Rating: 
Summary: Mom most certainly does NOT cook there!
Review: What do you mean they don't make the Biscuits Fresh Daily? I was horrified. I had always thought
Mom worked at Micky-Dee's Rolling out the biscuits in the early morning and frying up the bacon. Who
knew it all comes frozen? Who knew the French Fry taste is a chemical produced in New Jersey!!
While I'm not surprised that Fast Food is not good for you, I was a bit shocked to find out the
process of making it is not conducive to the health of the manufacturing employee's. I haven't
eaten a burger since finishing this book. Not sure if that's a good thing, but I know in the end
I may live just a bit longer. Very good research, author presented credible research combined
with appropriate human interest topics. Careful, you might become a vegetarian after this one!
Rating: 
Summary: Shock Schlock
Review: Everyone knows that they don't really want to know what goes into what they eat or see how its prepared (unless you are glatt kosher). So many pages devoted to exposing the worst of the fast food and meatpacking industries is passe.Vegeterianism and socialism are not the answers. Rodents have been known to overwhelm silos and storage facilities. The government allows all sorts of nasty stuff into the products we consume. For instance, the government allows a certain amount of rodent droppings into dairy products and cyanide into the water supply. I like that fast food employees have work and are not ripping off my car stereo system or committing other crimes. It is not disturbing that people can choose to eat dangerous levels of fat, cholesterol, and calories in a free and affluent country.
Rating:
Summary: Mmm, can I get fries with that?
Review: A truly fantastic read that's been impeccably researched. And unlike so much of the investigative journalism genre, it appears to give a balanced picture of the fast food industry. What a fantastic story: the beef plants in the U.S. are truly horrible, but market forces require that this horribleness not reach a magnitude sufficient to turn off customers. So it's not human health concerns that are winning out, but rather McDonald's buying power. Should we be at all surprised? Not really. A terrific book with many human stories and fascinating tidbits. Did you know that McDonalds was the third largest purchaser of chicken (in addition to being #1 in potatoes and beef)? Fast Food Nation is a very quick read. Well-informed, well-told, very well-researched. And the best part about the book is that while it has undoubtedly reduced my consumption of fast food, I feel relatively safe in giving in to my occassional yen for fries.
Rating:
Summary: Great book, and there is even more to consider...
Review: This is a very important book. The powerful corporate food industry hates it, as you can see from some of the comments here and from attacks in the media by various industry flacks, lobbyists and think tanks. But the food safety crisis is rife with rancid scandal and even worse than this book reveals. Fast Food Nation doesn't touch much on mad cow disease, for instance. For that story check out the books Mad Cow USA or Deadly Feasts. And support your local sustainable organic farmers.
Rating: 
Summary: If you eat fast food often, then read this book!
Review: Although a lot of this is known by many of us, this really details it better. I will probably still eat fast food, but it's gonna be a rarity for sure. I love the way the author says that what it comes down to is - there's s--- in the burgers. Not only that, but all the politics and people exploited by these corporations is insane. After a while you do feel the author had a sense of bias against Republicans, but the general information is sure very informative. Great book Eric! (much needed too)
Rating:
Summary: Junk Writing, Cliche, Shallow, Insipid
Review: Let me save you some time and money, the thesis of this book is
that life was much better before the parade of Horribles:
agriculture changing to mechanization from hand labor,
real estate development, with similar looking houses, that don't
look "hand made",
Walt Disney and his attempts to market to, brace yourself, CHILDREN!!!! (Can you believe it?).
The desecration of beautiful Colorado, by the influx of, brace yourself, CALIFORNIANS!! (OHH, the horror, the horror).
