Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal ― A Look at How Fast Food Shaped America

I finally have learned what I am really eating! This book is as relevant today as it was when it was published back in 2002, probably more so! Fast Food Nation traces the history of the fast food industry from hotdog stands to the multi-billion burgers sold as corporate America spreads its gospel of a quick-and-easy (and cheap) "western diet" around the globe. To promote mass production and profits, the industry has to keep labor and material costs low. "Flavorists" in laboratories along the New Jersey turnpike concoct the "natural flavors" found in almost every processed food product. To witness the gruesome business of meat-processing, Schlosser visited slaughterhouses. What he discovered was both repugnant and hazardous. Every day more than 200,000 Americans are made sick by contaminated food AND over 300,000 are hospitalized for a food-borne illneess. Kudos to Eric Schlosser for jump starting our awareness of cheap food vs. safe food and the large corporate producers who virtually monopolize the food system. If you want to better educate yourself about how the fast food culture has undermined our health over the past 30 years and is slowly but surely shortening our life span, start with this book. After you're done reading Fast Food Nation, pick up a Michael Pollan book if you want updated evidence that the "western diet" is making this nation sick with multiple diseases. Please don't rely on most MDs to figure it out for you, think for yourself, you may be amazed to find out that your grandma was right, you are what you eat. Below is an excerpt from a 2010 Michael Pollan article (May 20, 2010 New York Review of bookss) "But although cheap food is good politics, it turns out there are significant costs--to the environment, to public health, to the public purse, even to the culture--and as these became impossible to ignore in recent years, food has come back into view. Beginning in the late 1980s, a series of food safety scandals opened people's eyes to the way their food was being produced, each one drawing the curtain back a little further on a food system that had changed beyond recognition. When BSE, or mad cow disease, surfaced in England in 1986, Americans learned that cattle, which are herbivores, were routinely being fed the flesh of other cattle; the practice helped keep meat cheap but at the risk of a hideous brain-wasting disease. In the wake of these food safety scandals, the conversation about food politics that briefly flourished in the 1970s was picked up again in a series of books, articles, and movies about the consequences of industrial food production. Beginning in 2001 with the publication of Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, a surprise best-seller, and, the following year, Marion Nestle's Food Politics, the food journalism of the last decade has succeeded in making clear and telling connections between the methods of industrial food production, agricultural policy, food-borne illness, childhood obesity, the decline of the family meal as an institution, and, notably, the decline of family income beginning in the 1970s. Besides drawing women into the work force, falling wages made fast food both cheap to produce and a welcome, if not indispensible, option for pinched and harried families. The picture of the food economy Schlosser painted resembles an upside-down version of the social compact sometimes referred to as "Fordism": instead of paying workers well enough to allow them to buy things like cars, as Henry Ford proposed to do, companies like Wal-Mart and McDonald's pay their workers so poorly that they can afford only the cheap, low-quality food these companies sell, creating a kind of nonvirtuous circle driving down both wages and the quality of food. The advent of fast food (and cheap food in general) has, in effect, subsidized the decline of family incomes in America. But perhaps the food movement's strongest claim on public attention today is the fact that the American diet of highly processed food laced with added fats and sugars is responsible for the epidemic of chronic diseases that threatens to bankrupt the health care system. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that fully three quarters of US health care spending goes to treat chronic diseases, most of which are preventable and linked to diet: heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and at least a third of all cancers. The health care crisis probably cannot be addressed without addressing the catastrophe of the American diet, and that diet is the direct (even if unintended) result of the way that our agriculture and food industries have been organized"

