Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of
the All-american Meal by Eric
Schlosser
Well Written And Informative
On any given day, one out of four Americans opts for a quick and cheap
meal at a fast-food restaurant, without giving either its speed or its
thriftiness a second thought. Fast food is so ubiquitous that it now seems
as American, and harmless, as apple pie. But the industrys drive for
consolidation, homogenization, and speed has radically transformed
Americas diet, landscape, economy, and workforce, often in insidiously
destructive ways. Eric Schlosser, an award-winning journalist, opens his
ambitious and ultimately devastating exposé with an introduction to the
iconoclasts and high school dropouts, such as Harlan Sanders and the
McDonald brothers, who first applied the principles of a factory assembly
line to a commercial kitchen. Quickly, however, he moves behind the
counter with the overworked and underpaid teenage workers, onto the
factory farms where the potatoes and beef are grown, and into the
slaughterhouses run by giant meatpacking corporations. Schlosser wants

you to know why those French fries taste so good (with a visit to the worlds
largest flavor company) and what really lurks between those sesame-seed
buns. Eater beware: forget your concerns about cholesterol, there is--
literally--feces in your meat. Schlossers investigation reaches its
frightening peak in the meatpacking plants as he reveals the almost
complete lack of federal oversight of a seemingly lawless industry. His
searing portrayal of the industry is disturbingly similar to Upton Sinclairs
The Jungle, written in 1906: nightmare working conditions, union busting,
and unsanitary practices that introduce E. coli and other pathogens into
restaurants, public schools, and homes. Almost as disturbing is his
description of how the industry both feeds and feeds off the young,
insinuating itself into all aspects of childrens lives, even the pages of their
school books, while leaving them prone to obesity and disease.
Fortunately, Schlosser offers some eminently practical remedies. Eating in
the United States should no longer be a form of high-risk behavior, he
writes. Where to begin? Ask yourself, is the true cost of having it your way
really worth it? --Lesley Reed
Personal Review: Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-
american Meal by Eric Schlosser
Millions of people and many organizations are actively protesting and
agitating for better health care coverage and medical treatment. After
reading FAST FOOD NATION I began to think that the same effort by the
same groups should be castigating our fast food chains for ruining their
health and making medical treatment more necessary.
This is not placing blame on the populace, but on the greed and
thoughtlessness of most fast food chains and processors.
The author does not write in generalities. He names names and tells the
sordid details of the food chain--especially when it comes to meat and
poultry.
And food is not the only topic. You will be appalled at the working
conditions of fast food workers, too. And how the original suppliers of
food--the farmers and ranchers--are being forced into near servitude to the
large, economically and politically powerful purveyors of fast food, whether
such food is ready to eat or bought at a supermarket.
There are too many well-researched facts in this book, but I will mention a
few:
1. In 1970 kids drank twice as much milk as they did soda (with 8-12
teaspoons of sugar per 12 ounces); in 2000, that was reversed.
2. Too many school districts have installed TV in classrooms and require it
to be turned on daily for a period of time. The advertisers are fast food
chains.
3. None of the workers at 15,000-plus McDonald's in the U.S. is
represented by a union--mostly because the typical worker quits or is fired

every 3-4 months! And the U.S. government (we tax payers) subsidize the
training of new employees; the more they quit, the more the money rolls in.
4. Eleven years ago (what's it like today?) more fast food restaurant
workers were murdered on the job in the U.S. than police officers. A great
job for young people.
5. At least when this book was written, the farmer got only 2 cents out of
$1.50 sale of, for example, french fries. This is basically because buyers
of farm produce band together to push down the price. So, many small
farmers need a second job.
6. Chicken McNuggets contain twice the fat per ounce as a hamburger--all
due to processing and additives.
7. The suicide rate among ranchers and farmers in the U.S. is three times
higher than the national average.
8. The annual cost of obesity (which rose with the popularity of the fast
food chains) is now twice as large as the fast food industry's total
revenues. So, the low price of fast food does not reflect its real cost (p.
261).
Is there a solution to the choke hold the fast food mentality has on our food
growing and distribution system? Yes. Read the book to find out how
"people can be fed without being fattened or deceived." According to the
author, at least 70 percent of all adult visits to fast food chains are
impulsive, not intentional. The solution to the negative effects of fast food?
Just say no.
Following in this vein, you might want to see the independent film FOOD,
INC. Look it up via a search engine to see when it is showing in your neck
of the woods.
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