Fast Food Nation

I do not mean to suggest that fast food is solely responsible for every social problem now haunting the United States.

Disclaimers like that one usually indicate the opposite of what they say. But just a few sentences later comes a surprising admission which sets the tone for the whole book :

During the two years spent researching this book, I ate an enormous amount of fast food. Most of it tasted pretty good. This is one of the main reasons people buy fast food; it has been carefully designed to taste good. It's also inexpensive and convenient.

This is merely the first of many times throughout the book where Schlosser's fairness and honesty compel him to reveal facts that tend to undercut the polemical thrust of his arguments. This willingness to present both sides of the issues, combined with his prodigious research on the industry, makes for a book that, though the author clearly has a viewpoint that he wants to get across, also allows readers to make up their own minds, and provides the information necessary to make informed decisions. Though I disagreed with many of Schlosser's arguments, it was really refreshing to find an author who acknowledges competing views.

Here are some of the instances in which this contradictory dynamic crops up. One of the topics that he spends a good deal of time on is the pay levels in the industry, both for those who actually work in restaurants and for those who produce and process the food. He makes a big issue of the attempt by restaraunteurs to hold employees to minimum wage and not give them benefits, but at the same time he acknowledges that most of the workforce is made up of teenagers and :

Although some students...work at fast food restaurants to help their families, most of the kids take jobs after school in order to have a car.

Now, I'd acknowledge that a labor force of fathers trying to support their families on minimum wage would represent a social problem, but I won't shed a tear over teens who want their own cars. Not to mention that he goes on to note that :

Most of the high school students I met liked working at fast food restaurants.

To quote the immortal Clara Peller : Where's the beef ?

Similarly, in a section on the unskilled, uneducated migrant workers who are being "exploited" by the meat packers, Schlosser notes that they get something like $10 an hour, whereas the average worker in Mexico and Central America, where many of these employees come from, makes $5 a day. Sure, it would be wonderful if these folks were getting rich working at the undeniably difficult and often dangerous jobs they perform, but, comparatively, they are getting a damn good deal right now.

In the scariest portion of the book, he details all of the potentially lethal microbes that have invaded the food supply, e. coli and the like. He goes to great lengths to show how inadequate the system is for inspecting meat and testing for these contaminants, and I'll accept every word he says. But he also concedes that when meat is cooked properly these microbes are killed and then points out that food irradiation will also destroy them and is safe, but that misunderstanding of the process and fearmongering has kept it from being widely adopted. Sounds like there are safe and simple solutions to even this most worrisome of issues.

Finally, in the least compelling portion of the book, he argues that fast food is bad because it's making us fat. No one can honestly take issue with his point that the fat content in fast food is ridiculously high, and that the enormity of portions is unnecessary. However, in arguing that fat consumption is a unique problem, he accidentally concedes one of the great achievements of the industry :

During thousands of years marked by food scarcity, human beings developed efficient physiological mechanisms to store energy as fat. Until recently, societies rarely enjoyed an overabundance of cheap food.

Okay, so there are some problems associated with an "overabundance of cheap food:" the whole world should face such problems. Moreover, assuming that you believe in evolution, shouldn't we expect this to be a temporary problem, one that will take care of itself as succeeding generations develop mechanisms which don't store fat ?

Perhaps the best effect of Schlosser's honesty is that when it comes time to make proposals for solving some of the problems he's raised, he's pretty reasonable. The best point he makes is that :

Nobody in the United States is forced to buy fast food. The first step toward meaningful change is by far the easiest: stop buying it.

I don't believe that his book makes the case that such a step is necessary. It does, however, enable the reader to better understand what goes on behind the scenes to get that Big Mac or Whopper into your hands. As he presents it, this information is always fascinating and it is often at least troublesome. The book is well worth reading even if you don't ultimately end up feeling compelled to boycott the Colonel.

