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Summary: Fast Food is the root of the homogenization of the US/world
Review: In very vivid, rarely sensational, terms, Schlosser effectively argues that fast-food is responsible for many of the ills in our commercialized society. From the reprehensible techniques fast food marketers use to lure children into eating their nutrition lacking "food" to the harsh working conditions of meat-packers, he makes a solid case for everyone to re-think their opinion on the fast food industry. I could not put this book down. Using cold, hard facts, Schlosser covers all of the obvious and not so obvious way fast food makers have changed the American landscape. I strongly recommend this book to parents, who think that a Happy Meal is a decent meal for kids. My kids will rarely if ever eat fast food. If everyone in America read this book and truly did something not only to change their eating habits with regard to fast food, but their shopping habits in general, we might actually be able to change the physical landscape of our country. There does not have to be a strip mall with the same stores in every town in America. There does not need to be a McDonald's at every exit on the highway. Do I sound like a radical? Read "Fast Food Nation" and realize it's all a matter of perspective.
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Summary: Makes me glad I'm out of the "Fast Food" loop...!
Review: I used to be a victim of the fast food mentality, eating every other meal at a ...urban dining. Then, for religious reasons, took myself out of the loop, committing to eat kosher food, most of which I cook myself at home. I won't say I've never regretted the decision, but in this book, Schlosser gives me many more reasons I'm glad I removed myself from the "fast food loop". Like a previous reviewer, I thought this book would be about ...and their ..., but he actually covers much, much more territory -- so skilfully that I didn't mind his chapter-long tangents (few of which, in the end, are actually tangential to his main argument). However, I did find I was disappointed with this book's "epilogue." Schlosser hopes to empower his readers, charging them with the "you can make a difference" mindset. The corporations are afraid of you, he says, urging readers to use their buying power sensibly. Frankly, I felt this conclusion is weak after the sensationalistic charge the rest of the book elivers. Are the big food franchises really afraid of me? I don't know. But as the years go by, I see how my decision impacts not only myself but my children, who can watch ...ads enviously, but without begging me for a trip there -- because they know there's no chance I'll give in. They're among the minority of North American children who can walk past ... without whining. I don't even know if they know his name. For those small things, at least, I'm grateful. If you're looking for reasons to take yourself out of the loop, Schlosser dishes up a few compelling ones here. But chances are, you'll keep eating whatever the big conglomerates want you to, at least a couple of times a week. My own reason for not eating fast food was my decision to answer to a force more powerful than any franchise. Schlosser can't offer that kind of motivation, but this book might go a long way towards convincing you to think twice before chowing down.
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Summary: What's behind the billions served is frightening
Review: This is a great read that makes me think twice about eating burgers. Like Upton Sinclair's The Jungle (which was published in 1906), it exposes the unsafe practices of the meat industry (things haven't changed much in the last hundred years, finds Schlosser). But if that's all this was, it would be just a good book, not a great one. Schlosser also deftly traces the history of fast food and ties it to the post-WWII era beginnings of American suburban sprawl and freeway culture.
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Summary: THERE'S *WHAT* IN THE MEAT? TELL ME YOU'RE KIDDING, RIGHT?
Review: Reading this exhaustively-researched book is an experience that is enjoyable, disgusting and infuriating all at once. Some of the stuff described in Schlosser's book seems so farfetched (can corporations really be that nasty?) that you'll initially dismiss it as being highly improbable. However, one glance at the unbelievably lengthy reference and note appendix and you realize with great sadness that none of it is fiction. To this extent, Schlosser stuffs an incredible amount of information in this book and, throughout, his writing style is easy and flowing. If only the shocking information he gives us was as smooth and easy to digest. Many reviewers dismiss him as being avidly anti-Republican. All of Schlosser's comments are factual (refer again to the note section in which you will find ample documentation). Though the subject matter would lend itself to such abuse, Schlosser doesn't push his personal opinion on the reader: he's there to give us the facts and allows us to make the decisions. You've probably read in other reviews some hints of the horrors described in the book: worker abuse, dangerous working conditions, tainted food supply, etc. The chapters on the meatpacking industry and the slaughterhouses are truly frightening. And these corporations' ability to evade the law and to control governmental agencies are even worse! Poop-filled meat and school lunches tainted with e.coli are only the beginning... This book will make you think twice about what you put into your body. Was it written to scare you off fast food? Not specifically, but its main purpose is to have you THINK. And this it does with excellence. A must-read for everyone.