The purpose of this book, about the fast food industry, is best summarized by the author within the introduction: "I do not mean to suggest that fast food is solely responsible for every social problem now haunting the United States. In some cases (such as the malling and sprawling of the West) the fast food industry has been a catalyst and a symptom of larger economic trends. In other cases (such as the rise of franchising and the spread of obesity) fast food has played a more central role. By tracing the diverse influences of fast food I hope to shed light not only on the workings of an important industry, but also on a distinctively American way of viewing the world." This book recounts the history behind the uprising of fast food to become a dominant force in our modern society. However, what most of us do not know is : "what lies behind the shiny, happy surface of every fast food transaction". Eric goes on to investigate every aspect of the fast food industry: people, cattle, vegetables, health etc. The storytelling techniques that he uses throughout the book bring this expose to life. The stories are descriptive, personal and touching. A very educative and enlightening read, and a rude (much needed) awakening about the food industry in general and the fast food industry in particular. Below are key excerpts from the book that I found particularly insightful: "The history of the twentieth century was dominated by the struggle against totalitarian systems of state power. The twenty-first will no doubt be marked by a struggle to curtail excessive corporate power. The great challenge now facing countries throughout the world is how to find a proper balance between the efficiency and the amorality of the market." "Today's fast food industry is the culmination of those larger social and economic trends. The low price of a fast food hamburger does not reflect its real cost - and should. the profits of the fast food chains have been made possible by losses imposed on the rest of society. The annual cost of obesity alone is now twice as large as the fast food industry's total revenues." "The right pressure applied to the fast food industry in the right way could produce change faster than any act of Congress. The United Students Against Sweatshops and other activist groups have brought widespread attention to the child labor, low wages, and hazardous working conditions in Asian factories that make sneakers for Nike." "Nobody in the United States is forced to buy fast food. The first steps toward meaningful change is by far the easiest: stop buying it. The executives who run the fast food industry are not bad men. They are businessmen. They will sell free-range, organic, grass-fed hamburgers if you demand it. They will sell whatever sells at a profit. The usefulness of the market, its effectiveness as a tool, cuts both ways." "Whatever replaces the fast food industry should be regional, diverse, authentic, unpredictable, sustainable, profitable - and humble. It should know its limits. People can be fed without being fattened or deceived. This new century may bring an impatience with conformity, a refusal to be kept in the dark, less greed, more compassion, less speed, more common sense, a sense of humor about bran essences and loyalties, a view of food as more than just fuel. Things don't have to be the way they are. Despite all evidence to the contrary, I remain optimistic."

Fast food nation took an in depth look at the fast food culture that has been on the rise over the last 5-10 years. Unlike most books on fast food restaurants in the United States, Eric Schlosser focus’ his attention on the behind the scenes look at fast food. Schlosser brings up a valid argument about the trap business that fast food restaurants create. These restaurants are lead by business men and women who are willing to sell anything as long as they are profiting off of it. They are hiring young kids, teenagers, and illegal immigrants who are desperate for money. They operate their employees as disposable assets, making the job easy to find, yet hard to maintain. These major fast food companies, like McDonalds and many more are all utilizing this method of business. They are taking advantage of the people who mostly wouldn’t have a job anywhere else because they are either too young or unqualified. Schlosser referred to the fast food employees as the “batteries of the restaurant” because they are used to produce high quantities of low quality products and disposed when they are no longer needed. I thought this was an interesting point that Schlosser made. Another point that I Schlosser touched on was the quality of food that is being served in the fast food restaurants. Majority of the meat served in fast food restaurants come form slaughterhouses around the nation. Some of the slaughterhouses provide meat nationwide. When slaughterhouses only income is from fast food chains, they are more willing to mass produce meats and process them to increase their profits. The fast food giants want the biggest profit possible, therefore, the cheaper the supplies, the greater the income. This is another example of how fast food giants are taking advantage of people with no other option for work. Throughout this book, Schlosser does not bash the businessmen behind the fast food nation. Instead, he paints a clear picture as to why fast food has become such a power house today. It is offering jobs for those who have nowhere else to go, it is cheap and affordable, quick service, and there are large profits that come with mass processed food. Unlike other books or articles that point at fast food as the number one cause for obesity, Schlosser goes behind the scenes and explains why fast food is such a growing industry. He also points out the target market for these restaurants being the youth. There are so many people to blame for this epidemic and Schlosser did a fantastic job dissecting each level of the industry to make us better understand why it has become so popular and why it will keep growing.

I've always known fast food was bad for you, but I never quite knew just how bad. Well Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser shoes us the real dark side of the fast food and meat packing industry. I've read some other reviews about how this book is pro-liberal and one sided. However, I thought of a few things to counter that: 1. The front cover of the book should have gave you some indication of what to expect out of this book. 2. Do you think the fast food and meat packing industry is going to come out and publicly tell the truth about some of the dirtier things that happens on their watch to the food? C'mon. The commercials we see regarding these guys show everybody is happy and enjoying their food (note how there are no fat people in fast food ads). It's a shame that we'll never know just how bad the meat is that we're putting in our systems. 3. Anti-Capitalism. Lobbiying has stifled any attempts to make beef and poulty more healthy for the people according to this book. I believe in the American business but, when it continues to allow bad meat to be digested by the people and won't make a recall until everyone has practically digested the food, it's kinda hard for me to support this. Money is nice and all, but I prefer it without destroying lives. Oh and for the silly comments like "Well don't eat the meat" yes American's will change their way of living on the spot to foods that have additives in them and ads that are constantly bombarded to people to eat this stuff. Not everyone is that strong. I feel sorry for the USDA, especially in thier involvement with feeding their kids this stuff in schools. 4. Too long of a read. This book has a lot of information in it. Rightfully so. If you're going to challenge these giants you might want to make sure you spend quite enough time getting your facts straight. As much as these corporations are worried about being sued they will not hesitate to return the favor if a noteworthy book like this threatens their business. Read the book in small bites if your attention span can't handle it. Easy. Overall this was a very informative book that showed the history,politics, labor, and hardships of Fast Food Nation. I feel that this book, no matter what your political affiliation is, can give you a closer look at what goes on in McAmerica.