GRADE : B+


I finally learned what I had been eating (and why)   January 4, 2001
 479 out of 516 found this review helpful

I picked up this book the moment I saw it mostly because I've always known that fast food is "bad for you" - but I've been both afraid to know why and curious at the same time. After all, I've been hearing the other side of the argument my whole life. I've been pummeled by fast food ads - and eaten plenty of fast food - for a ridiculously long time. Why do I want to stay ignorant about it?

In his introduction to "Fast Food Nation", Schlosser says that he's interested in fast food "both as commodity and metaphor", and indeed, this well-written tome is as much an examination on the titular product as an able primer on the encroachment of large corporations into the lives of working Americans.

Those of you expecting an update on John Robbins' "Diet For A New America" will be disappointed. Schlosser has not crafted a scientific slam against fast food joints, but rather a thorough examination of their motives and histories, with a strong emphasis on the people - from both sides of the coin. The time he devotes to the personal stories of those whose lives have been forever changed by fast food - from the rags-to-riches tale of Carl Karcher to the tragic story of a big-hearted rancher named Hank - are largely what keeps "Fast Food Nation" both emotionally provoking and tangible throughout.

If this book were merely a saber-toothed diatribe against fast food corporations, it couldn't allow itself such concessions and would probably come across as socialist tubthumping to all but the converted. Instead, lengthy establishing essays on the history, ideologies, and present state of the communities and corporations discussed are a welcome introduction (and counterpoint to) the individual stories of struggle, greed, and survival.

While he makes no secret where his sympathies lie, Schlosser often reminded me more of Wendell Berry than John Robbins, as he bravely attempts to "tell it like it is" from more of a "pro-human" as opposed to an "anti-corporate" perspective. In doing so, the dehumanizing aspects of all global corporations (and the effects of NAFTA and the Telecommunications Act of '96) are supplied a provoking reference point.

By my standards, "Fast Food Nation" is a fine debut accomplishment for the author and a welcome book for our increasingly homogenized (and de-regulated) times. The story of fast food, a quotidian experience for many, has never seemed quite so impressive, scary, and profound. My education began here.


You can still have it your way   January 3, 2001
 81 out of 88 found this review helpful

A fascinating, important book for everyone. Fast Food Nation doesn't take easy shots at the fast food and beef industry, it shows the whole story, shifting back and forth betweeen intimate details of real people (a meat packing plant worker, a franchise owner, several cattle ranchers), and the larger, global markets created by the fast food restaurants. The book achieves a kind of epic flow to it, full of interesting and infuriating information. Splendid reading.


Your last trip to McDonald's   January 1, 2001
 11 out of 12 found this review helpful

You'll never look at fast food--or beef--the same way again after reading Schlosser's methodical evisceration of the fast food and meatpacking industries. Extremely comprehensive and well reported, the book assesses the impact of the industry at each stage of the process. From the devastation of small ranchers and the corporatization of American agriculture, to the growth of massive meatpacking companies, to the dangers faced by workers and the revolting conditions in meatpacking plants, to the health risks posed by nearly universally tainted beef, Fast Food Nation is a devastating indictment of a part of our society we all too often take for granted.

My only criticism would be that he sometimes conflates the fast food industry and the meatpacking industry. While the two are clearly closely related, he sometimes blames the ills of the meatpacking business on the fast food business without showing the link. That said, Schlosser's criticisms of both industries are very valid and have tremendous relevance for any person who eats fast food or meat in general.


Before your next meal, read this book   December 29, 2000
 65 out of 73 found this review helpful

Every American, and increasingly everyone in the world, should have available to them the information presented in this excellent book about the methods of the fast-food industry. This is not a vegan or vegetarian slam against beef and poultry producers. Instead, it is a look at how the large fast-food industry has transformed our nation, and is transforming the world, as we enter a new century. Readers will love Schlosser's easy writing style, even as they grapple with what his information tells us about the food world around us. This is an especially important book for every parent. Even if parents do not take their children to the restaurants mentioned, they will surely find the information about what is happening in schools and on TV important to the life of their family.