Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal

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...they are also responsible for drafting legislation, influencing industry oversight, and manipulating mass communication outlets to maximize gains.

The book, however, does not read like a conspiracy theory due to the detailed research, drawing greatly from primary sources.

Fast Food Nation: The Biased side of the All-American Meal: A review.
Sporting an eye-grabbing cover and an interesting title, Schlosser starts off telling you this unimaginable truth: Fast food doesn't equal health food. His catchy, clever tagline makes you laugh: Do you want LIES with that?
And lies he delivers.
He claims the book is non-partisan, un-biased, with just the facts, and then says that if it WERE biased, (which it's not), it would point out that Democrats are good (only 2 mentions, both positive--including the one on the Clinton Administration. [I don't know anyone that doesn't have at least one complaint, even if it is about the former President's inability ot keep his trousers in place. But I digress]) and Republicans--along with business, money, profit, and omnivores--are evil (14 mentions, and not a positive one among them).
The other huge lie (besides his blatant statistic-twisting) is that this book is about Fast Food. This book is about the horrors of meatpacking, the horrors of capitalism, managers who hire at-risk youth (I still don't get that one), potatoes (So. Much. About. Potatoes.), Disneyland, and the people who started the industry (the only viable subject out of all of these). What promises to be exciting (by the title and tagline) turns into something that is alarmist to the core, and yet as dry as a stale sesame seed bun.
I did not read this book for fun. No one reads this book for fun. This is a supposed 'reference' book, but good luck finding anything worthwhile to 'reference'. The Hastings I bought (ugh) it at shelved it almost correctly--'Political'. It would've been fantasy for me.
Being the optimist I try to be, however, there is something positive to say here: Schlosser has one heck of a publicist. This book is EVERYWHERE.
Fast Food Nation, for ages 14+ for graphic descriptions of animal slaughter and illusions (or outright references) to political and social events since the 90's (or so), rated .05/5 stars.
Stupid English Homework.

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?) and the knowledge contained here is important for *everyone* to know in our modern era of 'so called food' and 'nutrition'. -Jen from Quebec :0)

I am currently on page 79 of this book, and so far, I'm not liking it. As I started to read, I thought to myself, "I think this book is going to be like 'The Two Income Trap'--a book whose premises I agree with, but not their solutions." I was wrong. So far, the author has not talked one bit about the food part, but more about the industry. For pages, he covers the rise of Carl's Jr. and it's founder Carl Karcher, pointing out that he grew up without running water or electricity, but then seems disappointed that Karcher was okay with the changes in Anaheim CA from "progress." So far, the author seems anti-progress, pro-labor unions and nostalgic to a fault.

I'll admit, there is romanticism in thinking of days gone by, with family farms, rural communities, etc., but I think we live in a much better world today with nearly every American having running water, electricity, telephones, refrigerators and air conditioning.

He decries the marketing done to children, and while I admit that marketing to children is borderline evil, I worry that later he'll propose more government laws against it. Do you know what I did about it? I cancelled my cable/satellite... years ago. My children rarely watch commercials. Heck, they don't even go to public school where he complains that, now, fast food or other less-than-healthy food companies are advertising at schools to help school districts close budget gaps.

But what made me get up and write a review at this point in the book (to be added to when I finish the book) is his portrayal of the industry as anti-union. Frankly, I don't like unions myself (twice in my college career, I wrote research papers on the pros and cons of unions and their history/impact). I don't think that an industry that gives low-skilled workers the skills and experience to move into another (probably) better paying job needs to be unionized! Besides, the author himself on page 78 says, "Almost every fast food restaurant in Colorado Springs has a banner or sign that says 'Now Hiring.' The fast food chains have become victims of their own success, as one business after another tries to poach their teenage workers. Teenagers now sit behind the front desks at hotels, make calls for telemarketers, sell running shoes at mall. The low unemployment rate in Colorado Springs has made the task of finding inexpensive workers even more difficult." Well, look at that, other business are COMPETING to get those low-skilled, young, low-paid workers. The fast food chains are either going to have to improve working conditions, or pay more, or keep their high turnover rates as people use a McJob as a stepping stone to something better. Sounds like the free labor market is working just fine.

