Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal

Rating:
Summary: a monumental call to action
Review: When I picked up this book, I thought from hearsay that the book was all about the food and the gross things that are in it, and how bad it is for you, etc. Imagine my surprise when I realized I was reading a sweeping classic of investigative journalism on the deeply diseased state of the American "free" market.

This book specifically addresses so many issues -- from architecture to public health, workers rights and the silent war on labor unions, crime rates, education to political corruption, food safety, advertising to children, the undue influence of corporate lobbyists, land conservation, the ethics of farming -- and how the fast food industry has deeply effected all these areas and more. The scope of this book is astonishing, and every point is backed up and documented so rigorously it literally left my mouth gaping. Although I don't have the book in front of me, I would say the section of explanatory notes alone is 30-40 pages long. One particular stunning fact for me was that the Small Business Administration directly subsidizes McDonalds and other fast food chains to the tune of billions of dollars a year because franchises are strangely considered independent businesses. In fact the whole discussion of the franchise structure is fascinating. But every chapter is fascinating.

The comparisons of today's fast food chains and agricultural conglomerates to the meat and steel trusts and the robber barons of the late 19th century are eerie. The comparison of our farming system and where it is headed to the feudal lordships of medieval Russia and England are equally haunting. All because we would rather eat a long golden french fry than a shorter brown one, and have the same exact comforting hamburger in Pennsylvania as in Taiwan, because we like meals that are less than a dollar. Or more importantly, we don't realize the shockwave of consequences stemming from these simple logical desires.

However, the author also has a fairly clear vision of how the whole system might be conducted ethically and responsibly. He also gives credit where credit is due to companies who have done it well. One of the best parts of the book to me was the final chapter, where the author goes into constructive ways of making a difference, and one particularly delicious example of two people who took on a fast food giant and won. This chapter was essential to me, as there's otherwise a lot in this book to potentially despair over.

This book should be required reading for anyone who is allowed to vote in this country. I put this book in a class with Silent Spring and The Jungle in terms of the magnitude of its significance to the future of America. It may not have that impact if people don't read it, or don't act on it, but the potential is there.

I beg you myself as a young American who stands to inherit the questionable future of this country -- read this book, give it to your friends to read. Do it now.

Rating:
Summary: Cautionary tale about distortions in the "free markets"
Review: I couldn't put down this book; read it in two days. The first two thirds are really about the cultural, agricultural, economic and labor issues both giving rise to and arising from the concentration of economic power in critical industries. The writing is as engaging as in a breezy fiction novel, although the content is heavily researched and documented. Schlosser does a great job of exploding myth after American myth by careful, comprehensive, and compelling argument. If you're interested in how business and politics work, this is an eye-opener. The last third is about what's really in the meat. I'll never eat hamburger again. Yes, it could have been less anecdotal but then it would not be as interesting. Yes, he could have chosen another multinational company in another industry as an example to lead us through the same issues, but then it would not be as interesting.

Rating:
Summary: An absolute MUST Read!
Review: First, I'd like to clear something up here. This book does not promote a vegetarian diet. The author's intent is not to get you to stop eating fast food or meat. It is to inform the public about the American meat industry and give a bit of history behind why the fast food industry is so prevalent in US society. It gives a history of the first fast food chains, the introduction of the franchise and a history of the food industry in general. However, after reading this book, you may never want to eat a fast food burger or any kind of processed meat again. If you don't want to be educated about the dangers of our meat supply or about the dangers of allowing an industry to police itself with little or no government intervention then don't read this book. This book is extensively researched and wonderfully written. After all, it would have to be extensively researched and all the facts would have to be correct or the meat industry would use their immense power to squash it out existence. The 'veggie libel laws' which exempt the meat and agriculture industries from our constitutional right to express ourselves is what allowed the meat industry to sue Oprah Winfrey, after all. What other laws is the meat industry able to circumvent? Read the book and you'll find out. While you have to be a law abiding citizen, there are industries who get away with crimes against humanity, including requiring workers who lost limbs on the meat packing floors to show up for work the very same day as their amputation surgery!!!!

