Rating: 
Summary: Pssst! Pass it On!
Review: Share this book with someone you love. I found it completely fascinating.
Rating: 
Summary: Less of a polemic than I expected
Review: I was sure, when I picked up this book, that it would push me back toward those years in the 70s when we all seemed to think that vegetarianism was the logical answer just about everything that was wrong with the world. So I was surprised that Eric Schlosser wasn't really pushing that philosophy; he's not truly anti-hamburger, he's just in favor of healthy hamburger. Healthy for everyone: cowboys, consumers, corporations, and even the cows.
One effect of those who read Fast Food Nation will probably be a severe lessening in how mindlessly they turn into McDonald's or Burger King when hunger hits on the Interstate. Instead, you just might find yourself looking for kosher and organic meats and packing your own lunches before heading off on a trip to Disneyland.
A much-needed book.
Rating:
Summary: great expose
Review: Do not read this book if you can't live without McDonalds. This book gets to the bottom, and mostly disgusting details of the fast food industry in this country. It is not for those with weak stomachs. For example: there is a section on the worst jobs in America (like those who clean up the slaughterhouses). If you read this book and still frequent McD's, Burger King, or any of the other places mentioned in it...I don't know whether to congratulate you or smack you upside the head. This book should be required reading for the entire nation. How long are we going to simply comment on the obesity epidemic instead of actually doing something about it?
Rating:
Summary: Before You Attack Your Next Big Mac. . . .
Review: Take the time to read this book, and learn how even the simple act of ordering a Big Mac can ripple. From how the fast food industry evolved, to the people behind the counter, to how the fast food industry has created a agricultural industry that may remind some of sweatshops, this book will open eyes. It also shows what can happen when a handful of companies get control of an industry and how powerful corporations can become (guess who one of the leading opponents of a higher minimum wage is). I now understand that "Mad Cow" in the US was a matter of time coming. I swore off fast food after reading this. With a microwave, one can easily break free of "Fast Food" Nation.
Rating:
Summary: Fast Food Nation: thorough, readable + shows the way forward
Review: Mr. Schlosser catalogues the problems with the fast food and meat industries. He does a very throrough job and writes a healthily disturbing and highly readable book. Fast Food Nation would only be tough reading if one were to strongly believe that no problems exist in the food industry, and it would only be tough then due to the devastation caused to this asinine belief. For me, the fact of the problems with feedlots and slaughterhouses were not a surprise (I'm originally from KC and have seen inside a variety of industrial places, including meatpacking). The proposition that fast food does not constitute a healthy diet is a cliche. As a young adult, one can opt out of this system with a somewhat careful diet. But now as a parent, it is different. Parents should read or at least look through this book, because fast food is made for kids. Unless you are extremely rigorous, you won't opt out: They will eat fast food. You need to know how and why the e coli outbreak occured. You need to understand the character of the industry. The comment was made by a reviewer or two that the book is short on solutions. This is false. Fast Food Nation contains a couple of chapters about what Mr. Schlosser believes will work (to ameliorate the worst excesses of the industry) and what won't. Since there are two reviers who feel that there are no solutions presented (I don't know what sort of presentation they were expecting, perhaps a checklist, or a ready-made series of letters to the congressman, the editor, and others), I'll summarize from memory. First of all, Schlosser acknowledges that in the current anti-government (some would say right-wing, but let's just call it what it truly is: anti-government) political climate, government regulation is hard to legislate and hard to enforce. More regulation would work in theory, and this would definitely be a solution if the public experiences a true panic. But short of this, the anti-government politicos have the day. This is an important acknowledgment that he makes, and it shows him to be a smart guy (if you didn't know already). There is nothing the American middle class can do about the anti-government environment, because it's our own (American bourgeois here, loud and clear) beloved and messed-up political world-view that has been growing since the time of Watergate. There would have to be a sea-change in basic opinion for new regulation or increased rigor in government regulation to become feasable. Schlosser doesn't explain this. He doesn't have to explain it to an American reader. I'm doing so because all this may not be obvious to foreign readers who don't get to read our wonderful editorial pages every day. What Schlosser does do is point out that buyer regulation is highly effective. Meat ain't no free market (what is?): McDonalds is a 900-pound gorilla here. Were McDonalds (or Burger King, Safeway, Kroger, what have you) to desire strongly enough *any industry reforms*, these reforms would happen in the name of competition. Schlosser