Some pretty shocking information. Reading about the cattle production reminded me too much of "The Jungle" It was very gross :(

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.

I grew up with McDonald's, Pizza Hut, KFC and pretty most chains that now you can find globally. This book gave me a very good insight towards the fast food industry we have, how the food industry has changed with the introduction of fast food, the power of lobbying with the mass large firms in U.S. and many others.. It shed so much light on how this humongous industry functions and how it became what it became

What intrigued me throughout this read was how disgusting firms can be in protecting themselves and in their quest for seeking more profits. And I guess this doesn't apply to just food but to many other industries in the world.

And the chapter on meat, meat packing and the diseases.
I squirmed at every page of it but boy, it was like reality slapping in my face. I'll never look at meat the same way again.

Definitely a good read.

There are some shady rhetorical techniques used in this book. I particularly mean the chapter that begins with the little boy who dies after eating at a fast food restaurant. At the chapter's opening is a picture of the boy. It's sad. Then the chapter tells the story. Schlosser builds up a load of pathos to prove his point that fast food is so awful it kills children. Then, in a cursory statement, Schlosser divulges that the boy had other problems and died of a cause unrelated to the food he ate. What?! The book is loaded with these kinds of flaws. Which is sad because I think the thesis is important. That food is awful. And the situation must change.
I taught a research and writing class with this book, and most of my students were at first appalled by Schlosser's finding. Then, after we analyzed his rhetorical techniques, they were appalled by Schlosser. In the end, no student took Schlosser's thesis seriously. We didn't exactly throw a fast food party, but I think everyone would have eaten the food had we done it.
That does not mean the book has no value. It explains the fascinating history of the fast food industry. That, in itself, got this book three stars on my ratings.

Writing wise, this book is bogged down with a lot of economic and business statistics and information, and while I’m sure that’s fascinating for some people, for me it was dry and difficult to trudge through sometimes. The historical background information started to get boring as well; I suppose I had expected and hoped for more of a human interest aspect. The stories that stood out the most to me were the ones about employees being mistreated and taken advantage of in meatpacking facilities, and the high injury rates among those workers. Oh, and also the fact that it is someone’s job to literally slit the throats of hundreds of cows a day!

Content wise, I was generally appalled by what I read in Fast Food Nation, but I came away from this thinking that the fast food industry is just one part of a huge, greedy, corrupt system. I am now more concerned about the lack of regulation and accountability within the meatpacking industry and the negative effects of globalization and Americanization of the world, but I suppose all of those things I just mentioned go hand in hand.

Although this might seem like a chicken-or-the-egg type situation, the author does make the excellent point that huge companies do have the power to shift the behavior of their suppliers if that’s what is being demanded by enough consumers. McDonald’s, for example, is one of the world’s top purchasers of beef, potatoes and chicken, so if it started requiring that the slaughterhouses and feedlots they do business with take better care of their workers and take more precaution in the preparation of the product, these companies would have to comply if they wanted to keep making money (much like when Nike was forced by consumers to address the poor working conditions in sweatshops in Asia).

I would think that most people know about this kind of thing by now and either don’t care or don’t think one person can make a difference, since it is such a huge system that is so ingrained in our society. I definitely fall in the latter category, so this book made me feel somewhat helpless, not to mention hopeless! However, the new afterward does talk about the shift in food culture in America in the last 10 or so years since Fast Food Nation was published, the new focus on sustainability and nutrition, different programs to bring agriculture and food education to inner cities, etc., so maybe there is hope after all.

Random side note: While reading this, I realized that I've eaten in a McDonald’s in almost every country I've been to (which is admittedly not a huge list) and it’s crazy to think about the “humble beginnings” of this huge fast food empire.

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.

This book was written at the early rise of fast food culture and corporations in the early 1900s hence a lot of stuff may no longer apply in existing practices of junk food industry, but it's still quite informative if one's interested in learning how they came to thrive. Behind each hamburger consumed was a whole lot of drama about toxic capitalism, working class struggles, children exploitation and poor practice of food security. But people were barely aware about it. Eric spent 3 years writing this book and he was successful in providing detailed narratives, interviews and research to draw a whole picture of what 'elements' contributed to a McDonal's beef hamburger, even though his writing is more or less a presentation of chronological events rather than a captive storytelling.

