Rating: 
Summary: I quit eating McDonald's after reading this book!
Review: I was so McGrossed out after reading Eric Schlosser's chapter on meat processing plants that I've now sworn off McDonalds hamburgers and other fast-food chains (I still have a weakness for their fries but I've cut down a lot on eating those as well.) There's another section in the book on the abuse the long-suffering chicken goes through to end up as a tasty nugget on our plate.However, this book is NOT merely propaganda for the anti-meat movement in this country. Schlosser takes us even closer by introducing us to the exploited mexican workers who often work at these dangerous plants for less than minimum wage and without insurance. Timely and well-researched, "Fast Food Nation" also delves into the obesity problem this country now suffers as a direct result of our fast-food life and how chains like McDonald's deliberately market to children to get their parents to load up on unhealthy meals. This book was so absorbing, shocking, and fascinating that I wouldn't be surprised if most people went vegan if they knew how their food was really prepared. If you're like most Americans who now eat out at restaurants or food chains 3-4 times a week, you should read this.
Rating:
Summary: A Real Eye Opener that is NOT Biased
Review: I used to eat at fast food all the time until I read Fast Food Nation. This book shows some real horrors going on behind a McDonalds counter-which you will find out when you will read the book. Ignore the people that say this book is misleading or "biased". They obviously don't know what they are talking about. One word of warning though: If you are squeamish, I wouldn't really recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: You had to know fast food was bad... but not this bad...
Review: Telling someone that fast food is unhealthy, that the production methods for the ingredients was a little distasteful, that the proliferation is affecting the culture, and that the employees weren't paid or treated well, would be restating the obvious. We all knew that things weren't all rosy.But this book shows you how deep, how bad, it really all is. The anecdotal stories about employees picking up dropped food and serving it, about them not washing their hands... after working on their car, and so on, may not be too suprising to anyone who's known someone who worked there, but are still sad to see. It's common knowledge that fast food places routinely violate labor laws with the teenagers working there, as apparently the fines are cheaper than complying with the laws. Where it really gets you is talking about the industries that supply the ingredients. That not only are meat-packing plants not the wonderful places we might wish, but that the extreme demands for beef are causing the owners to not even be concerned about the safety of workers (it's easier to hire a new worker than add safety precautions to prevent injuries.. and deaths), or the quality of our food. (Apparently as much as 50% of ground beef from the big plants contains E. Coli - which is only spread from feces) Even worse is that their government lobbying prevents a lot of regulation that seems common sense... and allows them to police themselves, most of the time. It was enough to almost entirely prevent me from ever eating fast food again - and the rare times I do, I feel horribly guilty the entire time. This book is seriously eye-opening, and don't read it if you believe that "ignorance is bliss".
Rating: 
Summary: A Real Eyeopener
Review: When I first noticed the availability of this book, I made it a point to include it on my reading list. It really exposed many of the darker sides of this industry that I've always suspected. The fact that each of these restaurants are virtually the same everywhere you go has long since raised a red flag with me. There were many revelations in this book that I found to be alarming. I have long made it a point to avoid these restaurants because of their obvious methods of conducting business and the meals that they serve is, to me, "peasant food." This book was very informative in revealing the machinations that go on behind the scenes, such as: marketing to children; methods of the slaughterhouses using inept and dishygenic immigrants; affiliations with the Republican Party and many others. After completing this book, my personal beliefs of this industry as something to be avoided were strongly reinforced. My suggestion is to do yourselves a big favor which is to try to stay away from these places for your own good. If you need solid proof as to why, read Fast Food Nation
Rating:
Summary: Informative book
Review: Eric Scholosser provides a very well-done examination of the fast food world. His book provides a history of the fast food world as well as analyzes the effects it has on the United States and the world today. It covers everything from the headquarters of McDonald's to a McDonald's in Colorado Springs to the potato farms of Idaho to the stockyards of Greely, CO where the hamburger comes from. In the process, Scholosser comes up with a harsh critique of the fast food world. I personally found it an eye-opener. While I was fully aware of how unhealthy fastfood was, I did not know how much the fast food corporations had changed the food industry as a whole, most notable the cattle industry. If you need to find some motivation in stopping your urges for Big Macs and Whoppers, this is the book for you. While I still frequent fast food restaurants, I have cut down on my visits significantly (once every week or two to once every couple of months) thanks to this book. I also feel guilty in going to a fast food restaurant now thanks to this book, and not for health reasons. I strongly recommend reading Fast Food Nation.
