Rating: 
Summary: $hit - If you eat fast food, it might be what's for dinner.
Review: Fast Food Nation is a spectacular documentary on the fast food industry. It covers the origins, major players, and details the evolution of the industry; it's health consequences, deadly practices, and the methods used to set your kids on the path to obesity and heart disease at an early age. Despite the grim picture painted of the industry, Eric presents a fairly balanced picture that includes some positive steps taken by a number of small and large players in the industry to bring about change.Around the time the major US auto manufacturers were dismantling public transportation systems so you'd have to buy their cars and busses and sit in gridlock all day, fast food establishments began to spring up in California. At first they delivered food to cars in the parking lots, and later applied principles of scientific management (ala Fredrick Taylor) to speed up the delivery process, create uniformity, and take advantage of economies of scale. Since then, fast food establishment have spread like mad cow disease, first in the US, and more recently around the globe. In order to support and fuel this explosive growth, the industry has put a tremendous stress on the meatpacking industry and adopted brilliant, yet questionable marketing practices. Fast Food Nation exposes the meatpacking industry in detail. It exposes the industries' deplorable safety record, in terms of injuries including death and dismemberment of workers. Not only does the exclusive focus on efficiency and profits come at the detriment of meat packing workers, but the health and safety of the general meat-consuming public. Meat packing plants are routinely found to be in violation of basic heath standards and slapped with minimal penalties by the government, yet continue to operate. This makes sickness and death a possibility (to the tune of hundreds of thousands of E-coli and Salmonella infections each year) every time you or I eat beef or chicken to. Uneducated and immigrant workers within the US are literally sacrificing their bodies and sometimes their lives so that people can grab a burger on the go. To keep the street happy and analyst ratings on the up tick, the industry as a whole must find ways to grow. Within the US, fast food establishments as well as companies like Coke are becoming sponsors of cash starved schools. Sponsorships may include signs and billboards, skewed "educational" videos, and of course, fast food stands with continued sponsorship contingent on sales quotas within the schools. Is it any wonder America is becoming a nation of heart disease and gross obesity? This review only skims the surface of the book. You'll also learn about the manufactured tastes and smells associated with fast food ("natural" and "artificial" flavors), the stuff fed to the animals (FORTUNE did a feature article on zero waste farming several years ago, which detailed how livestock was fed its own excrement to achieve zero waste), and the inability of various government agencies to bring about change or even inform the public of contaminated meat recalls. As long as the status quo is maintained and the profits keep rolling in, neither the government nor the fast food industry is likely to change its ways... According the information presented in the book, Conway's Red Top and In-N-Out in the Western US have created successful, sustainable fast food business models. Even McDonald's has shown a willingness to change in response to significant pressure from the market. Read this book, it is informative, well written, and just may change your life and eating habits for the better - but only if you act on the information presented. Thanks for a great book, Eric!
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Summary: Drop the not-so-subtle Republican-bashing and focus on food
Review: Interesting reading, but the negative tone towards industry really stood out. May I remind everyone that the man the liberals adore so much, Bill Clinton, used to jog on over to McDonald's rather frequently?
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Summary: A fine "Social Thriller". Great book series
Review: Fast Food Nation is a fine "Social Thriller" bringing you to the edge of your seat right from beginning till the end. If "Erin Brockowich" is for P&G, then "Fast Food Nation" is for MacDonald's.Author has not spared a single stone unturned to make this book an "encyclopedia" of fast food "facts"( read evils) Going right into the production of raw materials,beef, french fries, potato farms, cattle feeds, workers apathy, production plants overseas, rules,legalities, food poisoning etc, Author has managed to bring the complete loop or lifecycle into this 300 pages "encyclopedia". Author has to commended for the way he has presented the topic to be an interesting reading and not a dull thesis. And as a reader , I respectfully disagree with the author on the following areas : Authors blatant attack on the low paid jobs - It is true that pay scales in fast food joints are going down, but we need to understand that fast food joints have created enormous amount of "low quality-high quantity"jobs that helps the economy. Do not expect any industry (even the government) to hire millions of employees even on short term contracts with zero to no skills at close proximity to employees homes at hours that are flexible. So many people read the book for sheer one reason:
How does it affect me and my children ?- And that would have meant atleast some comparison to restaurent jobs, restaurant cleanliness etc outside the fast food world. This would probably have given the reader a more balanced view of the food industry as a whole( contrary to all "burger kings and MacDonald's are villains). Author also fails to emphazise the bigger picture of the fact that "fast food" industries are an evolution of the "modern couch potato American" , "working moms", "single parent" culture. It was not the sheer marketing genius of MacDonald's that made it what it is today. Fortunately or unfortunately MacDonald ( and others )are adding value to the society by filling up a "dangerous need" in the society. "Low cost food" - fast and easy. And the worst of all, the same need is getting slowly created in societies like India and China. Read this book -
If you have a family
If you frequently grab a quick lunch at McDonald's
If you or ur friends have tried Lipitor and other weight loss medications
Read it - even if you read only fiction books!.It is about YOU AND YOUR LIFE. One of the finest books that I have read in recent times on social themes. Chandra Sekhar
Author of the book "Internet Marketing And Search Engine Positioning - A "Do It Yourself" Guide
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Summary: You Will Never Eat at McDonald's Again!