The tales of how the very first grandfathers of fast food industry built their own empires were very inspiring and full of entrepreneurial spirits. Once came into power however, those corporations focused itself on making profits at the expense of children's health and immigrants' working conditions. Advertising was used as a manipulative tactic to allure American children into consuming more junk food, resulting in the US having the highest rate of obesity ever. Meanwhile low-skilled immigrant workers were found to work in horrendous working conditions in meatpacking industry, sacrificing their blood and flesh to make sure the hamburger one ate was charged at lowest cost.
The book also mentioned the extinction of American rangers, who were found to be the victims of malicious businessman working in junk food industry.

Fast food consumers probably barely contemplate on the behind-the-scene production of a hamburger. And it is eye-opening to see how a beef hamburger could be a pinnacle of an unjust capitalist society

This, I feel, is now a classic book in the 'wrongs going on in the food-making world'. Although this is from 2001, I feel many of the revelations are still true, unfortunately. It is US-centric, yet at least some of the facts appear worldwide, depending sometimes on the country. But it did make me feel wary about eating fast food if I was traveling in US.

This book of 3 years of research talks about the industry of fast food, and its consequences on people, animals, and nature. There are notes and a bibliography at the end, and two afterwords. The city of Colorado Springs, and some other places near it, are the example-centers for many stories within.

This is not a story merely of dangers within food, and on treatment of animals, but also on people suffering because of it. Some of the people are given here as examples of this, and one is left with great sadness after reading their fate. I will now go on to list the chapters. The book is divided in two: first part talk mostly about the business and people behind the counter, the second part focuses on food and global business.

1. Beginnings: history of many fast food companies, including the influence of car culture, and looks of each place
2. Getting to the kids: Disney's involvement, advertising, the toys...
3. The staff: in US often teens - part-time, unskilled, low-pay; causing dropping out of school sometimes; the stricts rules, unpaid overworking, lack of unions, violence in the workplace
4. Being a franchisee (incl. history, rules): success not guaranteed, conflicts with the franchiser (Subway esp. bad)
-
5. Potatoes = french fries: how it is done, how farmers suffer (esp. smaller), where the good taste comes from: 'natural flavor' (not necessarily healthier than the beef tallow used before). Here we find the often-quoted ingredients list for stuff in strawberry milkshake - long and hair-rising).
6. Cattle business: here we find ranchers suffering just like the potato farmers above, small plots merging into bigger ones. Similar is also going on with poultry growers. Some ranchers commit suicide, like the example of Hank here.
7. Meatpacking industry: workers often (illegal-sometimes) immigrants, often illiterate and unaware of any rights; high turnover rate (usual lasting time 3 months); creating poverty-and-crime/drug-ridden areas around; the smell from feedlots (the shit); history: from urban to rural, away from unions.
8. Health risks of workers in said industry: from 'knife cut scars' to 'DEATH'; the working conditions are dangerous, especially because of the speed demanded; many accidents go unreported (and injury reviews are often falsified); abusive supervisors, especially for women who get verbal/sexual abuse also from male workers; especially bad for sanitation crew who work with chroline-mixed, hot water: poor visibility, heath, hit with water by other workers, falling risks, etc. Later the author tells us that while the places he reported about were bad, it was *worse* in Texas.
9. Contaminated food (you might refrain from eating when you read this chapter): the e.coli, salmonella, listeria. The meatpacking systems' lax food safety pratices does not help. What bad can be introduced in the meat besides those mentioned: many, but especially SHIT. Children being vulnerable also through school food (which gets cheap meats). Feedlot issues: worn-out dairy cattle, all the shit around, what they eat (other animals, incl. cats and dogs). The industry goes for denial, inspection-avoiding, recall-avoiding/hiding. The meat also can end up in the home freezers.
10. Fast food globally: rise of obesity, less use of traditional food, agricultural production imports, advertisement for kids, spying on protesters. Global conquest especially post-Cold War, causing protests.
Epilogue 1: Different ways of raising beef; Conway's Red Top (closed in 2012) and In-N-Out (still going strong); what good influence can come from McDonald's power; what even the ordinary consumer can do.
Epilogue 2 (added after first prints): on Mad Cow: from feeding other animals to cows (same sort of feeding happens in other places - poultry, hogs, pets, zoo animals). Reaction to the problem: not addressed well at first. This shows that contaminated food appears in other countries too; although US has avoided serious Mad Cow stuff, who know what will happen? Also addresses reaction to the first prints of the book.

