No revelations are more disquieting than those about the U. For decades the Small Business Administration has been bankrolling franchises owned by Burger King, Subway, and others.
Whenever these outlets fail, the corporations lose nothing, because taxpayers cover the cost. And, Schlosser notes, the government can order the recall of defective toy cows but not of tainted ground beef. Schlosser's conclusions are often unsettling, but his methods are enormously engaging.
Whether he's sneaking into a slaughterhouse on the high plains or moseying around Europe with German cowboy wannabes, his reportage makes clear how much he deserved the National Magazine Award he won in His deft, uncluttered language conveys with equal skill the most poignant moments, such as a cameo appearance by Christopher Reeve, and the most uproarious ones, as when Mikhail Gorbachev seeks to explain the Soviet Union's collapse to a rollicking crowd of fast food conventioneers in Las Vegas.
Schlosser sketches out a new atlas of America, one that displays heretofore unmapped monuments, murky subcultures, dark communities of forgotten souls, and hidden thoroughfares of collusion linking institutions we would rather see well isolated from each other.
The culmination of years of research, visits to disappearing farmland and rapidly growing cities, and interviews with fast food workers and franchisees, cattle ranchers, slaughterhouse workers, and parents whose children have died after eating hamburgers tainted with E. Eric Schlosser has been investigating the fast food industry for years. In , his two-part article on the subject in Rolling Stone generated more mail than any other story the magazine had run in years.
Schlosser has interviewed slaughterhouse workers; cattle ranchers; potato farmers; fast food employees, founders, and franchisees; and families who have lost a loved one to food poisoning. From his extensive research and travels for this book, he has unearthed a wealth of little-known, often unsettling truths about the fast food industry.
In addition to writing for Rolling Stone , Schlosser has contributed to The New Yorker and has been a correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly since His work has been nominated for several other National Magazine Awards and for the Loeb Award for business journalism. It is the second largest purchaser of chicken in the United States. Fast Food Nation is the kind of book that you hope young people read because it demonstrates far better than any social studies class the need for government regulation, the unchecked power of multinational corporations and the importance of our everyday decisions.
Eric Schlosser's compelling new book, Fast Food Nation , will not only make you think twice before eating your next hamburger, but it will also make you think about the fallout that the fast food industry has had on America's social and cultural landscape. Fast Food Nation provides the reader with a vivid sense of how fast food has permeated contemporary life and a fascinating and sometimes grisly account of the process whereby cattle and potatoes are transformed into the burgers and fries served up by local fast food franchises.
This is a fine piece of muckraking, alarming without being alarmist. Also all adults, so that makes just about everybody. Now, put down this paper and go buy the book. If Fast Food Nation doesn't make people rethink their eating habits, nothing will.
Fast Food Nation , with its package of solid research and engaging narrative, is an invaluable tool for this movement. With a journalist's pen and an activist's fervor, Eric Schlosser offers a troubling view of America through its crispy fries and drizzling burgers.
Schlosser's research should give all Americans something to chew on. His eye is sharp, his profiles perceptive, his prose thoughtful but spare; this is John McPhee behind the counter with an editor.
The prose moves gracefully between vignette and exposition, assembling great quantities of data in small areas without bursting at the seams. Schlosser establishes a seminal argument for the true wrongs at the core of modern America. An exemplary blend of polemic and journalism. Of critical importance is the end: just as the reader despairs of a solution, Schlosser outlines a set of remedies, along with steps to get them accomplished.
Highly recommended. Q Whether the product is furniture, books, clothes, or food, chains are taking over independent businesses across the country and the world. What prompted you to focus on fast food? The fast food chains demonstrated that you could create identical retail environments and sell the same products at thousands of different locations. The huge success of McDonald's spawned countless imitators. The key to all these businesses is uniformity and conformity. So by looking at fast food, I'm trying to explain how communities throughout the United States have lost a lot of their individuality over the past twenty years and have started to look exactly the same.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC estimates that about two-thirds of Americans are overweight and one-third of those are morbidly obese. The most common causes of obesity are overeating and being physically inactive. In , journalist Eric Schlosser wrote about the health dangers associated with junk food in Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal , which became a national bestseller and the basis for a major motion picture.
More than 15 years later, his book is more relevant to the oncology community, for one, then when first published. Anyways, she went on to ask why I would be reading this book in a McDonald's. I really didn't have an answer to her question; it just happened to be the one I grabbed before walking over for a burger.
I should have asked her why she was so unsettled that I was reading this book while enjoying a Big Mac and chocolate shake, but I didn't. I shrugged and said it was a good book and she went away. That was almost ten years ago; I've modified my eating habits. I guess as you get older the old metabolism decides to stop working at full capacity. I had all but forgotten about this book until I read a review of one of my GR friends, Nancy.
