First published in January 2001, "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal," by Eric Schlosser, is a nonfiction work detailing the history of the fast food industry: how these chains came into existence, and the corporate and government choices that have completely overhauled Big Ag in the process.

A large section of this book examines the modern meatpacking industry, the impacts of moving plants into areas without unions, making sure unions cannot form, and then hiring undocumented illiterate immigrants to work jobs that regularly maim and kill people, all without any government oversight and zero consequences.

"Fast Food Nation" is an examination of modern food industries that lack humanity at every level, companies that put out products contaminated with fecal matter (and many other adulterants), which sickens and kills people each year.

The USDA and the FDA allow this to happen. Over twenty years later, this is still happening. The unchecked power of these multinational, monopolistic corporations has gotten nothing but stronger.

I absolutely loved this book. This is one of the very best books I've ever read in my life.

Five million stars.

Книга, която описва развитието на индустрията на бързата закуска в САЩ. Четох я, защото има и филм по нея и я превъзнасят като монументално журналистическо разкритие на тайните на големите fast food корпорации.

Като цяло, нищо особено интересно. Дреме ми на дедовия коя година точно Макдоналдс е почнал да прави чийзбургерите с 1 унция по-големи или Нестле да слага захар в киселото мляко. Ако ядеш като прасе, ще приличаш на такова, не са ти виновни "корпорациите"...

McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, and more...they all have the friendly, bright exterior, with the fast, cheap, addictive food. But behind the bright colors, the mascots, and the friendly clerk smile is a whole different world of fast food. Eric Schlosser peels back that wrapper to show the real world of fast food - big corporations using people and people's ignorance to rise in power, drive out the little guy, and make more and more money for themselves. Oh, yeah, and the food is gross too.

I think by this point most people have heard of this book or the "Super Size Me" movie or many of the other pieces that have swarmed the media mind in the past decade. (Yes, decade. God, I feel old.) That was what drove me to buy this book years ago - that, and it was used.

This year has been the year of non-fiction reads for me. Finally, almost five years after graduating college, I can read non-fiction again without tensing up and going into melt-down mode. One of the many non-fiction topics that has interested me is the fast food industry and the America meal. That is why I took this book off my shelf and finally read it.

I didn't really expect to learn much that was new. I had read the news articles about how bad fast food is for you. I saw "Super Size Me" and the McDonald's hamburger and fries that looked good after weeks of sitting out on a counter exposed to the elements. And I've experienced first hand the affects of fast food - how it makes you gain weight, become lethargic, etc. So I figured this book would be pretty much more of the same.

If you open this book expecting only to hear about how bad and unhealthy the fast food itself is, you will be surprised to find out that is only a small portion of what Schlosser focuses on. Sure, he does bring up the quality of food (SPOILERS: It's gross), but he focuses a lot more on other areas: how these seemingly cheery companies treat their workers, their competitors, and the food industry itself.

One of the images that stays with me is the life of a worker in a slaughterhouse - not because of seeing a cow gutted (though, admittedly, that sounds absolutely disgusting). But how these companies drive their employees like draft horses. Pushing through 40+ cattle an hour. Forcing employees to lie about injuries. Refusing to pay worker's comp. Letting employees work in terrible conditions, exposed to dangerous chemicals and gases. Not training the employees enough to do the job well. And then paying these employees the absolute lowest amount they can get away with.

All the while, these companies tightly grasp the curtain and shout to the government, "Nothing to see here! Everything's all good!" Even as employee after employee dies in a tragic, mostly preventable manner. Even as meat is exposed to dangerous diseases (E.Coli anyone?). You want to know what one company got fined after several people died of hydrogen sulfide poisoning? $480 PER PERSON. For a company making billions in profits per year?! That's absolutely ridiculous!!

There were moments that I found rather dry and pointless. The prologue introduces us to a military compound in Colorado to make us imagine how future explorers may find fast food wrappers in caves and wonder what these weird people from the 1990's are like. And that's pretty much the entire point of bringing up this base in intricate detail. A lot of time is spent detailing the background of Colorado's growth, key fast food giant's backstories, and more. And while a good portion of it does make sense (learning about Ray Kroc or Carl Karcher's background IS important to the "narrative"), sometimes it got long-winded and meandering.

