalotidae: pardalotes
 * Acanthizidae: scrubwrens, thornbills, and gerygones
 * Meliphagidae: honeyeaters
 * Pomatostomidae: pseudo-babblers
 * Orthonychidae: logrunners

 * Infraorder Corvides – previously known as the parvorder Corvida
 * Cinclosomatidae: jewel-babblers, quail-thrushes
 * Campephagidae: cuckooshrikes and trillers
 * Mohouidae: whiteheads
 * Neosittidae: sittellas
 * Superfamily Orioloidea
 * Psophodidae: whipbirds
 * Eulacestomatidae: wattled ploughbill
 * Falcunculidae: shriketit
 * Oreoicidae: Australo-Papuan bellbirds
 * Paramythiidae: painted berrypeckers
 * Vireonidae: vireos
 * Pachycephalidae: whistlers
 * Oriolidae: Old World orioles and figbirds
 * Superfamily Malaconotoidea

 * Machaerirhynchidae: boatbills
 * Artamidae: woodswallows, butcherbirds, currawongs, and Australian magpie
 * Rhagologidae: mottled berryhunter
 * Malaconotidae: puffback shrikes, bush shrikes, tchagras, and boubous
 * Pityriaseidae: bristlehead
 * Aegithinidae: ioras
 * Platysteiridae: wattle-eyes and batises
 * Vangidae: vangas
 * Superfamily Corvoidea
 * Rhipiduridae: fantails
 * Dicruridae: drongos
 * Monarchidae: monarch flycatchers
 * Ifritidae: blue-capped ifrit
 * Paradisaeidae: birds-of-paradise
 * Corcoracidae: white-winged chough and apostlebird
 * Melampittidae: melampittas
 * Laniidae: shrikes
 * Platylophidae: jayshrike
 * Corvidae: crows, ravens, and jays

 * Infraorder Passerides – previously known as the parvorder Passerida
 * Cnemophilidae: satinbirds
 * Melanocharitidae: berrypeckers and longbills
 * Callaeidae: New Zealand wattlebirds
 * Notiomystidae: stitchbird
 * Petroicidae: Australian robins
 * Eupetidae: rail-babbler
 * Picathartidae: rockfowl
 * Chaetopidae: rock-jumpers

 * Parvorder Sylviida – previously known as the superfamily Sylviodea
 * Hyliotidae: hyliotas
 * Stenostiridae: fairy flycatchers
 * Paridae: tits, chickadees and titmice
 * Remizidae: penduline tits
 * Panuridae: bearded reedling
 * Alaudidae: larks
 * Nicatoridae: nicators
 * Macrosphenidae: crombecs and African warblers
 * Cisticolidae: cisticolas and allies

 * Superfamily Locustelloidea
 * Acrocephalidae: reed warblers, Grauer's warbler and allies
 * Locustellidae: grassbirds and allies
 * Donacobiidae: black-capped donacobius
 * Bernieridae: Malagasy warblers

 * Pnoepygidae: wren-babblers
 * Hirundinidae: swallows and martins

 * Superfamily Sylvioidea
 * Pycnonotidae: bulbuls
 * Sylviidae: sylviid babblers
 * Paradoxornithidae: parrotbills and myzornis
 * Zosteropidae: white-eyes
 * Timaliidae: tree babblers
 * Leiothrichidae: laughingthrushes and allies
 * Alcippeidae: Alcippe fulvettas
 * Pellorneidae: ground babblers

 * Superfamily Aegithaloidea
 * Phylloscopidae: leaf-warblers and allies
 * Hyliidae: hylias
 * Aegithalidae: long-tailed tits or bushtits
 * Scotocercidae: streaked scrub warbler
 * Cettiidae: Cettia bush warblers and allies
 * Erythrocercidae: yellow flycatchers

 * Parvorder Muscicapida – previously known as the superfamily Muscicapoidea
 * Superfamily Bombycilloidea
 * Dulidae: palmchat
 * Bombycillidae: waxwings
 * Ptiliogonatidae: silky flycatchers
 * Hylocitreidae: hylocitrea
 * Hypocoliidae: hypocolius
 * †Mohoidae: oos

 * Superfamily Muscicapoidea
 * Elachuridae: spotted elachura
 * Cinclidae: dippers
 * Muscicapidae: Old World flycatchers and chats
 * Turdidae: thrushes and allies
 * Buphagidae: oxpeckers
 * Sturnidae: starlings and rhabdornis
 * Mimidae: mockingbirds and thrashers

 * Regulidae: goldcrests and kinglets
 * Superfamily Certhioidea
 * Tichodromidae: wallcreeper
 * Sittidae: nuthatches
 * Certhiidae: treecreepers
 * Polioptilidae: gnatcatchers
 * Troglodytidae: wrens

 * Parvorder Passerida – previously known as the superfamily Passeroidea
 * Promeropidae: sugarbirds
 * Modulatricidae: dapple-throat and allies
 * Nectariniidae: sunbirds
 * Dicaeidae: flowerpeckers
 * Chloropseidae: leafbirds
 * Irenidae: fairy-bluebirds
 * Peucedramidae: olive warbler
 * Urocynchramidae: Przewalski's finch
 * Ploceidae: weavers
 * Viduidae: indigobirds and whydahs
 * Estrildidae: waxbills, munias and allies
 * Prunellidae: accentors
 * Passeridae: Old World sparrows and snowfinches
 * Motacillidae: wagtails and pipits
 * Fringillidae: finches and euphonias
 * Superfamily Emberizoidea – previously known as the New World nine-primaried oscines
 * Rhodinocichlidae: rosy thrush-tanager
 * Calcariidae: longspurs and snow buntings
 * Emberizidae: buntings
 * Cardinalidae: cardinals
 * Mitrospingidae: mitrospingid tanagers
 * Thraupidae: tanagers and allies
 * Passerellidae: New World sparrows, bush tanagers
 * Parulidae: New World warblers
 * Icteriidae: yellow-breasted chat
 * Icteridae: grackles, New World blackbirds, and New World orioles
 * Calyptophilidae: chat-tanagers
 * Zeledoniidae: wrenthrush
 * Teretistridae: Cuban warblers
 * Nesospingidae: Puerto Rican tanager
 * Spindalidae: spindalises
 * Phaenicophilidae: Hispaniolan tanagers