says that we (the US middle-class consuming public) can make it happen, and I believe him. I won't go over Schlosser's analysis in much detail, just will note that it works with Whole Foods and a couple of other large healthy-food buyers. They want free range chickens and grass fed beef and clean union (well maybe non-union -- to fogeys like me, union means fairness and accoutability) slaughterhouses and have the clout to demand them. The solution is for you (Mr. Spero) to have a talk with your supermarket manager. Tell him the kind of food products you want to purchase. You also want to know more about who controls the slaughterhouses and how their quality and accountability processes work. If you can't find out because the meatpacker has something to hide, maybe that kosher-capable packer who provides decent benefits would be a better supplier. For Safeway. For Burger King. (There's the clout aspect of it). I can almost see the advertisements. Suddenly, "It's Bacteria-Pack'd!" could lose a big 'ol account. They have their own clout, and maybe they will buy into this clean food idea. No dummies there at IBP. See how that talk with Mr. Supermarket manager goes. You may have to switch markets. You'll know if that's the case. Little things, really, and nothing may come of any one thing. But if four or five people do it... Keep on doing it... If some actually write letters to Safeway or Kroger... For McDonalds and Burger King -- their public needs to let them know what product improvements they want. Because these companies have the clout and the money to do it. Exactly how? What do you want? Schlosser shows us the way. We have only to work out the details.
Rating:
Summary: Talk about a book that changes your perspective
Review: As Americans we often see fast food as a benign institution that, aside from the health risks, exemplifies the wholsomeness of American capitalism. Schlosser, however, begs to differ. In this engaging book, he exposes the avarice of many businessmen at various levels of the fast food industry, the not-so-appetizing additives and ingredients of the food, how fast food's expansion has become a model for the modern economy, and even takes us into the Jungle-like slaughterhouse full of filth, crewed once again by immigrants, where the worst parts of the cow are once again thrown into the meat. The ideal time has come for Schlosser's message to be heard. Although much of Schlosser's health caution in the book refers to E.coli, he does include an addendum on Mad Cow, which has become a bigger health risk since the discovery of Mad Cow in the United States. With the current crisis continuing, the book's important points become impossible to ignore, as this book actually predicted the Mad Cow outbreak (he noted how brain and spinal-column matter was fed to cows). Put simply, the time has come for all of us to reevaluate the fast food industry. A good place to start is with this book, which contains a wealth of information on the subject.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific journalism -- short on solutions
Review: I opened Fast Food Nation expecting a vicious indictment of McDonald's, Burger King and associates. Instead, I got a richly entertaining story showing me the people, animals, social forces and cultural movements involved in the fast food industry. I learned that fast food and industrial agriculture in some ways are not so bad. In other ways, they are horrifying nightmares that have driven me away from commercially produced meat, hopefully forever. An example of Not So Bad -- I hadn't considered that, for many poor families, eating at McDonald's was the first time they had ever been able to eat out in their entire lives. Example of Unbelievably Awful -- the conditions on factory farms and slaughterhouses, staffed by immigrant workers who are frequently injured, raising animals who rarely get to move, are exceedingly fat and often infected with e coli and other germs. Of course, these farms and processing plants provide food to many markets and restaurants, not just fast food places. Schlosser introduces us to fascinating people, including the founders of McDonald's, the Idaho godfather of French fries, slaughterhouse workers, ranchers, the chemists who create the tastes we eat in all processed foods, and many more. One weakness is that Schlosser doesn't say much about improving the situation for consumers, workers or animals. He does present some ideas for legislation, but most of the changes that might happen in response to Fast Food Nation are individual food choices. To deal with the health issues (such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity), I believe individuals, families, communities, businesses and governments need to take strong actions. Hopefully, the fast food companies will be part of the solution by selling healthier food (like McDonald's new salads) and pressuring suppliers to make farms and processing plants more humane and healthful. David Spero RN, author of "The Art of Getting Well: Maximizing Health When You Have a Chronic Illness," and the upcoming "The Politics of Diabetes: Social Causes, Costs and Cures of an Epidemic" (out in 2005.) www.DavidSperoRN.com
Rating:
Summary: It was good
Review: The book was really interesting, it provided a thorough background to how the fast food nation started and the ways it kept in business by tagging along with other businesses. I've only read a little bit of the book but it seems very educational.