Okay, I've finished the book now, and I'm sticking with what I said above and my 1-star rating. It wasn't until the second to the last page that he finally said the obvious: "The first step toward meaningful change is by far the easiest: stop buying it." I think that more government is rarely the answer. The private sector already has the UL and the Good Housekeeping seal of approval for many products, so that consumers know that an independent company has tested the product and found it safe/trustworthy. Why can't an independent meat certification company rise up and stake its reputation on meat being clean/uncontaminated/etc. Why? Because whenever there is a problem, everyone runs to the government first. The USDA (and all the spread out agencies that are supposed to keep the food supply safe) suck because they are government run. The author basically calls for more rules and increased government efficiency. Sorry, that's an oxymoron. The meat for the fast food industry has improved (the author admits that) because they demanded it of their suppliers... McDonalds doesn't want it's customers getting sick... it ruins their reputations. As more consumers demand it, the same will happen for grocery stores. It just takes some time--more so if people keep looking toward the government to save them.

Oh, I should also say, that I expected to really like this book from the little I knew about it. I'm very into healthy eating (less processed foods, more whole foods, water instead of soda, more fruits and veggies, less meat), so I thought it would be right up my alley. I guess I was wrong.

Also, I think one major factor that led to the decline of the "family farm" way of life--which the author mentions in passing on one page of the entire book--is the estate tax (aka "death tax") that unduly harms those who make their living off of the land. After each generation, the tax would come due, but without liquid assets, the way to pay the tax is to sell some or all of the land in order to pay the tax. Not enacting the death tax in 1916 would have made a world of difference for the All American family farm.

A horrifying and entertaining travelogue, indictment, and sermon against the evils and spoils of fast-food, and the American quick fix. Somewhat preachy, and problematic (you just can't tell a whole population of people, especially those who are impoverished to eat healthier), it's full of pathos that makes this text move like the latest potboiler, yet it truly is insightful and affecting.

Well, I finished that considerably sooner than I expected to. Mainly because the last 44% of the book (I read it on my Kindle) is taken up entirely by an enormous bibliography, photograph credits section and an incredibly in-depth index.

I wasn't sad; by the 56% mark I'd had enough, to be honest. I'm not saying it's a bad book by any means but it's not the kind of book one enjoys.

The book held few surprises for me, I'm sad to say. I already knew at least 50% of the information contained in it and another 40% I could have guessed, based on my knowledge of how big business works. Perhaps I'm just too cynical to be shocked by this stuff or perhaps I've just accepted the fact that large companies will do absolutely anything they think they can get away with to increase their profit margins as a basic fact of life in the twenty first century.

'What about the other 10%?' I hear the more attentive mathematicians amongst you cry! Well, the only part of this book I did find a bit shocking was the section that dealt with some of the horrific injuries suffered by employees in meat packing factories in the US. Injuries and deaths, I should say. Bone-chilling stuff, particularly the part about the meat packing employee who fell into a vat and was rendered into lard. Bad as that is, it's not the worst part (no sausage jokes, please); the lard was then SOLD AND EATEN!

Ghhaarrrccckkkk!!!

Anyway, I'm not dwelling on that any longer than absolutely necessary... Let's just say that this is an informative book that everybody should read... probably... It might give you nightmares, though; don't say I didn't warn you! This being said, you probably won't get the desired effect from the book unless you're considerably less cynical than I am...

Right! That's that review written! Now... Burger King or KFC for dinner tonight? Decisions, decisions...

I was surprised at how balanced this was! I'd heard about it and expected a start-to-finish diatribe against the fast food nation industry from top to bottom, but that wasn't the case. Schlosser's approach is more soft-touch than ham-fist, which is good, because I prefer my medicine to go down easy, not taste like acid.

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. 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.
2) Some will argue that the ends justify the means and that our food is as cheap as it is only because of the objectionable practices of the meat and fast food corporations. 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.
3) Turnover and low skill sounds bad for employers, but in the meatpacking and fast food industries, quick turnover and low-skilled workers are ideal in order to prevent having to provide benefits and also to prevent successful unionization.

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.