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Summary: Bloat (and Blood) Food Nation
Review: NOW I know why when I used to live overseas and would come back to the United States, after pigging out in Spain and other countries, I would eat just one hamburger and fries at a certain fast food chain and discover myself bloated within hours. It's in the "natural (RIGHT!) flavoring". Eric Schlosser's Fast Food National is a zippy, fun, fact-filled and enormously sombering read. The recent events surrounding Hindus protesting the beef flavoring put on McDonald's fries make me think perhaps this book's amazing revelations had something to do about it. Firstly, I LOVE fast food. I make no bones about it. As an entertainer who travels a lot I often am pressed for time and have no problem with a hamburger, fries, etc. And, yes, I have known SOMETHING about how the animals were slaughtered -- but the graphic, haunting descriptions in Fast Food Nation have made me think a lot more about it and, to be honest, sometimes seek a different thing to eat (pasta is "slaughtered" more humanely!). This book covers the entire panorama of the fast food/corporate take over of the United States, which has been in turn spread by these companies -- with their family-friendly imagery -- to the corners of the earth: the creation of fast-food restaurant visits as a family "event," the uniformity in food products and lack of room for innovation or deviation; the use of "natural flavors" on meats and potatoes (lab-created chemicals, actually -- sprayed on). And there's more: the dangers in the meat used, the revolting process by which animals are slaughtered and the way in which this opens up areas where meat can be contaminated, the role of fast food in broadening more than the horizons of the world's citizens (i.e. getting them FAT), it's role in widening the gap between rich and poor (almost as fast as it is widening people's waist-lines), fast-food's role in real estate, impact on farming, and food design. But, above all, what in the end haunted me in this compelling "I-can't-put-it-down" (maybe because flab from eating all those fries) book is: the inspiring dream and success of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc, the blatant appeal to rope in kids to bring families to fast-food restaurants, the sickening description of the slaughter of the animals -- and those chemicals sprayed on the food to give them a certain taste. THAT'S why I could eat four times as much in Spain in the late 70s and not get fat!!
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Summary: A thoughtful look into the entire fast food cycle
Review: Fast Food Nation presents an interesting background on the fast food industry's history and workings. As another reviewer noted, the fast food industry itself is portrayed as neither good nor evil. Rather, it's a business responsible for generating continuous growth and profits for its shareholders. The strategies employed to accomplish this are not for the meek. (And later, in the discussion of McDonald's in the UK, can seem underhanded.) Scholosser looks at the stores, food growers, the flavor factories and the meat packing industry. He does a thorough examination of a LIttle Caesar's store, including accompanying a driver during his evening pizza deliveries. Dave Feamster, the owner of the Fort Collins franchise, is portrayed as a rare hero because he's actually providing a decent work environment for his employees. The background on Simplot is very interesting, as is his description of a french fry factory. "Potatoes are hurled in excess 100 feet per second towards a stainless steel cutting lattice." I found his description of natural versus artificial chemicals enlightening: one is not worse than the other. I would have loved to learn more about the flavor industry; however we learn that it's very secretive about its research. The section on the meatpacking industry is disgusting. On the other hand, it IS curious that the industry is still, by and large, manual because "cattle come in different shapes and sizes." Schlosser includes a very extensive bibliography and source listing. I look forward to to exploring this further. I'd also love to see a followup in 5-10 years.
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Summary: McDonalds... you should be ashamed
Review: I was shocked to read the entire seedy story regarding the Fast Food Industry. The treament of their employees, animals and the eventual food products we eat is appalling. Personally, the most frightening aspect is their reluctance to reveal the real ingredients in their products. Several members of my family have severe food allergies and could be harmed by eating their food. We are not big consumers of fast food & have recently started buying organic products. They may be more expensive but it's worth it. We will not eat fast food again! Thank you Eric Schlosser.
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Summary: Utterly Convincing: I Now Won't Eat Fast Food, PERIOD
Review: To think that HUMAN GREED would supercede the health and welfare of American citizens in the minds of the heads of the CATTLE INDUSTRY, FAST FOOD CHAINS, the FRENCH FRY INDUSTRY, CON AGRI, etc.!! Eric Schlosser brilliantly pins to the wall the wriggling vermin who feed us feces under the aegis of the Golden Arches, etc. I knew part of this story before reading FAST FOOD NATION, but the whole grim picture is far worse than any sane human being could imagine. The best revenge is to abandon fast food. Drive these scumbuckets out of business, and don't risk killing yourself with feces-laden hamburgers!
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Summary: Fast Food Nation
Review: Reading this book has helped solidify a feeling that has been manifesting itself for a long time. I once traveled to Australia and was dismayed about the prevelance of American fast food chains. Looking for foreign culture is difficult when the closest restaurant to your apartment is a McDonald's. Fast Food Nation simply and eloquently presents the disgusting cultural homogenization that America has become subject to. Mr. Schlosser's graphic descriptions of the Meatpacking Industry are overshadowed only by the parasitic nature of Fast Food chains and their ever-expadanding empires. A testament to social awarness, Fast Food Nation is an eye-opening account of good intentions gone awry and a culture that is dumbly unaware of its own internal corruption.
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Summary: The best gift an American can give.
Review: There are many excellent reviews so far and a few negative ones that reveal a great deal about the negative reviewer, so I'll be brief ... This is one of the finest American 20th Century history books you'll find. Read it, pass it on, buy them as gifts, and put them into schools. The Goliath of Profit Without Ethics can be dealt a great blow by this little slingshot.
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