Rating: 
Summary: A Compelling Read
Review: In 1948, brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald closed their restaurant in San Bernardino, California. Three months later they reopened for business, with a streamlined menu and a revolutionary method of creating food. They had invented fast food.
It was a moment that was to change the world but, as Eric Schlosser argues in his book 'Fast Food Nation', not necessarily for the better. Yet Schlosser is not an eco-crank; his book has been carefully researched with 60 pages of notes supporting his arguments. Schlosser is not just worried about rubbish in McDonalds car parks. Subtitled 'What the All-American Meal is Doing to the World', 'Fast Food Nation' embarks upon a sweeping assessment of the impact of fast food over the past 50 years.
Schlosser begins with a survey of the pervasiveness of fast food and how it has changed eating habits. For example, the average American eats three hamburgers and four serves of French fries each week. The most obvious impact of this has been the alarming rise in rates of obesity.
But the fast food industry is about much more than eating. The image and marketing of the huge corporations is vitally important to their business - and from the earliest days McDonalds advertising has been aimed at families and particularly children. Today, 90 percent of US children visit McDonalds each month; Happy Meals making McDonalds one of the world's largest toy distributors.
Schlosser also goes behind the counter were things are not quite so McHappy. The low wages paid to teenage workers make the food service the lowest paid industry. Schlosser also points out the high rates of franchise failures.
Occupying the bulk of 'Fast Food Nation' is the investigation of the sources from which the meat, potatoes and flavours - the fast food raw materials - come. There is the exploitation of slaughterhouse workers and the whole communities impacted by the indifferent, profit-driven meat packers. Schlosser visits farms, factories, slaughterhouses and laboratories. Without preaching, Schlosser presents a powerful argument for a healthier diet (and, yes, there are some nasty things - including fecal matter - in the hamburger meat).
As the largest chain of fast food vendors, McDonalds comes in for special attention. For example, McDonalds are the largest purchasers of beef in the US and they sell the most Coke in the world. However, also included within Schlosser's journalist sights are KFC, Pizza Hut, Subway, Taco Bell and a number of other less familiar fast food franchises.
The book has a largely American focus but there is a chapter pointing to the globalisation of America's fast food - 15,000 McDonalds in 117 countries outside the US, with five more opening every day.
If you have anything to do with fast food - whether as an employee or a consumer - you need to read 'Fast Food Nation'. Be concerned and horrified, get angry and consider adopting Schlosser's concluding recommendation - "The first step towards meaningful change is by far the easiest: stop buying it."
Rating: 
Summary: I felt like I was reading a text book, very overrated.
Review: I heard such great things about this book but was very disappointed upon reading it. I kept waiting and waiting for it to get interesting, but it never seemed to do so. I thought it would go into more detail about processing and ingredients and less about socio-economics and politics. Too each is own I suppose. A lot of people really seemed to love this book, but I just didn't see what all the fuss was about.
Rating: 
Summary: we the bringers of Mcworld
Review: The author does a fine job relating the effects of our runaway consumerism.However he occasionally falls into the modern mode of placing the blame of all our contemporary problems on the o so evil big bad corporation.It is the public that makes the decision to buy Wall Mart,Mcdonalds,Burger King,gas gulping SUV's and countless other luxury items and assorted debris we accumulate.If we don't like the America of today it is nobody's fault but our own.We can blame all we want,but it is the public at large that builds billion dollar corporations,and ultimately it is we who demand the products.Schlosser paints a vivid picture of our culture,and the real people who populate the book give considerable weight to what the author has to say,but a book needs to be written on the subject of why we consume so voraciously,so thoughtlessly,on why we try and find comfort in objects and packaged goods that we know are not going to improve our lives yet we go on buying anyway.A socioligist-philosopher is needed for such a book. Any such person out there?