After I read her review, I was reminded of how much I really like the book. Yes, it is sensationalistic journalism at its finest, but it does make some good points.
And even with all the scare tactics thrown in the book for good measure, the book does raise awareness to exactly what we are putting in our bodies when we decide to eat fast food, and how the animals are treated before being slaughtered for our consumption.
On a side note, there happens to be a section about meatpacking plants, and the one in the town I grew up in is mentioned by name. Hurrah Midwest!! Read the book. But make sure that you know just what exactly is be spotlighted. Like any piece of investigative journalism, the reader has a responsibility to think about the facts after being exposed to them. Man, I'm kinda hungry. Jul 10, Eric rated it it was amazing.
This is one of those books that should open the eyes of most readers to the food and flavor industry in America. As with so many aspects of American life, Schlosser deftly examines how humans are studied and then manipulated into following our drives, both conscious and subconscious, and how those that profit from learning about our behavior, continue to do so. In reading this book, people will see food, production of food and the marketing and selling of food, in a new light.
Mar 20, Manny rated it liked it Shelves: science , well-i-think-its-funny. It's one of those books where the hero gradually comes to understand that the world isn't as it seems. He's ended up in this future utopia, but there are some puzzling details that don't quite fit. For example, why do people often appear out of breath when they get out of the elevator? In the end, all is revealed. He's sitting with a friend in a fancy restaurant, and view spoiler [the guy says that yes, mu There's a witty and disturbing satire by Stanislaw Lem called The Futurological Congress.
He's sitting with a friend in a fancy restaurant, and view spoiler [the guy says that yes, much of their life is an illusion. This is well known, though people prefer not to talk about it. But if he's so curious, there's a thing he might want to try. It's a chemical that will strip off all the multiple illusions that are projected in order to make life look pleasanter than it really is.
So the hero hesitates a moment, and then he takes the red pill. In this book, it's a preparation based on very intense smelling salts, a touch I liked.
The real world appears. He suddenly sees why you're breathless when you get out of the elevator. There are no elevators: people are swarming up and down the grillwork of the shafts like climbing apes. His friend, who a moment ago looked like a healthy, successful, middle-aged scientist type, is revealed as a hideously deformed cripple. The cordon bleu meal in front of them turns out to be a ghastly pile of chemical slop.
Well, it's not quite as bad as that with Fast Food Nation , but, as Gulla says in the comment below, you won't want to eat a hamburger again. It will be much changed.
Aug 01, Katrin rated it it was amazing. Oh my GOD. You will never eat fast food again or any processed food for tht matter. It is incredulous what food comapanies are getting away with - what they allow to get into the food they rpocess, the unscrupulous way they handle employees, the calaous way they treat consumers. Please read this book. Save yourself, your kids, our small farmers, and our planet. Put your money somehwere else.
Aug 17, Arun Divakar rated it really liked it Shelves: favorites. There was this flash of memory about this book as I stood in line to buy a pizza of late. With the tight social distancing protocols in place, the outlet was deserted and the energy of the place was subdued. The teenager taking my order as is the norm told me about the offers for the day and then typed away at the keyboard. While he was getting the order ready was when a lot of things from this book sprang to my mind.
It is not just the chains that he gives a critical view of but also what goes on behind the scene including meatpacking, manual labour, aesthetics of the food items too. The homogenization of this industry is achieved through a chain of activities almost all of which are highly exploitative in nature. It is these acts of exploitation that really make the case against fast food stronger.
Schlosser calls out the below : Advertising : The core consumers for fast food remain children and focused advertising campaigns are now the norm for the industry. In the decades since this book, advertising has become for subtle and yet incredibly intelligent in the way it entrenches the idea of fast food into the psyche of children.
With the way the internet has now become a necessity, focused ads have now become more personalized. Schlosser talks about how this is an area that is extensively researched and was ruthlessly exploited for monetary gain. This is a bizarre way of catching them young whereby a whole generation of children become addicted to fast food and thereby to health risks.
For a big chunk of teenagers the fast food chain is a spring board into finding their career options later in life but they are literally squeezed dry for the time that they work with these outlets. To unearth the bigger problem areas, Schlosser widens the scope of his investigation and looks not only at the outlets but also at almost all the associated aspects of what powers a fast food restaurant.
The meatpacking and french fry industries rely heavily on an illegal immigrant population to keep their systems going is something that Schlosser uncovers.
Being a very dangerous type of work, the conditions on the job are next to unbearable as it treats employees like a replaceable asset.