One of the scariest facts in this book: Out of the more than 300 million pounds of beef processed in the United States since 1990, only 15,000 pounds have been tested for Mad Cow Disease!! Now that's just downright scary since Mad Cow Disease won't show it's ugly face until 20 years down the road. In other words, by giving your child a hamburger, you may be exposing him or her to a pathogen that will turn their brains into mush when they are 20 something years old!!! EWWWW! Nasty stuff. Read about how unsafe school lunches are and you may be sending your child with a packed lunch each day. The facts in this book are just that, facts. The history is true. It is not trying to get you to go vegetarian; it is trying to make you aware of the situation and letting you know about your power to change these things as a consumer. Great Book!!!

Rating:
Summary: This book gave me an upset stomach.
Review: As a ten year old I was already trying to figure out how blow up all of the McDonalds simultaneously. I hated the gaudy architecture and since by that time I was already a vegetarian there was not much for me to eat there anyway. My point of view has not wavered much since my formative years. Over the next decade I watched McDonalds take over the urban landscape in vain. Then a hero came to my rescue. His name is, Jose Bove and he accomplished at least part of my childhood plan when he crashed through the front of a McDonalds in Europe. I even got to see Mr. Bove speak and he was even more passionate in person than in my dreams. I was not going into this book unbiased.
Fast Food Nation uses scare tactics, gross out tactics, and guilt trips to get the simple point across that the fast food industry is a monster. The author, Eric Schlosser, also throws in some data and research for good measure to really drive this near mantra home. Schlosser also uses touching anecdotes and first hand accounts so that you have to be heartless to reject his argument. Rejecting his argument means turning your back on the helpless and hard working people that power the machine behind the scenes. He is determined to convince the reader one way or another that fast food corporations are bad news and that the companies that supply the restaurants with food are no better. He does this by attacking the ethos, pathos, and logos of the person on the receiving end of his doctrine. Schlosser had me convinced after reading the back cover but toward the end I got tired of his rhetoric and I wanted to close the book and say "Okay, I get it, now shut up!" If I thought the book was overkill and one sided then I have a hard time believing he will strike the right cord with more conservative readers or even a person who enjoys a fast food burger once in a while.
For the believer that has hung on until the last page, eager for a glimpse of hope, she might as well have stuck with reading the back cover. Once Schlosser has tugged at your heartstrings, stepped on your toes, and gotten in your face to make you believe his point and you are ready for a solution and this is where he lets you down. He carefully has done all his poking, prodding, pushing and shoving behind the guise that he is letting the reader make an informed conclusion whether or not to make the trip through the Drive-Thru. And that is his solution. That to defeat these greasy giants all you have to do is not give in to the Drive-Thru or the walk up window. For a non-fast food eating, but still concerned citizen I found this solution unhelpful. Am I supposed to stand in the middle of the lane to the drive up window and discourage the willing patrons that they are making a grave mistake? Should I borrow a neighbors riding lawn mower and run through the McDonalds down the corner? Not without committing myself to jail time. At the end of the book I did not feel a sense of mission or feel empowered but more helpless and small than ever before.

Rating:
Summary: Fear the French Fry
Review: When I bought this book I was apprehensive that it would represent the work of an apologist for the anti-fast food, anti-globalization perspective.

I was wrong.

Schlosser's work is an excellent, balanced and scary account of how fast food companies strong-arm the government and their suppliers, how their suppliers frequently abuse workers and the public's trust; and how weak the federal government can be when faced with powerful lobby groups.

FFN is a well structured effort, allowing the reader to read a chapter at a time without losing track of the flow. It addresses issues of health, organizational policy, regulations and globalization.

The most worrisome part, however, is the seemingly non-chalant attitude of suppliers to the public health. I would encourage any parent to read the book for this chapter alone.