Rating:
Summary: Evenhanded Review of Our Nation's Main Source of Nutrition
Review: Mr. Schlosser presents an even-handed review of the results of our nation's love of fast food.I was amazed by what I read and I was more amazed by Mr. Schlosser's calm review of the state of affairs. I had expected this book to be a diatribe of how awful things are. Instead he just lays the facts out for us to make our own decisions. This book has changed the way I think about what I eat. I can't take my kids to McD's in good faith any longer nor can I look at the meat case at my grocer's with the same eyes. If 25% of the US population read this book, maybe some changes would be made.
Rating:
Summary: A very interesting read
Review: Eric Schlosser hooked me when he wrote an article on food in America for Rolling Stone several years ago. I waited and waited for this book, and it's no surprise this book has done so well. The origins of McDonald's, Carl's Jr., the JR Simplot Company (home of the McDonald's french fry) etc are outlined, describing an amazing view of WWII-era entrepreneurship in California. Fast Food Nation contains an interesting and informative view of the food landscape in America. Very worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: Not just another Left Wing critique of popular culture
Review: I devoured Schlosser's book after hearing him interviewed a couple of times. Search on his name at the Atlantic Monthly's web site and you will find several intriguing articles by him. I am a shameless carnivore: I love meat. I also love fast food, and Schlosser explains how the food is engineered to be universally appealing at a visceral level. This book doesn't make you feel guilty for loving those awesome fries or those tasty burgers. He is very frank about the dangers of food-born illness, but he recognizes that the ground beef that you eat at a Jack-In-The-Box is more highly scrutinized than much of the ground beef in your local supermarket. More than anything, Schlosser does a great job of understanding how the fast food industry itself wields tremendous power across many horizons of the American food production system. If he avoids giving you a guilt trip, he nevertheless gives you a lot of food for thought as he outlines what the industry could do to make its food as politically and socially palatable as it is delicious to eat right now. Apart from the content, however, I would also say that Schlosser is a talented writer- the book is actually a bit heady, but it reads like a good novel. Those who enjoy reading for entertainment as opposed to information will be surprised at how satisfying this "infotaining" book is.
Rating:
Summary: Do you eat? READ THIS BOOK!
Review: If you eat food, this book will probably change how you do so. Whether it's due to moral indignation at the brutal way employees at meatpacking plants are treated, disgust at how your food is processed, or concern for the next generation of obese & brainwashed youth, you will find a reason to alter your buying habits. Eric Schlosser does a commendable job of keeping the reporting balanced & his (justifiable) anger in check. He simply reports facts, interviews both employees & owner/management types & in the last chapter, offers easily adopted solutions to the myriad of abuses & problems discussed. My title pretty much says it all. There is no negative to this book to discuss, unless you have a financial stake in maintaining the status quo. In which case you should still read it, if only to understand the profound implications of your greed!
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant but excruciating book
Review: Fast Food Nation is a fascinating book, well researched and documented, but very depressing. Although it is written in relatively short "bites" (an unfortunate metaphor) I found it difficult to keep my attention on each short section, particularly as the book went along. Part of this difficulty is due, I think, to the fact that there are so many facts laid out on each page. To do the book justice requires a good deal of concentration. But it also paints such an unhappy picture of capitalism in America. I hesitate to use the word "capitalism" in this context, because of its inevitable rhetorical associations. Critics of the book fault the author, Eric Schlosser, for his relentless assaults on all levels of government, and in particular, Republican ones, as well as on individual Republican representatives. I agree that Schlosser attacks with heavy-handedness. His book would be far more enjoyable if he used a lighter touch. This book has a near-textbook approach to the fast-food industry, and the author pulls no punches. But the information he imparts is so overwhelming that one wonders what he could have done to mitigate its message, short of leaving it out completely. Schlosser examines every facet of the business, leaving no stone unturned. His main focus is on the fast-food giant, McDonald's. But when he zeroes in on the companies' food suppliers, particularly the meat suppliers, we realize the complexity of problem. So much needs to be done, particularly in the field of inspection, that it all seems almost hopeless. Our society wants a quick fix to every problem and there isn't one. Schlosser takes the reader step by gruesome step through the meatpacking houses. One fact emerges clearly. One of the prime ways to realize profits is speed: speed of fattening the beef cattle, speed of slaughter, speed of disembowelling, speed of cutting. This constant pressure on the assembly line workers not only puts them in danger, but it compromises the cleanliness of procedures, making the slaughterhouse prey to meat contamination. Instead of focusing on the primary causes of this tainting, Schlosser asserts, the meatpacking industry and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are now advocating "an exotic technological solution to the problem of foodborn pathogens," the irradiation of meat. (Experts say the procedure is inherently safe. But it seems particularly ironic to read about this in light of recent world events, when terrorists were able to commit enormous atrocities because the old security networks had broken down at field-agent levels and officials in charge were relying more and more on satellites and other technology to deal with the nation's enemies.) Fast Food Nation is a wonderful, devastating book. I could not bear to read another one like it for some time.