The other "problem" with this book is how dated it already is. This book was written in 2001, with an updated forward in 2002. A lot has happened in the 10 years since this book was written. A lot of fast food companies aren't doing the "Super Size Me" thing anymore. McDonald's has included apples and milk to its Happy Meal menu; most of the fast food companies have hurriedly added coffee drinks to their menus to draw new customers. And that doesn't include how most menus have a lot more salad and chicken options (Okay, so they aren't all that healthy, but it's certainly better than it was before!). I personally would love to see a "sequel" that explores some of the changes that the fast food industry has been forced to make and how much farther they have to go.

A lot has changed in the world since the Mad Cow Disease and E.Coli outbreaks scared many people into reconsidering their food choices. This book lead the forefront into bringing awareness and change. And for that reason, this book has an important place in our history. Even if you think you know what this book says, I recommend picking it up and checking it out. You may learn a thing or two.

Fast Food Nation was an interestingly revealing read. Instead of focusing solely on the food, Schlosser wrote a lot about the fast food industry itself and how people are being consummately sucked into buying their food. Some of the parts pertaining to the business aspects of fast food lost my attention - however, the tidbits on the working conditions and the ingredients of the unhealthy indulgences made me want to read more. I usually do not visit fast food restaurants, so this book has not drastically changed my eating habits. Despite this, I felt like I learned a lot about how the corporations and businesses work.

I actually thought I read this already ...

Where I got the book: purchased on Kindle.

I’ve pretty much given up fast food over the years, with a very sharp decline in visits to such restaurants in about the last three years. This was due to my chronic gastric problems and the gradual realization that they were linked to preservatives and additives in food—fast food doesn’t sit well with the moves I’ve been making toward eating quality, preferably organic, food. Discovering that American bread was one of the culprits in my case also made it difficult to eat hamburgers, and since I’ve now been told by my holistic doctor that I need to avoid grains and dairy altogether, I’m pretty much done.

And a good thing, too. Because after reading Fast Food Nation, I don’t think I’ll ever eat a fast food hamburger again. Schlosser’s book is as much about the cultural and economic effects of fast food as about the food itself, but the long chapter on food poisoning (introduced into the beef chain by the conditions under which the animals are kept (which also raises many ethical issues) is pretty much enough to turn you vegetarian.

Schlosser describes the development of the fast food industry from the growing popularity of hot dog carts in the newly mobile California of the 1930s and 1940s, through drive-in restaurants, to the moment in 1948 when the McDonald brothers decided to eliminate carhops and silverware and sell hamburgers created on an assembly-line basis, giving working-class families their first shot at affordable restaurant food. The beginnings of the world’s largest restaurant chains were, it seems, marvels of innovation and inventiveness, and over the next 40 years entrepreneurs applied the new ways of thinking to other easy-to-eat foods such as pizzas and fried chicken. One of the great innovations was marketing these products to children, who would then carry their love for these trusted brands into adulthood. I feel like I should cue the Jaws music here, because we all know where this is going—supersized people sipping from 40oz buckets of flavored, diluted corn syrup as they waddle around Wal-Mart . . . .

Schlosser goes on from his recounting of what, after all, were some pretty amazing examples of how to grow a business to get into what fast food has done for American industry. Among other things, it’s consolidated food processing to the point where most of our meat comes from a very few processing plants, created a huge workforce of mostly teenaged employees, resisted unionization so effectively that most employees barely earn enough to eat (and resort to robbing their own workplaces to supplement their income) and industrialized the production of food to the point where we’re eating a frightening combination of low-quality carbohydrates and proteins masked in chemical flavors. What’s more, this commercialization of eating is supported by public money—and has driven the traditional kind of farmer off the land.

