Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American MealAre we what we eat? To a degree both engrossing and alarming, the story of fast food is the story of postwar Amerca. Though created by a handful of mavericks, the fast food industry has triggered the homogenization of our society. Fast food has hastened the malling of our landscape, widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled the juggernaut of American cultural imperialism abroad. That's a lengthy list of charges, but Eric Schlosser makes them stick with an artful mix of first-rate reportage, wry wit, and careful reasoning. Schlosser's myth-shattering survey stretches from the California subdivisions where the business was born to the industrial corridor along the New Jersey Turnpike where many of fast food's flavors are concocted. He hangs out with the teenagers who make the restaurants run and communes with those unlucky enough to hold America's most dangerous job -- meatpacker. He travels to Las Vegas for a giddily surreal franchisers' convention where Mikhail Gorbachev delivers the keynote address. He even ventures to England and Germany to clock the rate at which those countries are becoming fast food nations. Along the way, Schlosser unearths a trove of fascinating, unsettling truths -- from the unholy alliance between fast food and Hollywood to the seismic changes the industry has wrought in food production, popular culture, and even real estate. He also uncovers the fast food chains' efforts to reel in the youngest, most susceptible consumers even while they hone their institutionalized exploitation of teenagers and minorities. Schlosser then turns a critical eye toward the hot topic of globalization -- a phenomenon launched by fast food. FAST FOOD NATION is a groundbreaking work of investigation and cultural history that may change the way America thinks about the way it eats. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
advertising Agriculture ald's American Burger King California Carl Carl Karcher Carl's Carl's Jr cattle chemicals chicken Cited coli Colorado Springs ConAgra consumers contaminated customers decade Donald's Drive-In earn economic employees executives farmers fast food chains fast food industry fast food restaurants fast food workers Feamster federal feedlots flavor food safety foodborne franchise french fries frozen Greeley ground beef hamburger Ibid IBP's Idaho injuries Interview J. R. Simplot Journal Kenny kids kitchen labor land large meatpacking largest Little Caesars manager McDon McDonald's Corporation McLibel meat meatpacking meatpacking industry million minimum wage Monfort National obesity OSHA outbreak pathogens percent Pizza plant Plauen potatoes poultry pounds processors production Quoted ranch ranchers Ray Kroc roughly selling slaughter slaughterhouse sold suppliers Taco Bell taste teenagers tion Today told town union United USDA Walt Disney Wendy's World York
Popular passages
Page 3 - A nation's diet can be more revealing than its art or literature. On any given day in the United States about one-quarter of the adult population visits a fast food restaurant. During a relatively brief period of time, the fast food industry has helped to transform not only the American diet, but also our landscape, economy, workforce, and popular culture.