Rating:
Summary: It's never on my shelf, I'm loaning it to everyone!
Review: I bought this book because I was already a bit wary of the rapid growth of franchise businesses. It's disappointing to travel in the US (and sometimes abroad) these days and find the same businesses every place you go! Fast Food Nation definitely gave me the information and education I needed to back up this feeling. Schlosser analyzes the fast food industry on so many levels - labor, environment, economics, nutrition, government, family... It was incredibly enlightening and such an easy read! The aspect of the book that I found most interesting (and an issue that I am still trying to wrap my mind around completely) is how normal the fast food model has become. Everyone knows how to order from the backlit menu, take a number, get a soft drink and then grab a bag with greasy, fried food. It's the new American ritual... We take it totally for granted and it has completely changed not only the way we eat, but the way we do everything else. Fast food has invaded our lives. Try to imagine the world without any fast food establishments. After the initial disbelief, it's like taking a deep, slow breath of really fresh air.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for any nutritionist! A masterpiece!
Review: By now, we have all heard the ubiquitous propaganda and tired rhetoric before, namely that fast food is supposedly unhealthy; hamburgers, beef tallow, and cholesterol are no longer good for you; diet and exercise can cure you of mental illness, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum. Well, graciously allow me a brief moment to respond to the sickening presumption that we fast food lovers are "guilty until proven innocent." I am living proof that a daily diet of fast food hamburgers and the occasional extra-large pizza is not only healthy; it is as all-American as seeing a blockbuster summer movie on the Fourth of July. The author of this book unsuccessfully tries to shame us into forsaking our beloved nutrients. (...) Unlike the author suggests, we Americans are proud culinary adventurers. To quote the immortal words of yours truly, beef is not now and has never been a safe haven from disease and illness; the risks of mad cow disease and anthrax are far outweighed by the sheer pleasure of chewing, swallowing, digesting, and regurgitating, raw, tainted, meat! Moreover, Mr. Schlossberg suspiciously overlooks the nationwide benefit of the fast food industry's aggressive employment of minimum-wage slave labour, which keeps our inner cities' minority and handicapped youngsters and illegal aliens gainfully employed, whilst keeping them off the street and thereby reducing tragic crimes of passion! Indeed, without our insatiable appetite for rancid beef, we would be a nation of criminals! Missing also is any discussion of fast food as an everlasting glorious hotspot in the hallowed hungry halls of high schools and other sanitariums across our fair nation. The fact of the matter is that I happened to meet Brenda - my dearest Brenda - my late lover and confidant of 20 years, whilst waiting in an interminably long line at our local Jack in the Box. Those were the days. In a botox-induced, happy-go-lucky, ne'er do well, radiant defiance of those nasty E. coli outbreaks, throwing all caution to the wind, and hungry for a small snack, we stoically and fixedly smiled in eager anticipation of our Triple-decker bacon double-cheese Megawhoppers and super-sized chili-fries and our multiple over-the-counter milkshakes, which we shared. The well-intentioned but misinformed author of this book would do better to follow in my footsteps and invest his well-earned salary in McDonald's stock, schedule himself an angioplasty or two, and keep his big yap shut about how capitalists should be able to make a buck! I ask you which is more poisonous, the hamburger or the pen?!?
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