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Summary: You won't look at Fast Food in the same way again!
Review: I have found this book to be very enlightening, and certainly changed my view on the fast food industry. The light that Scholosser paints is not favorable, its dark, and seedy. Many of us went through the rite of passage working in this industry at one point or another. My personal experience wasn't pleasant, but I thought it was just me.The masterminds behind large fast food companies, keep low wages in place in the guise that they will have to raise prices if they don't. They lobby and try to influence legislation to keep the minimum wage down. They purposefully force farmers and ranchers into cutting their profits to take their bids. Meat packing plants that package for these companies, are also under huge cost pressures, and aren't always known for the safest work places. I found his take on marketing to children certainly influces food choices of individuals for life, so best to start them off young at going to fast food to be a very skilled plan to keep business coming. While his viewpoints may be a bit extreme, it is an industry that keeps wages down. These workers get few benefits, all in the name of profits. The book does paint a dark picture of the industry, but it also notes a few chains that aren't so harsh, and that do take good care of its workers. Whatever your opinion of this book is, after reading it you won't look the same way at fast food again.
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Summary: anyone notice this?
Review: did anyone else notice that Arby's is not mentioned at all in this book? Does anyone find that suspicious? It's not even in the index...
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Summary: Ugh. Will make you mad and queasy.
Review: I never held any fast food company up to very high standards, but I was still shocked by what I read in this book. Schlosser shows that fast food problems extend far beyond the quality and cleanliness of the food the customer eats. The taint goes to meatpacking firms, the conglomeration of agriculture worldwide, a permanent lower class of low-skill, low-paid workers, the ghetto-ization and homogenization of world culture...or at least this is the case that Schlosser tries to make. He is more convincing in some parts than others. But the overall picture he provides is the same...fast food is ultimately a dangerous and immoral trend, and the solution lies with customers making smarter, more informed decisions.
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Summary: More Relevant Than Ever
Review: I highly recommend this book, it is a "Frontline" type piece on the fast food industry. Schlosser presents a well researched, thorough, engaging expose on the fast food industry, an industry that is addicted to cheapness, like a junkie is to heroin. The author provides a detailed chronicle of the entire fast food value chain, from genetically modified crops on the farm to flavor-enhancing processing, through preparation and delivery by minimum wage drones. This is a business that seems to have lost its morals in the quest for huge profits, profits subsidized by taxpayers through corporate welfare handouts and by lazy consumers who don't think twice about what a $0.59 hamburger really means. I read this book when it first came out, and am now reading it again as the story of the Hepatitis outbreak at the Pittsburgh Chi-Chi's unfolds. The book is a quick read, and one that you will find hard to put down once you start. After reading, hopefully you'll think twice about eating fake food in fake restaurants run by fake corporate executives.
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Summary: Read it-- you'll still eat Big Macs
Review: Great book. Eminently readable, despite the obviously huge amount of research behind the author's claims. I still eat McDonalds, though at least now I am conscious of the meanings of that choice.
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Summary: A look into the Fast Food World
Review: Eric Schlosser takes you into the fast food industry world and how its negligence, advanced technology and marketing strategies impact us as a society and as individuals. He clearly has done thorough research. I have always been skeptical of fast food pit stops; this intriguing book reinforces my reasons why. I'm eager to read his current book "Reefer Madness."
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Summary: Dead-on.
Review: This book has special value to me, as I lived quite near the Wendy's he mentions in a chapter, the Wendy's that was the site of a grisly killing, and in this economy, I have worked many,many bad fast food jobs, no names need be mentioned, only the mention of the sheer misery of it need be,well, mentioned. I had written a comedy piece for a failed website in which Ray Kroc was a evil overlord from another dimension who came here to drive wages down and gentrify the US economy, not terribly insane, considering the massive sprawl and the never ending mobius strip of fast-food on many of America's retail corridors. Read this book and understand.
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Summary: Upton Sinclair all over again
Review: The New York Times did well to praise the muckraking prowess of Eric Schlosser. Fast Food Nation provides a litany of well-researched, verifiable facts (though some are rather misleading) about the fast food industry. For liberal readers the book reaffirms feelings about big business and fast food, and moderates will feel a great desire to abandon fast food altogether. Conservatives, particularly far-right conservatives, may find the book to be a left-biased, Republican-bashing, illogical rant of conspiracies.
Nonetheless, I encourage people of all political colour to read it (with a very open mind), because it is far from being a crazy leftist rant. On the contrary, it is a powerful exposé, thoroughly documenting the manner in which the fast food industry abuses its workers, the terror of working in a meatpacking plant, and the iron grip the two industries have on the U.S. government. Far from being a conspiracy theory, Fast Food Nation details the extremes to which both industries go to protect their business interests.
Once again, no matter what political background you ascribe to, I highly recomend that you read this book. If approached with an open mind, it will change forever how you view corporate America and fast food.
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Summary: fast food nation review
Review: everything you could had have ever wanted to know about fast food is in this book, in most cases it is everything you have ever wanted to not know about fast food. Overall it is a really good book written really well, so read it!
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Summary: why this relates to everyone in America
Review: Why you ask, should I read this book? Well, if you have ever eaten in a fast food restaurant, worked for one, or have passed by one you must read this book. Schlosser tells you everything. He tells about the actual restaurant, the meat, advertising, employees and the man behind the restaurant. A must read! However, if you cant live without your fast food, dont read it!
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