Rating:
Summary: Broad but inconclusive picture of a modern phenonemon
Review: The author reveals a multi-angled picture the fast food industry. We learn not only how the food is made, the lives of the multitudes who serve it, and it's history, but are also treated to an argument on how fast food has become an underpining of our society. He points out the ubiquous restaurants along the country's thousands of miles of strip mall boulevards are now an integral part of North America's landscape. But more then that, they are an essential part of our culture, given how much the average American's diet is made up of their product. Among many examples to make that point, we learn that we as taxpayers are subsitizing the industry's success, and we have allowed its marketing to permeate children's lives, such as within public school classrooms. This sweeping picture is disturbing. But by enlarging the subject, the author repeatedly confuses wether fast food is a symptom of larger forces, or the source of the described ills. For example, one chapter discusses high rates of crime among fast food employees in poor neighborhoods. Is this realy an argument to raise minimum wage to lift such employees out of poverty, or would merely changing certain policies within the fast food industry stop the problem? The reader wont get clear answers to such questions in this book. The vivid illustrations will lead the reader asking alot of good questions though, which might not have otherwise been posed. Among the questions I had was: what we are supposed to do about this bland fast food nation we have created? Will the boulevards and subdivisions heralded by the fast food industry keep getting longer and larger? What now? Grapling with such questions would have made for a more filling meal. Much like a fast food burger, this book left me asking for something better. While initially thought provoking, I found this book to be ultimately inconclusive and superficial.
Rating:
Summary: Are We What We Eat?
Review: Normally I do not read any other reviews of a book until after I have composed my own but I made an exception with this one and was surprised, frankly, to encounter such a wide range of opinions among the almost 300 people who have written Customer Reviews for Amazon.com thus far. My own opinion is that this is an especially important book for several reasons but first, an opinion about its author. Schlosser is not the "sensationalist" and "muckraker" many have suggested; rather, I think, he is a cultural anthropologist who explores the correlations between the fast food industry and the larger human community in which speed is among the most highly praised (and most highly rewarded) of attributes. The American people also appreciate convenience. Hence the popularity of drive-through shopping and banking, cellular phones, home delivery of goods and services (including gourmet meals), online shopping and bill paying, and even locating some candidates online for social companionship, if not marriage. The American people also seem to grow more impatient each day. Hence the popularity of the channel changer, DSL connections, HOV lanes, "quick lubes", and various forms of what in Dallas are called "toll tags" which can also be used to pay for parking throughout the city, including airports. I mention all this by way of explaining my first reason for thinking so highly of this book: functioning as a cultural anthropologist, Schlosser makes a substantial contribution to our understanding of a society which cherishes (to the extreme) both convenience and speed. My second reason is that Schlosser, in process, also provides an eloquent and convincing indictment of the nutritional deficiencies of fast food. I already knew that fast food, especially when consumed to excess, was undesirable. I had no idea, however, that it could also be unhealthy. (At this point, I feel obliged to admit to an addiction to the #4 Value Meal at McDonald's. Also, as a grandparent, I appreciate the ease and relatively low cost of making a quick stop to feed hungry grandchildren almost anywhere we may be.) My third and final reason is that, in this book, Schlosser also raises important questions and addresses important issues concerning the values of our society. With Americans eating (on average) three of every five meals prepared outside the home, what does that suggest? The television set is often used as a baby-sitter. When used in combination with a fast food meal, what does that suggest about the quality of a child's family life? In my opinion, Schlosser requires his reader to consider why the fast food industry now plays such a central role in our society. For some of us, at least, his accusations hit the mark and his conclusions are rock-solid. Increased speed and convenience in all human activities usually have a price to be paid. Insofar as fast food is concerned, Schlosser helps all of us to determine not only the price but the total cost.
Rating: 
Summary: Polemic excrement... Yawn...
Review: Schlosser's thesis is wrong. A few rogue fast food moguls who treated some workers badly a few decades ago and are now long dead will not bring about the eventual demise of humanity. Fast food was an inevitable consequence of the industrial revolution. Fast food would have died decades ago if it did not have merit. The fast food topic is a setup for Schlosser to underhandidly rail against globalization, multi- national capitalism, modernism, and the demise of fringe cultures. The author needs to ask starving and impoverished people in socialist dictatorships if, given the option, they would rather "have it their way" at BK or starve to death. I hardly think that the nutritional and food hygene standards of Mao era China or Stalinist Russia can compare to that of present day American fast food restaurants! People should be free to choose to sacrifice health concerns for convenience just as people should be free to risk rotting their mind by reading this book in search of convenient answers. I'm still waiting for a fast food chain that serves tofu and bean sprout burgers, pays its cashiers $30 an hour with full benefits, and gives all of its profits (unlikely) to displaced family farmers. Until that happens, I will take my chances at McDonalds once a week and hit the tread mill frequently. By the way, buying this book supports a multi- national corporation that furthers the American capitalistic hegemony. I advise all young radicals to shoplift this book in order to avoid paying tax to Uncle Sam.
Rating:
Summary: I've seen feces that was more interesting
Review: Want a big surprise? There is somebody in a slaughterhouse who kills animals!! Ohh noo! And corporations do evil things to small farmers! Amazing isn't it? And our food has artificial flavor in it? Really? No kidding!!! I thought this book would be something worth reading, but it was just a bunch of common sense recycled ...[junk] meant to feed the eager minds of budding intellectuals. Save your money and buy some burgers instead.
Rating:
Summary: EWWWWWWWWW
Review: This is one of those books you hate to love. The reason is simple, if you enjoy a hamburger, you enjoy it less after learning the "truth" about it. Schlosser did the same with this book that The Jungle and Diet for a New America did towards convincing one to become a vegetarian.
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