In fact, some of these Californians are even known to be admitted, brace yourself, REPUBLICANS! Some are even from that ground zero of all things bad: ORANGE COUNTY! In fact Ray Kroc AND Walt Disney both were known to fraternize with known Republicans such as RICHARD NIXON and even RONALD REAGAN. The parade of shocking revelations does not stop there, but I will spare you further trauma. Evidently the true "evildoers" are not in some faraway country, but they are right here in our back yards in the offices of BIG BUSINESS!!! Ohhhh! Don't read this book if you have high blood pressure (due to too much fast food) or a weak heart (from addiction to hamburgers). This tell-all will reveal so many insights and reveleations that it may be dangerous to your ability to sleep at night or go outside in the daytime. Its a scary world out there that can permit an Orange County to exist!
Rating: 
Summary: Wanders
Review: I thought this book was going to be mostly about fast food resaurants, but it turns out that it's mostly about society in the wake of the rise of fast food restaurants. It was a good book, but the author seemed to get side-tracked often, kind of thinking about different matters while writing.
Rating:
Summary: If you are not an anti-McDonalds freedom fighter after this
Review: Then you are not quite the superior being that I, and so many others who have been greatly affected by 'Fast Food Nation' are! Undoubtedly, this is one of the best non fiction works I have ever read, and certainly one of the most important works of 2001. It contains merticulous and detailed research, just the right dose of sentimentialism, and case studies of which both capture and shock the reader. Of particular interest was the horrific story of Kenny, who has had the worst luck in all of history, most of it due to uncaring captialist manipulative Fast Food outlets like McDonalds and their dispictable hygiene deficient meat suppliers like Montfort. Certainly, there are better and more interesting parts to the work, for example, the initial facts regarding the USA's expenditure on Fast Food ($110 billion. Billion!), Scholsser's visit to the Smells factory, as well as the information and case studies on the E Coli virus and its link with the substandard and dangerous operating techniques of the meat packing industry. There are also areas in which the author is overly biased, for example, in his analysis of the industry's terribly reduced pay packet and its horrific workplace standards, he neglects the fact that a job is better than nothing at all. Additionally, the extremely detailed and factual look into the meat industry can be infuriating drawn out, though the case studies and his visit to factories are startling and interesting. Whilst the author clearly knocks the industry and those associated with the production of fast food, he primarily shifts the focus onto the consumers who, through purchasing, allow substandard conditions, marketing manipulation and scandals in the industry to occur. Additionally, he provides various case studies of businesses who are doing it right, like Jack in the Box, who thorugh an E coli fright, have righted many safety wrongs in the organisation. He not only documents the amazing climb of fast food and concentration of fast food purchasing in America, he also parellels it with the growth in other industries like Disney, and there is an apocalyptic sense to the work, for indeed, as McDonalds and Hungry Jacks force out all smaller providers, the best is yet to come. However, this book is a little unsuitable for those outside of America, for it deals solely with American practices, and gives little indication whether worldwide practices in places like Australia differ even minutely. Regardless, with globalisation running amuck, it is relevant to all nationalities who consume fast food with almost equal vigor. With that fact aside, this is a provacative, researched, well written, somewhat amusing and startling work with traces of sad sentimentialism, and is one of the better and more worthwhile books I have read during 2001.
Rating:
Summary: A well-researched look at the fast food and beef industries
Review: This book traces the development of the fast food industry and gives the reader a look at the conditions behind the scenes in the restaurants, slaughterhouses and meat packing plants. It describes the process of how your fast food hamburger gets from the cow to you and why it tastes the way it does. It draws attention to the issues of food safety/sanitation and goverment regulation of the fast food and meat industries. It also points out how franchising has changed the face of the US and the world. I could not put this book down and I learned an enormous amount from it. Fast Food Nation is well written and because of it, I will think more carefully about what I eat.
Rating:
Summary: This book was great.
Review: I bought FFN a few months ago and I consider it to be one of the best reads of my life. This book provoked thoughts of horror and awe that I will never forget. The best part about this book was the multitudes of interesting facts that could be used as conversation topics. This is due to the fact that we are truly in a fast food nation. Not one person in this country wouldn't want to hear how many french fries are produced for the western states alone, and when you tell them how much, they are blown away. FFN is a book that will blow you away, and will make you look at the Fast Food Institution in a whole different way.
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