And then things get truly gross. Schlosser describes conditions in meat processing plants (one of the things I learned was that while chickens, that can be grown to uniform size, are processed by machine, cattle have to be slaughtered and butchered by hand by people up to their ankles in blood and shit) that raised the hair on my head. These jobs, mostly held by immigrants (not all legal) are some of the most dangerous you’ll ever read about, and cleaning up the plant at night is just as risky as swinging a knife by day as the cattle rattle by at speeds of up to 400 per hour. Having shown how the meat is processed, he then goes on to describe what happens when you eat a hamburger with shit in it as a result of these processing methods, and that’s the point, dear reader, where you might toss your cookies. I have a strong stomach, but that chapter was hard to take.

And finally, Schlosser describes how America’s fast food corporations are exporting all of the above issues, including obesity, to countries around the world. Fortunately, the world does appear to be a bit more resistant to American corporations than are Americans themselves, and there are stories of triumph.

This book was published in 2001, so the examples tend to be from the 90s—but Schlosser notes in his recent afterword that not much has changed since. He does, however, cover some stories of hope—the growing interest in quality, organic, locally-sourced food and particularly in combating childhood obesity is providing farmers who resist the corporate lure with a way to survive. But I think we all know that the corporate greed that’s at the root of everything Schlosser describes is still there, and that Americans, en masse, don’t seem to be able to resist buying food that they know is bad for them. That’s a pretty dangerous combination.

WARNING: Depiction of cruelty towards human and animal

I knew that fast food was bad, I just didn't realize how bad it was. It was not just that the food is bad for you, the fast food companies themselves (and the suppliers that cater to their whim) were rotten from top to bottom.

From the cattle that were fed abominable things (chicken manure, cattle and poultry body parts, even dead cats and dogs), to the slaughterhouse that care naught about the safety of the workers or of the hygiene of the process (resulting in meat sprayed with shit, etc), to the fast food joints that also care naught for the welfare of the workers or for the well-being of their customers, I really really underestimated the atrocities a businessman is capable of.

The author said that the CEOs were not evil men, only businessmen, I disagree. A decent human being would never enabled such atrocities, as a few good fast food chain that the author mentioned proved. As it seemed that the bigger the companies, the more amoral they become, it would be better to spend your money on small local business instead.

P.S. I'm pretty sure that fast food companies aren't the only one screwing us. Any suggestion on books shedding light on other multi-billion companies' evil doings?

Một cuốn sách rất hay lột trần bản chất của ngày công nghiệp đồ ăn nhanh, đặc biệt tác giả nhắm đến là McDonald. Từ lịch sử hình thành đến khi tập đoàn này vươn ra toàn cầu.
Rất nhiều góc khuất trong hoạt động kinh doanh của tập đoàn này được tác giả đề cập tới như:
- Các cửa hàng của McDonald bị tấn công, cướp tiền nhiều hơn cả ngân hàng và hung thủ phần lớn là nhân viên cũ bất mãn với chính sách của công ty
- Đồ ăn ở các cửa hàng ăn nhanh được sản xuất theo kiểu "dây chuyền lắp ghép" khiến cho chi phí giảm đi, trình độ lao động không cần cao (phần đa là học sinh, sinh viên, người lao động nhập cư trái phép) là đem lại lợi nhuận kếch sù cho tập đoàn.
- Dây chuyền giết mổ bò, gà, lợn,... của McDonald cực nguy hiểm khiến công nhân có thể mất tay chân, mất đầu hay chết cực dễ dàng không khác gia súc gia cầm. Đây có lẽ là nơi làm việc nguy hiểm nhất trên TG.
- Những thứ có trong thịt của McDonald nói riêng và các sản phẩm thức ăn nhanh khác có thể khiến khách hàng nôn mửa. Phân bò, lợn, người,... có trong bồn rửa, trong khoai tây chiên của cửa hàng còn nhiều hơn trong bồn cầu. Công nhân nhà máy bị đứt tay, có người rơi vào thùng dầu chiên mà chết nhưng vẫn được hoà lẫn vào sản phẩm và đem bán.
- McDonald được coi là biểu tượng của lối sống Mỹ ở nhiều quốc gia, người Nhật từng tin nếu ăn McDonald nhiều thì con cháu họ sau này sẽ cao hơn và có màu tóc vàng.
- Bệnh bò điên xuất hiện do các công ty nuôi bò bán cho các tập đoàn sản xuất đồ ăn nhanh cho bò ăn xác động vật như lợn, gà chết. Nên nhớ bò là động vật ăn cỏ, không phải ăn thịt.