Eric Schlosser's book Fast Food Nation describes "the dark side" behind America's fast food industry. The book starts off by explaining how the fast food industry came to be the American symbol. People wanted food faster, and they wanted familiarity. With that came the start of a whole new industry. The industry strived to perfect this new way of food service. As time went on, the food industry became a money making machine. Extreme measures were, and are, being taken to produce this food, measures that I wouldn't have thought legal until I read this book. This book has really changed my life. Schlosser goes into great detail describing how the food industry functions. I like how he writes about his personal experiences in the slaughterhouses and processing plants. It makes me think, "what has our world come to to take such extreme measures to make money! The number of lives sacrificed to get you that Big Mac is outrageous. Schlosser took many tours through slaughterhouses and interviewed many former employees that have been burned out from the tortuous conditions. The food itself is described in detail for us. Schlosser says that, "Everyday in the United States, roughly 200,000 people are sickened by food borne disease, 900 are hospitalized, and 14 die". I appreciate the detail and evidence he includes when giving these facts. This information he was giving however, was a little disorganized. Facts were sprawled out on the page, and the amount of facts were overwhelming. It was almost too much to take in at once. This made it a hard read, and I did not like that about this book. He also starts out slow with a lot of history and background information. How the food is made and processed isn't described in detail until halfway through the book. His main message presented was how the fast food industry is affecting society. This book may have been published in 2001, but the information still accurately describes the industry today. He makes a point to mention that this book is not outdated in the afterward of the 2011 version. I recommend this book to anyone. Having more people know about what is really behind the Big Mac and the Whopper will help society understand what they are eating and how it can affect them. Schlosser's book Chew on This is a great companion to the book as it describes "everything you never wanted to know about fast food". He was also the co producer of the movie Food Inc. which I also recommend if you want to learn more about the fast food industry.

What I found most interesting about this book was how NOT shocking it was to me. The details were certainly impressive, but in its broad outlines I don't think I learned anything I didn't already know. What's more, it seems to me that most of these things are generally known by the American public. Hey, fast food is bad for you! But it goes beyond that: There's stuff in hamburgers that isn't hamburger. Excrement and rats and cats and roaches and deadly microbes and other unsavory parts of the cow are in it. Slaughterhouses are the most dangerous and unsanitary places in the country. Cows and chickens are maltreated most unconscionably. French fries are flavored with beef. The fast food industry is destroying health, safety, and independent businesses nationwide and is the vanguard of American Cultural Imperialism abroad. Fast food labor practices generate poverty, crime, and drug use. Americans are fat and lazy and it's killing us. Yes, yes. What I think is more fascinating is: Why do we keep eating fast food when we know all this? I'm enthralled by my own ability to bite into a burger, look at its cross-section, say to myself "That's disgusting," and promptly take another bite. I'm a disgusting overweight human being, but I'm not alone. We all run straight for what's bad for us. Schlosser's "expose" is undoubtedly a little on the sensationalist side, yet even so I found it surprisingly unsensational. The fact that the depredations of the fast food industry are so well-known as to be banal and commonplace is quite the most horrifying facet of the issue, in my opinion.

Even if you don't purchase or eat fast food, the buying power of the industry still influences what you purchase at your local supermarket. Agribusiness is a multi-billion dollar industry, more soulless and corporatized than ever before. Money is the name of the game, from soda makers to additive manufacturers, and the price we are paying is our health. With slaughterhouses running at dangerous speeds and cattle in feedlots being fed the remains of other cattle in a gruesomely cannibalistic fashion, you never know what is in your USDA Choice beef. Chances are, the USDA never inspected your beef, and there's a good probability of finding fecal matter in it. Supreme Beef argued in court that Salmonella was a "natural organism, not an additive" and therefore shouldn't be tested for by the USDA inspectors. Eric Schlosser takes an in-depth look at the meat industry, but for a more detailed and graphic picture, you can pick up Gail A. Eisnitz's 'Slaughterhouse' to supplement Schlosser's well-researched findings. Exposed in 'Fast Food Nation' is not just what goes into your meats, but the cruel and inhuman treatment of ... PEOPLE. Discover how deregulation led to replacing a skilled labor force with a system that prays on untrained minimum-wage workers and immigrants (both legal and illegal). 'Fast Food Nation' is a complete text that covers not just the food industry, but what has been happening in the last few decades to our jobs, our government, corporate irresponsibility and greed, changes in laws and regulations for both food and employment, and the cost to us in terms of our humanity. Schlosser writes all this information up in a captivating manner, giving in-depth accounts of the people behind the craze like Ray Kroc, Carl Karcher, Walt Disney, J.R. Simplot, and other industry innovators. One of Schlosser's most powerful statements comes in his summarizations. On page 261, regarding the American free market system, Schlosser writes, "The market is a tool, and a useful one. But the worship of this tool is a hollow faith. Far more important than any tool is what you make with it. Many of America's greatest accomplishments stand in complete defiance of the free market ... if all that mattered were the unfettered right to buy and sell, tainted food could not be kept off supermarket shelves, toxic waste could be dumped next door to elementary schools, and every American family could import an indentured servant..." 'Fast Food Nation' is more than just food for thought; it is a call to the American people to take back control of our lives, from inept government and greedy corporations. Remember, its OUR country, not just theirs. Included at the back of the book is an extensive Notes section, a bibliography, and an index. I can't recommend this book highly enough. Enjoy!