Rating:
Summary: Fast Food World
Review: ... "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal" is not just about fast food. It is about the culture of fast food. Fast food is an increasingly important part of the economy and, indeed, an important part of our culture. The look on the "dark side" of the fast food industry is not what is on most minds as we habitually drive towards the Golden Arches.
... The style of food preparation as discovered in this book was not at all surprising for me. ...
...BR>Competition is another way of life Schlosser tries to explain in the book. ...Schlosser makes a good stand, showing just how fast food restaurants vie for our business. ...BR>This book is more for the uninformed consumer. One who is oblivious to the "real" world.

Rating:
Summary: Excelent Muckraking of Fast Food Industry
Review: Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

"I see: a man reach inside cattle and pull out their kidneys with his bare hands, then drop the kidneys down a metal chute, over and over again, as each animal passes by him; stainless steel rack of tounges; Whizzards peeling meat off decapitated heads, picking them almost as clean as the white skulls painted by Georgia O'Keefe. We wade through blood that's ankle deep and that pours down drains into huge vats below us. As we approach the start line, for the first time I hear the steady pop, pop, pop of live animals being stunned.' (Schlosser, p.171, 2002)

Eric Schlosser does an excellent job of describing all the things that happen behind the scenes to offer hungry people around the world a quick and cheap bite to eat. Not all Schlosser's images are gruesome or bloody. However they all convey the motives, problems, and emotions of the people who have created and contributed to the growth of quick serve restaurants. After reading Fast Food Nation it is difficult to call these establishments restaurants. From their origins in southern California in the 1940's, these burger stands shifted into fast food joints when they did away with real silverware, plates and busboys, cut out carhop waitresses, and divided the food preparation into an assemble line. Entrepreneurs created menus that were easiest to prepare and cost the least. Taylor would be proud. Work is divided up so one person makes the fries, one person cooks the burger, one person takes the order, and one person puts the ketchup and pickle on. Not much has changed in the half century since the McDonald brothers pioneered this technique a half-century ago. Today the bottom line is still the most important factor, but now a board of stockholders that runs these restaurant chains are so disconnected from the convenient food they are selling that workers welfare and quality and nutrition meals are the last thing on their minds. Marketing and advertising have replaced talented cooking and quality food. Everything about today's fast food market is patterned after and supplied by industrial feeding operation. Not only are the restaurants designed to get customers hot food almost instantly so they can eat quick and throw away their placemats, moreover the beef and potatoes that are processed by the tens of thousands of pounds a day definitely do not get individual attention.
I agree with Schlosser that fast food is one of the ugliest things in America. This book brought together many of my worst fears about these quick stop food shops and exposed some more. Right off the bat he dives into the evils of corporate takeover. He tells the stories of many of the founders of such fast food chains as McDonalds, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Wendy's, and Subway. He goes into detail about the founder of Carl's Jr., Carl Karcher. The story of this hard working, blue collar man who bought a hot dog stand in Anaheim, CA in 1939. Fifty-four years later he is being kicked off the board of director of his own restaurant because of disagreement among the stockholders.
The history of fast food parallels the expansion of the auto friendly America. As the freeways are built so are the fast food restaurants. Now one can travel thousands of miles around the diverse natural landscape of the United States in the comfort of their own car and see the same gas stations and fast food stops at every freeway exit. A family in a hurry can eat the same meal in Pittsburgh as they can in El Paso. Just like the nature of the beast of capitalism that these restaurants were born out of, the need for expansion into new markets is constant. Now that every mall, airport, corner, and freeway exit in America dotted with fast food, these restaurant chains have found a place on almost every continent in the world. I thought Schlosser could have commented more on the globalization of the fast food industry. Specifically I think the fast food invasion has infuriated other cultures that have a higher cultural value of food. I think this is an especially interesting topic post nine eleven.
Fast Food Nation did the best job since Upton Sinclar's The Jungle in describing the conditions of a slaughterhouse. The modern description highlights the massive amount of injuries that occur in today's slaughterhouses compared to other factory jobs. There are graphic images like the one above that describe the sea of blood and guts that flow through a slaughterhouse that kills and butchers 5,000 head of cattle a day. Driven by the bottom line, these slaughterhouses increase efficiency and speed to more than six head a minute at the risk of the safety of the low paid slaughterhouse employees and the people that will be eating the beef. Also in this age of large-scale animal feeding operations the chances for diseases to be spread into the meat that is served all around the world is only just being realized.
One point that Schlosser could have brought out more is the effect fast food has on the family. It seems driving by the drive up window has replaced sitting down for a home cooked meal. This has serious consequences in how people think about and value food and family relations. He could have given more facts about the paper, plastic, and animal wastes that are created by the quick serve industry. Also Schlosser is a little heavy on the descriptive narratives that set the scene and keep the reader interested and light on the hard-nosed facts.
Fast Food Nation is just another example of how money and free market capitalism can drive the spirit and quality out an enjoyable and essential aspect of culture.