The ending of the book shows the authors' optimistic views about the future of fast food industry; it might be different now. But anyway, this book did make me think, even if some points vary by country. I have some trust in my country's meat industry so that doesn't worry me here. Still, it did raise my awareness of workers' rights, what cautions I might use while traveling, and of favoring more my country own burger chains, I guess *lol*
This is a classic book, one that makes you think, one that might make you lose your appetite for a second, and maybe make you grateful for some things that you don't have (bad working conditions, ill health). It seemed first a bit frightening to read this, but I was glad in the end for the experience. Well worth it.

Halfway through the book, I had a serious craving for Zaxby's.

This only goes to show how we need to be careful with what we eat and mindful of our cravings. At least I do... Eric Schlosser goes into some deep deep stuff that never really truly surprised me, but made me aware existed and are a far more serious problem that I would have ever imagined. The fast food industry has grown exponentially since its birth. It amazes me to see how far people will go for this materialistic need of money and fortune by putting aside the lives and well being of countless workers. We as consumers become part of the problem and then one with the problem. I feel like many of the issues Schlosser addresses just how serious and concerning and disturbing and uncomfortable and unethical (I hope you get the gist but many adjectives to describe how frightening it is) all of these problems are. The solutions he proposes are simple. It would take a lot of work to get there, and if we did, we eat more nutritious food but also become a lot greener. But I feel like his book doesn't propose those solutions very well. It mostly focuses on educating his readers about the problems we are facing.

Big corporations are basically giving you your food before you cook it. If there's a problem with it before you start cooking it, there's definitely going to be a problem after you cook it (hence him going into the E. Coli something, which can kill you as it has many other people). The biggest problem I feel like is the ignorance we as consumers have from it all. People are literally tearing themselves apart to work in slaughterhouses and packaging companies (I kinda forgot what it's called, but it's where they do stuff to your food before they give it to the restaurants) to get the little bit of money they need to maybe pay the rent or maybe feed themselves. It's horrifying that the government would let this happen and even more horrifying to know that us consumers blindly, blissfully ignore it (I hope I did those italics right).

Schlosser talks about a variety of things throughout the book with an impressively entertaining yet urgent tone. From the birth and growth of the industry, to how they advertise, to how they make their food, to how the business works, to what goes into the food (chemicals and oils and disease, he puts it all in!), to working conditions. It's crazy that he's able to explain it all pretty thoroughly, but one of the many aspects of the book that caught my attention was his explanation for as to why so many teenagers work at McDonald's (or in fast food restaurants in general). I know a few people who work in these restaurants and I've heard a variety of stories from people who used to do it (cuz, you know, teenagers talk... apparently McDonald's dump a lot -more than a lot- of sugar into the sweet tea, but i guess that's what makes it so tasty), and it's impressive how much it lines up together.

Overall, it is a great read, and I highly recommend it. I think that one of our greatest weaknesses is being blind to our surroundings and not know the true consequences for our actions. No one is the bad guy. People just want to make their money, but their greed, our ignorance, and time creates a concerning problem for our health (and those of who work and I guess the animals too, I forgot to mention them). I also want to point out that Fast Food Nation was published in 2005, and Schlosser had addressed that this industry grows like no other with its ideas and advertisements. The industry has had almost another two decades to grow. I'm genuinely curious to know if fast food today is any different than it was then (even if it wasn't too long ago), and how we as consumers have or have not changed, especially with the coping of the pandemic from everyone.

So yeah. That's my lengthy review. i hope you enjoyed if you read it all :p

This book had lots of great information and provided some "food for thought," but it's definitely dated. When the author talks about the Internet, for instance, he brings to mind the days when Alta Vista was the search engine of choice, and YouTube was years away from becoming a reality. Surely much has changed with the foods we consume, both good changes and bad.

The author's personal and political biases are on full display throughout the book, and I found this distracting. This was perhaps Fast Food Nation's greatest flaw.

Very interesting - good perspective on all sides of fast-food

Oh wow, this was very interesting. I expected it to go more into why fast food is bad for people, but it's more about how fast food companies are building up their empires. This is a well researched book that presents the history of fast food in a non-boring way. It's easy to read and I feel the tone is non-condescending. Definately recommended!