Originally, I thought this would be about how the 'fast food' franchises have impacted the way we eat in America and it did go into how the founders of the big franchises work and persuade and convince children to cajole parents into buying what really isn't that nutritious. That Americans are becoming more obese and their health is degrading the more of the deep fried, greasy and salty food that is on most of the big corporations. Yes, that's there but the author goes into the background of the massive agricultural conglomerates that grow and process some of the major items on the menu.

Namely the beef, the potatoes and the chicken. The mega-farms and the natural verses artificial flavorings that tempt our tastebuds. The feedlots and meatpackers and poultry farmers - who often don't own the birds that they are raising, they're owned by the mega corps who provide the birds, feed and determine the price they'll pay for each animal they take.

The pathogens that are found in meat (and other food commodities) that are toxic and can be fatal - the E.coli, the salmonella, and others that are becoming antibiotic-resistant.

The franchises which are selling a dream and squeezing every penny out of the businesses that they authorize. The tax breaks that they get for hiring - which translates into having high employee turnover as they get another credit for hiring another new employee. Of course, the turnover is high since they pay low wages and have questionable violations of OSHA and state labor regulations especially for teens who can be made to work more hours regulated or are off the clock and thus not getting paid for. And don't even consider what owners and managers would do if the rumor of union consideration starts to whisper through a store.

And federal regulatory departments are handicapped by the fast food industries gaining concessions, removing surprise inspections by the USDA along with placing employee safety records and pathogen testing placed under corporate control rather than outside government oversight.

I know that this was published a number of years ago but somehow, I don't think things have changed much for the better. Well, maybe now, with the demand for higher wages. But it is still likely that the immigrants and workers in the meatpacking plants are still forced to process questionable quality meat under hot, humid, dangerous conditions.

Maybe this isn't just about the dark side of the meal itself but the dark side of what it costs - and it's not just the dollars and cents - to provide it to that next car at the drive-in.

2022-114

Eric Schlosser is an investigative reporter, who really did his research. This book is about the history of the fast food industry. There are two parts. The first part is called, "The American Way." Schlosser goes into how the franchise grew. I love rags to riches stories. The author talks about the McDonalds brothers idea of fast food and how Ray Kroc helped to expand their restaurants. He goes into Walt Disney's influence, making McDonald's more marketable toward children. He talks about the factory equipment, making assembly lines for these restaurants. I was surprised by the robberies that took place in different McDonald's restaurants, that were committed by former employees. I was saddened to read about the nine year old girl who was shot and killed. This was in the late 90s. Then the author goes into more detail of franchising the business.
The second part of the book is called, "Meat and Potatoes." I didn't enjoy this part of the book. It was really difficult for me to read content wise. Schlosser talks about the McDonalds product, how everything is flavored. I didn't know that animal fat was used in their french fries and that beef flavoring was added to their chicken nuggets.The author goes into what the lives of farmers and meatpackers are like. This was disturbing to me. I had a hard time reading about the mistreatment and abuse of migrant workers/people who work in meatpacking facilities. Reading about the passing of so many lives that could have been prevented. The way the meat is handled, makes me want to be vegan. Reading about E. choli was just gross. How rancid meat was packaged and sold. I'm not going into any more detail about that. Overall, this was an interesting read and something that I never really gave a lot of pause to. I personally don't go out to eat and cook at home. Fast food is really impactful in our culture, in our life.

I read this for school and it was actually really interesting!! I don't think I'm gonna ever eat fast food again, though....

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 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, 6,999,999,999 to go.