This is a great read, and when it was first published it must have created waves. Much of what is in the book has entered public debate and a counter movement has been spawned since a few years now, so the facts are no longer earth shattering. I had seen Food Inc. some time ago. Newspapers report the poor working conditions and ridiculously low compensation paid to hourly wage employees at Walmart and McDonald. Organic food has become popular globally and a fitness trend is on the rise, with people rejecting processed food. In that sense this trail blazing book has been vindicated in just a decade. Having said that, the book still revealed painful facts about endless greed. Greed lies at the heart of all acts of evil and American corporate greed has attacked nations far away from it. The book has shown that Ronald Regan--who championed Neoliberalism-- was an equal opportunity hater of the poor. His economic policies--formed in conjunction with Margaret Thatcher of England-- didn't just affect the developing world with the Washington Consensus, but he harmed the American poor in equal proportion. The mention of suicides of American farmers is eerily similar to the suicides of Indian farmers, as Monsanto makes inroads in India. The fact is that World War II changed the world for the worst. Consumerism became a cult religion to satisfy the greed of a few; we sacrificed our health, freedom, happiness, economic prosperity and world peace to it. As high protein diets gain in popularity, and world consumption of chicken rises at astonishing levels, it is impossible to see healthier food options becoming available. Corporate farms and the mass production of poultry and livestock can never be free of toxins and greed. People need to eat simpler and become minimalists. At the moment, western nations take pride in the variety of products in their supermarkets. Our bodies are not designed for endless consumption. We are meant to eat simple foods and to exert physically. But the "modern world" has been created to defeat our natural design. It's upto us as individual consumers to embrace simplicity. Muhammad (saw) said, "Be in this world like a traveler or a way farer." Travelers possess little baggage, and they eat light, just enough to keep going. This sums up the best attitude in life. (less)

A myst read, horror story, about corperate Amerca and it’s fast food giant

Von der Entstehung und Geschichte einzelner Fast Food Ketten über die Produktion der Kartoffeln bis hin zum Marketing, dem Thema Franchising, Fleischproduktion, Arbeits- und Lebensbedingungen der Arbeiter und vielen vielen weiteren Themen, wird in diesem Buch genauestens berichtet. Beim Lesen stellt man schnell fest, wie viel Arbeit in Form von Recherche der Autor in dieses Buch gesteckt hat. Jegliche Äußerung ist im Anhang mit zahlreichen Quellen belegt und wird im Buch genauestens begründet. Auch nach vielen Jahren empfinde ich dieses Buch noch als sehr aktuell und wichtig. Im hinteren Teil des Buches befindet sich zu dem ein Nachtrag zu den Veränderungen seit dem Zeitpunkt der Veröffentlichung des Buches. Das Buch ist angenehm und verständlich geschrieben, auch bei komplexeren Themen. Man darf allerdings nicht erwarten, dass es sich wie ein Roman liest, denn das ist es nicht. Die behandelten und erklärten Themen empfand ich als sehr lehrreich und interessant. Ich würde das Buch jederzeit wieder kaufen und habe es bereits einigen Leuten weiterempfohlen.

Enlightening Shows that fast food is crap and full of chemicals Show how these large companies break the law, rewrite laws

una visione molto interessante del lifestyle americano (i fast food, e il loro impatto sulla catena di produzione, sul mercato del lavoro, sui settori agricoli e allevamento); cenni sulla nascita del fenomento, dai primi carrelli degli hot dog, fino all'estensione del dominio McDonald. in inglese.

A critical look at the American Fast food industry at the turn of the century looking at the way fast food is made and then sold to the world. Also investigates the people who make fast food possible. From the cattlemen, slaughterhouse workers, often low paid migrant workers and the young workers who serve the food in the fast food establishments. Eric explores many different aspects of the topic and seems to deeply care about the effect greasy burgers, supersized French fries and soft drinks have on the world. Recommended reading. I do believe there is a 25 year updated edition of Fast Food Nation coming out soon. So it might be worth it to track that one down if you were looking to read this book.