Phylogeny
Relationships between living Passeriformes families based on the phylogenetic analysis of Oliveros et al (2019). Some terminals have been renamed to reflect families recognised by the IOC but not in that study. The IOC families Alcippeidae and Teretistridae were not sampled in this study.

title: Passerine


text:
Talk:Fast food restaurant

Maybe fast food should be directed to this article.

 * I think the other way around. When is the hyphen used?  -- Zoe

Removed...

 * Because low prices are key to fast-food competitiveness, a race to the bottom in ingredient standards applies—cutting costs and finding the cheapest global sources for each ingredient—is the major focus of most fast-food head offices.

Ingredients are generally not a large component of fast food and obtaining cheap global supplies aren't a major concern of fast food headquarters.

Quotes removed from article

 * Burger Barn in the movie What's Eating Gilbert Grape. A major event in the small fictional town of Endora, Iowa, is the arrival of the prefabricated restaurant. Quotes:
 * Tucker: They use canola oil, okay? Do you know what canola oil is?  Probably don't.  Probably don't even sell it at Lamson's Grocery.  It's cutting edge!  It creates a crispier french fry and a more unique product.  And Burger Barn... forget Wendy's, forget Burger King, forget McDonald's, that's like old hat.  Burger Barn is cutting edge.  I mean, I could really stand behind it.  It's an innovative place!
 * Arnie: Hey!  Hey!  Look at here!  Look at here!  Look what's coming!  Look, look it's coming!  It's here, huh Gilbert!  You see it, huh!  It's the Burger Barn, Gilbert, the Burger Barn!  Gilbert it's the Burger Barn!  Aaaaa!  Burger Barn!  Aaaa!

Use of hyphen
Why is fast-food hyphenated? The fast food article doesn't have one. If anyone fixes/changes this, though, be sure to fix the double redirects, as many pages link here. – Jrdioko (Talk)  02:51, 23 Jun 2004 (UTC)

 * The hyphen is for a compound adjective. "Fast food" as a noun needs no hyphen, but in "fast-food restaurant" the two words form a compound adjective modifying "restaurant".  --Ben Kovitz 20:16, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Local chains
Removed "241 Pizza" - I figure a chain should be at a minimum province-wide if not larger to merit inclusion. Otherwise, you'd need an entire page just for chains in Toronto... Krupo 05:44, Sep 3, 2004 (UTC)
 * Burgerville is a chain in Oregon, Washington & Idaho, would that be considered large enough for reference being three states in the Pacific Northwest? I also remember former chains that seemed to be everywhere in the pacific northwest of the USA, "Rex's" (I believe that was the name) in the 80's, it was geared toward younger children and had a dinosaur mascot, though its food reminded me a lot of Arby's, and 'Hot 'n Now' in the mid-90's, which was drive-through only. Nagelfar 01:43, 17 November 2005 (UTC)
 * Burgerville is already included, but not as a fast food chain, because it's not a fast food chain. --Randal L. Schwartz 15:32, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

 * It was called Rax, i think the mascot was a raccoon and had other woodland creatures as his pals and was like Arby's, may have been a competitor and was bought out or became Arbys, ahh childhood.:

Marty

Cleanup: Hit-and-miss URL's
It looks awful having links to some chains' homepages, and not to others. I suggest an all-or-nothing approach. My idea is to remove all URL's and move them onto the pages for the chains in particular - if they're to stay at all. Comments? Krupo 05:50, Sep 3, 2004 (UTC)

 * After thinking about it, it might be logical to seperate this into a "list of fast-food restaurants" article, and a seperate fast-food restaurant article. On a related note, I wonder if it wouldn't make sense to consolidate fast-food restaurant with fast food... ? What are the key differences between the articles? Krupo 01:14, Sep 4, 2004 (UTC)

 * I agree, this be divided into a list of fast food restaurants. I'll do it if no one objects. Jaberwocky6669 July 2, 2005 08:49 (UTC)

Edited
My changes remove the pointless links to fast food restraunts that make the page seem more like an advertisement then anything else, after all anyone can find the McDonalds website, it also adds some more upto date content and links to static news pages to support the content.
 * Oh god. If I want to know if Subway is in Thailand, I can see it here, no problem. If I want to check there website, I have to hunt. Leave it be. Also, it leads to our article on each chain, many of the chains are a part of local pop culture. --  user:zanimum

Also ive added a link to the Fast Food article. I think that this page does though differ from the Fast Food article but more can be done to seperate the two, mostly due to the broadness that the Fast Food term covers and less to do with the shortfallings of this article.

Merge proposal
I'm proposing a Fast food, an article that has a little more meat (pun intended) than this one but that would benefit from the addition of the content that's here. I don't see any real separation between the concepts "fast food" and "fast food restaurant;" the latter is merely a place that serves the former, and unless this article is going to discuss questions of layout and architecture, they should probably be a single article. As part of the merge, the extensive list of restaurants and chains on this page would (should?) go to a new list page, such as List of major fast-food restaurants, that would be prominently linked on the merged page. Thanks. | Klaw ¡digame! 16:32, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Fast food restaurant which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 10:03, 25 July 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Fast food restaurant