I usualy don't eat fast food but this book is an excelent example why not to. The way the slaughter houses used to work is disgusting, cows with all sorts of diseases were hauled or drug in that couldn't walk, now they're banning downer cows but it's only a glimpse of what the companies do.
Rating:
Summary: A humble foreign opinion...
Review: on that book and the reviews I read: Calm down. Geez Loueeze, I am deeply repelled by the constant "He is as left-wing as can get" as well as the "facts are not true, I don't care! Period" outcries (forgive my miserable spelling - German origin).
Schlosser does an excellent job, he provides those who care with footnotes, and as far as I looked them up, they supported the relevant facts. Furthermore, if you are not interested in the problems that people all over the world have w/ fast food business, just don't read books about it: You knew what was up to come when you were buying it, didn't you? I don't buy chess books because I don't care for chess! I didn't know about ninety percent of the facts in there, and even though I am German, I had an American Girlfriend for two years, so I've visited the States and Canada often enough to know what I talk about: Fast Food is cheaper in the states, it is lower quality, and it makes you fat. It is bad for children, but fewer people than in Europe seem to care. Lots of money is involved, and lots of money means: distorted public opinions. If Schlosser gave his personal opinion on some viewpoints (and he does it sparsely, including well-chosen words not immediately setting your mind pro or contra a topic) - it's a book, not a news report. The fact that even with careful formulations it still seems to be so negative: that must be the topic he is writing about. And to all of you out there: It is not a bad thing to be "left-winged", just as it is not a bad thing to be "right-winged" or anything. It's called political freedom, and if critical journalism means "left-winged" - well, to hell with it, I wish more left-winged people were around. 4 Stars as there are also topics in it I don't really care for and that didn't have anything to do with the title - for the rest, it was informative, well-researched and came up with some surprising facts.
Rating: 
Summary: "Feel Good" book. Everyone is Happy.
Review: all the fat people will be happy to read this book which tells them "it ain't your fault that you are so fat". it is the fault of multi nationals which have been brain washing you since when you were a little baby. it was the fault of government (federal,state, local and your neighborhood school district) that they force fed you with the gringo diet and that the government gives "corporate welfare" to the evil corporations which made fat that you can't even see you own toes in the shower. yes, we know that you want to trim down and eat healthy but since you are dumb and stupid and you have no choice but just follow the "behavior modification psychology" of the evil big corporations, you are behaving like a zombie and you cannot change. so, it is really not your fault. don't blame yourself. What is the solution? Yes, the book got it. Since the fault is with the corporations, government and legislation, the fat citizenry must legislate to promote "organic farming", "small family run farms." stop the "corporate welfare" but start pumping moneys to the "good food providers" (good as determined by the writer and that we MUST believe that organic food is good for you, small farm is good for you). how do we get the money to enforce all these? you got it. MORE TAXES. more taxes on the evil corporations, the "rich". Now of course, the book did not write about the fact that the "authentic american cuisine/diet" for 200 plus years is totally fat laden. that a mediterrenean, asian diet (as in chinese, japanese but not East Indian) are lean and light. but then, since most of you are zombies, that's not the kind of questions you want to ask and diminish the "feel good" sentiment. so, let's feel good and know that i am a fatso because of the evil corporations. $12- well spent!
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