Fast Food Nation

by Eric Schlosser

English language

Published March 13, 2002

ISBN:: 978-0-06-093845-1

(10 reviews)

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.

33 editions

I Read Dots reviewed Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser

Review of 'Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This book was very interesting and disheartening. I could only read so much of it before I ad to put it down and switch to something lighter for a time.

I thought this was going to be a disgusting portrayal of what is in fast food, and various stories I'd herd over the years about rats heads being found in big macs came to mind. But, even in the chapter titled "What's in the meat?", the author only talks about Ecolio 157,h7n, and the lack of regulation surrounding the recall of bad meat.

The author talked about the exploitation of workers, from immigran meat packers to teenagers manning the counters of fast food franchises.

Basically, in a nutshell, this book talks about how opportunistic businessmen created corporations that seemed to take on a life of their own after a while, and greed and money became more important than workers' or animals' rights.

I understand, though, that the objective of this book was to portray the absolute worst of the worst. I'm not saying any of it is untrue, and perhaps I'm being a little too optimistic, but I'd like to think that charities like the Ronald McDonld Children's Foundation help to balance some of the bad things McDonalds is known for.
It is sad, though, to see how industry can take on a life of its own and how it can gain control over the government that is supposed to protect the interest of the consumer. I live in Canada, and the book mainly talked about the FDA and various other administrative bodies located in the United States. But I'm sure things are pretty much the same around here as in other developed countries.
What really amazes me is thatmany people are so vocal about countries like China and their lack of human rights legislation when human rights are being violated and downright ignored in countries that pretend to know better. But that doesn't really have anything to do with this book. :)

Over all a good read Informative but depressing.

Acton reviewed Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser

Review of 'Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

There is an amazing amount of information in this book, all very eye-opening. It MAY put you off your feed--just a warning, towards the end, especially. Schlosser mentions Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle quite a bit during the chapters about meatpacking. I haven't read it, but certainly will.

If I'd have underlined everything I'd wanted to remember, the whole book would be marked up--it's all absorbing stuff. (The book is unscathed--resisted the temptation) The link below mentions ConAgra's Greeley Plant, one of the subjects of Schlosser's research.