Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser #1
I like fast food. I really like the taste of it. After I read The Omnivore’s Dilemma I tried to avoid it, but I admit a few trips to those evil fast food empires. I paid close attention to the flavor of the food – I wanted it to taste like guilt and hypocrisy so I would stay away from it long-term, but it tasted really good, I was too busy to cook, and it filled me up. This probably makes me a hopeless case – I hope this doesn’t drive you all away from my blog. (At least I mostly stayed away from beef products – I guess that counts for something).
Here are some quick factoids from the introduction and first chapter of the book. I wish I had citations here – buyer beware:
- “Americans now spend more money on fast food than on higher education, personal computers, computer software, or new cars. They spend more on fast food than on moview, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and recorded music–combined. [I think it's safe to say I spend more on books than I do on fast food - I hope]
- The McDonald’s Corporation is “now responsible for 90 percent of the country’s new jobs”
- McDonald’s hires more people annually than any other U.S. organization
- “McDonalds is one of the largest toy distributors in the U.S. and operates the “nation’s bestselling line of children’s clothing (McKids)” [HUH? Has anyone heard of this brand of clothing? I have not - we have some of the toys, however.]
- The McDonald’s brothers first hired only young men, for fear that young female workers would attract teenage boys and be bad for business.
McDonalds is really powerful, and so are fast food restaurants in general. The first chapter of this book provides a history of the major restaurants in this category (McDonald’s of course, Carl’s Jr., Taco Bell, etc.). As it turns out, these places are part of my roots, at least tangentially speaking: McDonald’s, Carl’s Jr., Jack in the Box and Taco Bell all hail from southern California. Oh, and Burger King started in Daytona Beach, Florida, but was patterned after the southern California giants.
It was interesting reading the rags to riches stories of some of these “founding fathers” of fast food, particularly knowing that the new leadership is getting rich largely on the backs of working class people and the poor. It’s hard to be shocked anymore when I learn a new devious trick used by rich corporations to increase their holdings, but this one I didn’t know: Schlosser explains how fast food restaurants grew in large part due to the increase in motor vehicle use and ownership, and he includes a bit about how GM covertly purchased trolley systems across the country in the 1920s, scrapped the technology, and converted several cities to bus systems so they could make more money. They enlisted other auto industry leaders to help them destroy the rail system in favor of automobiles. Some of the executives were later fined $1 for their involvement in this activity. Think about that next time you ride the bus to work (of course, most of you probably drive cars to work, as do I). Disgusting.
I like this book so far. I may joke around about eating fast food, but I am actually embarrassed about it. Today my daughter told the checker and the bagger the grocery store that she loves to eat “nuggets and french fries.” I thought – these people are going to think I take my kid to fast food places every day, and I don’t. What I should have been thinking is – I owe it to my daughter to feed her better, even if she would rather eat fried crap served through the car window in a paper bag.
Other posts about Fast Food Nation:
Post 1: Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser
Post 2: The Happiest Food on Earth
Post 3: Those Tasty Fries
I have thought of you while reading this book because you have been working so hard to feed your family well. Some of it has been more disturbing than Michael Pollan’s books – I keep reminding myself that the book was published almost 10 years ago and things couldn’t still be that bad, but then I think that they might still be.
I started reading this book back in March, but set it aside to keep up with my book club and to read some other books. This is a really fascinating read. Maybe I’ll try to follow along again.