A few of the case studies that Schlosser calls out are heart wrenching examples of how individuals who are past their healthy phase of being able to work are discarded unceremoniously. Food Hygiene : One thing that I have always liked about the chain fast food restaurants is how quickly they can turn around an order.
Personally I am a to-go person when it comes to fast food and this happens only when I am travelling. Having said this though, the descriptions of how some of the food items are prepared and what the dish could probably include was enough to make me gag. Since this is a US-centric book, it also calls out some of the worst food related illnesses that fast food has been a cause for in the US. What really pricked my conscience was in understanding how vehemently the chains and their suppliers denied any form of accountability and went great lengths to do so.
I shall look at burgers warily for a while now! The author really has an axe to grind against the Republicans and never fails to hide that. The GOP gets the second best flak in the book and that did make me question the unbiased nature of the narrative. In the afterword, Schlosser clarifies this and also calls out some of the transgressions from the Democrats too. That makes it only slightly even! It is a very incisive work that helps you understood what goes on behind the counter in fast food chain restaurant.
Feb 01, Jen from Quebec :0 rated it really liked it Shelves: favorites , foreign-authors , school , copies-i-own , political , favorites-life-changers , non-fiction , color-challenge-for-book-covers. This book opened my eyes and scared the shit out of me. Just the description of how meat is produced in slaughterhouses was enough to make me quiver and question our entire 'food system'. This book answers questions that you didn't even know you needed to be asking.
The glut of disturbing information is easily digestible see what I did there? I started reading this book after having lunch at a fast food restaurant Have you ever been bored of cooking, would like to get away from stressful problem, trying to find a place where you can eat while your children can play, or trying to find a fast testable tasteful food?
I grew up in a country where rice is the staple food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. School and work have brought me to different culture and different countries I started reading this book after having lunch at a fast food restaurant School and work have brought me to different culture and different countries which forced me to survive to various tastes and culinary culture.
I also recalled couple of visits in this restaurant chain in Menado or Kendari after long weeks of hiking and staying in remote places of Talaud or Buton. This book was not just about the food, but the whole industry related to fast food, the franchise, the packaging, the workers and their welfare, and the lethal E. How lucky I was surviving from the possibility of facing the impact of this industry, at least to my health. Trend is like virus, very contagious.
Malls are everywhere, face-to-face. When one food vendor becomes popular, everyone wants to be in the first queue of tasting it and the others build similar types of stores or sell similar types of food. The use of borax in meatballs or tofu has drawn our attention to be more careful in selecting or buying our food.
Indonesian meals particularly home-made meals are still my preference these days. It is healthier but is time consuming to prepare especially like me who put the same seriousness in cooking as in studying.
One thing I could not avoid, the potato products… Chips and fries… sigh! View all 51 comments. Feb 01, Laurie rated it really liked it Shelves: food-issues. This was a fascinating in depth read about how the fast food industry developed and how it has literally changed the landscape of our country and the health of its inhabitants.
I've read several books on the evils of the food industry but this one goes into incredible detail about many of the things only glanced over in other books the source of "natural flavors" was more than a little shocking and takes a look at both sides of the story.
It goes in depth into the history of the industry and ta This was a fascinating in depth read about how the fast food industry developed and how it has literally changed the landscape of our country and the health of its inhabitants. It goes in depth into the history of the industry and taps into the emotional human side of things by outlining the little guys who started it all with high hopes and lots of determination. The one story that I can't seem to get out of my head is that of the illegal immigrant who went to work at a slaughterhouse in order to make a better life for his family.
After giving his all to the company including charred lungs, a broken back that never healed correctly and countless other broken bones and horrifying health ailments he continued to support the company because he believed in them. His commitment left him with a completely broken and useless body and he was then fired when he had nothing left to give. But the greedy, heartless wusses couldn't even dredge up the nerve to tell him personally.
He realized he was no longer an employee when they stopped cashing his health insurance checks and he called to inquire as to the reason. Awful, just awful that this kind of thing is allowed to happen. The afterward goes into detail about Mad Cow disease in relation to the fast food industry. I already know way too much about BSE as it's a minor obsession of mine but I'm very glad he included the updated information in this version for those unaware of the ongoing problem.
Agri-industry still has a firm hold on how animals are cared for and are still practicing dangerous feeding habits that endanger not only the animals the "food" animals and our pets but the future well being of our society.
I haven't eaten beef since reading Mad Cowboy and this book. Read the book and make up your own mind. I doubt you'll come away from it unaffected. Jun 04, Andrew Breslin rated it it was amazing. Of all the books that made me physically ill to read and filled me with a sense of utter and complete hopelessness, exacerbating my cynicism, despair, and suicidal tendencies, this was among the very best. Oh it's just so good, you'll want to slash your wrists.