Rating:
Summary: Required reading
Review: I have the equivalent of 9 years of experience in fast food and 3.5 days of experience in a slaughterhouse, and this book is so on the money it is scary. It is a good balance of history, story telling and cold facts. If I could afford to buy a copy for every library, school, waiting room and coffee table in the western world, I would. If you are going to decide to "drive-thru," make it an informed decision.

Rating:
Summary: Much better than The Jungle
Review: Forget about The Jungle and read this. It's so much better and exposes so much more. It should be required reading for anyone going on a diet or interested in what they are eating.

Rating:
Summary: Great book, a must read
Review: Do you ever wonder where fast food you eat comes from? Schlosser tells you in his book, Fast Food Nation. He not only tells you where the food comes from but he also informs you of the origins of the fast food chains and the effects of the fast food industry has had on the world. He reveals many of the secrets of the fast food industry that will make you cringe and rethink the food you eat.

Schlosser researched the workings of the fast food industry for years before writing this book. He traveled to numerous places in the United States and around the globe in the process. The fast food giants were everywhere, from upscale Colorado Springs to small towns in Germany. He presents various cases against the fast food market. One thing he has against fast food restaurants is that they used to be run by independent, hard working individuals who were trying to make a living and now these are the type of individuals that fast food restaurants and its partners put out of business all around the world. Small restaurants go under and potato farmers and cattle ranchers cannot make enough money to support their families. Also, there is usually little respect for the worker in the fast food industry. There is a high rate of turnover, no benefits are supplied, workers are not allowed to form unions, and workers are paid the lowest wages possible. The status of the worker is similar for many of the workers in the plants that make the food for the restaurant industry except their jobs tend to be much more difficult and more dangerous. Despite Schlosser's description of the spread of the fast food industry, he claims that it will someday be replaced.

The research that Schlosser did made this book incredibly interesting and educational. He visited numerous restaurants, factories, and farms to get the full picture of the fast food industry. Never once did he make a statement that he could not back up with evidence. All his evidence leads up to the fact that the fast food industry is bad for society. The only negative aspect of this book is the fact that Schlosser states at the end that the fast food industry will come to an end and something will replace it. He does not get any more specific than that. He does not say how or when this will happen. This lack of any concrete argument is somewhat disappointing but it does not take away from the shocking stories told about what occurs behind the closed doors of the fast food industry.

One aspect of this book that made it very appealing was Schlosser's descriptions of individuals' lives. He investigated the life of Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonalds. He talked to potato farmers, cattle ranchers, factory workers, restaurant workers, and CEOs. These stories of single people made this book seem more personal. It let the reader know how real people were affected by the fast food industry. Their feelings and emotions were evident in their stories. These accounts brought something unique to the book, something that many books do not have.

I thought this book was great even though it lacks a solid argument. It was well written and very intriguing. It draws you in right from the start and does not lose your attention at all. I would recommend this book to everyone.