Review: YOWSA! I devoured this book (pardon the pun) in basically one sitting and am recommending it to everyone. A scathing and disturbing portrait of "Global MacDonalds-ization" to say nothing about the truly horrific tales of how the beef industry treats its low-wage workers (if you're a quesey type, skip the chapter on health and safety), their measures to make sure we don't eat Mad Cow beff or product filled with e-coli (wait until you here how much slips through the cracks) and, of course, how they kill the animal that ends up on our tray at an Arby's in Duluth. Seriously, I haven't eaten at a fast food restaurant since, and I can't imagine that I ever will again. Definitely thought provoking....
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: On of the most fascinating books I have read in a while. If you're looking for a reason to change your diet, or just wondering what's going on out there in fast-food land, then this is the book for you. Schlosser takes you from the slaughter house to the restaurant, and even your own kitchen in a book that will forever change the way you think about and buy your food.
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Summary: Should be required reading
Review: High praises for Mr. Schlosser's well-researched and fascinating revelations of the underbelly of the fast food industry. What he has ultimately revealed is the utter contempt that big businesses have for those who have given them their fortunes, evidenced by the dispicable work conditions suffered by employees and the disregard for the quality of their products and even basic safety of their consumers. The fast food industry has contributed to the homogenization of the world through its promotion of standardized (albeit tainted) products. Amazingly too, the very persons who extoll the virtues of the free American system have chosen to squelch the freedoms of employees who attempt to organize (and unionize) in efforts of expressing grievances, exposing unsafe work conditions, and correcting injustices. Equally shocking are the author's assertions that the fast food industry has engaged in massive advertising campaigns directed at young children, filling television screens with images of smiling clowns and contributing to an alarming rise in obesity in our youth as they convince them to indulge in a fatty and potentially harmful diet. This book makes one ashamed to continue to support an industry that so vehemently fights for their right to perpetuate and promote profit at such a cost. Read this eye-opening book, and tell a friend. Let your voice and disapproval be known, or we will continue to pay the price.
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Summary: The dark side, indeed
Review: Muckraker or hero? Schlosser has been called both by reviewers of this book. Personally, I think Schlosser has written a book that long-needed writing and confirms the truths we already knew but didn't want to admit: our comfort is killing us. This book isn't *just* about fast food and the perils of The Golden Starches: it is an indictment of our entire "gimme now, gimme cheap, gimme easy" culture. No one is exculpated: we are all in some fashion part and party of the McDonaldization of America. Schlosser looks unblinkingly at the meat packing industry; the impact of the fast food industry on our environment, economy and social custom; our gradual and apparently inexorable return to the "Robber Baron" days. Much of what he writes is uncomfortable to read. I know I revisited just about every Big Mac I've ever eaten while reading this book. Having done so, I can tell you that I will never eat another Big Mac, Whopper, Biggie Fry, Chicken Bucket or Taco Grande again. Ever. Neither will my kid, until he can buy his own Super Size Bucket o' Crud with his own money and by his own choice. I hope he makes better choices than that. As disturbing as the meat packing and food handling details are, the bit that resonates the most with me is the imperialist attitude of these corporate giants towards their workers. I was astonished to learn that these companies get tax breaks in the hundreds of millions of dollars under the aegis of "job training" when their goal is to have full automation in their kitchens. The only "job training" done in most of these places consists of knowing what button to push when a buzzer rings. Even basic literacy isn't a requirement for one of these jobs. Fabricated food is supplanting whole food in our nation's diet. The values embodied by fabricated food -- easy access, inexpensive, plentiful, homogenized -- are evident in every strip mall on every roadside nationwide. Is this what we really want? Is this what we truly value? What are the long term consequences? In short, what do we trade off in exchange for easier, cheaper, more? If we are more readily identified globally by Ronald McDonald and Mickey Mouse than by our ostensible values of freedom, democracy and individual liberty, what becomes of our credibility? Hats off to Schlosser for his book. If only it could be required reading for school kids and parents. If only the United States would start treating obesity with the same seriousness it does tobacco addiction, there might be hope for change. Ultimately, though, it comes down to you and me. What are we going to do about it?
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Summary: This book changed me!
Review: One of the most important books I've ever read. An absolute eye-opener, and truly a world-changing book, yet it's still thoroughly enjoyable to read and not the least bit whiney or condescending in the way it's written. I recommend it HIGHLY.
Rating:
Summary: enthralling - disturbing - engrossing.....
Review: Almost half way through this book and find it an incredible read. There are moments I feel as if I'm witnessing a horrible car accident in slow motion and won't look away. I'm glad to say that I am not your average American - 3 hamburgers and 4 orders of french fries a week. A must read for parents...
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Summary: This Land is Your Land...
Review: I expected this book to be merely an alarmist expose full of sanctimonious finger-pointing and self-rightiousness. What I found instead was that its title, "Fast Food Nation," was more than an attention-getting title but rather an indicator of the conceptual framework or meta-theory of the book. Schlosser starts in California where McDonald's started, he then shows us how the fast food industry deliberately markets its stuff to children and how these marketing approaches are even infiltrating themselves into the schools and into the classroom of underfunded school systems. Then we are shown the anatomy of the fast food worker, how these chains are obsessed with keeping their labor cheap, adolecent, and without benefits, and how, even the highest ranked worker at a fast food restaurant, the manager usually earns less than $25,000.00 per year. Soon we are off to Colorado where we confront over developed suburban subdivisions on under-infrastructured land and look beyond the strip to show us a struggling independent rancher. We see flavor laboratories and french fry manufacturing entrepranuers. Finally, we visit the meat packing plants and learn the true cost of having it our way. All the while the narrative proceeds like a sketch, a few details here, others there, and soon the vision of the "Fast Food Nation" is revealed in all of its greatness and grotesqueness. The author is very sucessful in presenting a lot of information and a lot of material in a very simple, easy to digest format.
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