Or, depending on your personality and how you direct your rage, throw a brick through the window of the nearest McDonalds. Then climb through the broken window, retrieve the brick, and hurl it through an adjacent window. And then, when yo Of all the books that made me physically ill to read and filled me with a sense of utter and complete hopelessness, exacerbating my cynicism, despair, and suicidal tendencies, this was among the very best.
And then, when you run out of windows and realize your first instinct was a pretty good one, grab some of the broken glass and just go ahead and slash your wrists anyway. Because, really: what's the fucking point? If we live in a society in which our very sustenance is based on this horrific shit, why bother? It's hard to fathom the mentality of people who live lives of hedonistic luxury at the top of the enormous mountain of greasy deep-fried suffering they cause. I'm not even talking about the animals, who obviously fare far worse than the slaughterhouse workers themselves.
But those workers, as Schlosser illustrates with enough detail to make Uptain Sinclair ask him to maybe tone it down a little, are three times more likely to die on the job than a police officer, and many many times more likely to have a limb inadvertently turned into the precursor for some unsuspecting kid's happy meal.
How do people sleep at night knowing their wealth is built upon such textbook examples of man's inhumanity to man, let alone his inhumanity or inbovinity to cow? Earth's human headcount recently crossed the 7 billion mark, and this exploding population is a primary incentive for the wholesale mechanization of our food machine, the ruthless efficiency of production, discarding any and all concerns but quantity and profit.
So really, go ahead and read this, and maybe lay off the Prozac first, just to see if you can handle it without reaching for the relief offered by that jagged piece of glass. If not, well, 6,,, to go.
Dec 28, Andrew rated it really liked it Recommends it for: everyone. I expected this story to be the written version of Supersize Me, but it is actually much more comprehensive.
Schlosser provdes a pretty in-depth history of the development of the cattlle, poultry, and potato industries and also fast-food chains. Schlosser has his moments of leftist, Republican-bashing arguments, but for the most part he tells a balanced story.
The meatpacking industry comes off looking very malicious, but surprisingly Schlosser is somewhat light on his criticism fast food chains I expected this story to be the written version of Supersize Me, but it is actually much more comprehensive.
The meatpacking industry comes off looking very malicious, but surprisingly Schlosser is somewhat light on his criticism fast food chains.
He does not talk extensively on the obesity epidemic that is fueled by Big Fast Food. I think the pertinent themes that resonate in this book are: 1 The drive for smaller government is far less benign than it sounds.
Regulation of industries is an undertaking that only governments and not individuals or self-policing businesses are equipped to do. When governments are regulating effectively, OSHA is able to ensure safe work environments, small businesses are able to stay competitive thanks to anti-trust regulations, and food products are relatively uncontaminated. When budgets get slashed, all the above and also apparently the financial markets are compromised.
Schlosser argues that in fact fast food chains like In-And-Out and other companies making organic products provide decently priced foods without squeezing workers to death or being lacksadaisical with safety. A point is also made that cheap food should not be our blind end goal. The writing style was very smooth and easy to fly through.
All in all, this is an exemplary work of investigative reporting that will hopefully one day be regarded similarly to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.
Jun 08, Praxedes rated it it was amazing. A terrific non-fiction book about the overwhelming effect fast food has on our daily lives, including the national diet. Schlosser's impeccable research offers the reader insight into this startling phenomenon of corruption, deceit, and power. It turns out a handful of companies control much more than fast food in the US The book, however, does not r A terrific non-fiction book about the overwhelming effect fast food has on our daily lives, including the national diet.
The book, however, does not read like a conspiracy theory due to the detailed research, drawing greatly from primary sources. Click here. Order now for expected delivery to Germany by Christmas. Description New York Times Bestseller "Schlosser has a flair for dazzling scene-setting and an arsenal of startling facts. Fast Food Nation points the way but, to resurrect an old fast food slogan, the choice is yours. The book changed the way millions of people think about what they eat and helped to launch today's food movement.
In a new afterword for this edition, Schlosser discusses the growing interest in local and organic food, the continued exploitation of poor workers by the food industry, and the need to ensure that every American has access to good, healthy, affordable food. Fast Food Nation is as relevant today as it was a decade ago. The book inspires readers to look beneath the surface of our food system, consider its impact on society and, most of all, think for themselves.
Exhaustively researched, frighteningly convincing. Back cover copy "New York Times" Bestseller Schlosser has a flair for dazzling scene-setting and an arsenal of startling facts.
Eric Schlosser s expose revealed how the fast food industry has altered the landscape of America, widened the gap between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and transformed food production throughout the world. The book changed the way millions of people think about what they eat and helped to launch today s food movement.
As disturbing as it is irresistible. Review quote Schlosser is a serious and diligent reporter
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