Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser, Harper Perennial, 2002. Eric Schlosser does a fine job of revealing how the Fast Food industry has revolutionized not only the way America dines outside the home, but also inside the home as well. The chapters analyze these topics in great detail: the start and growth of McDonalds; the origins of the nation’s beef processing industry and how the demands of the fast food industry led to the consolidation to a few “super-sized” firms; the frozen potato industry and its mechanical processes; the natural and chemical flavoring industry; and the globalization and cost of fast food franchises (which included a detailed example of a new McDonalds in East Germany near a WWII concentration camp after the fall the Berlin wall.)
He also revealed more of a “social justice” issue behind the meat industry that we may not know about (and if we do, we all choose to ignore it): how immigrant workers are used for cheap unskilled labor; how OSHA laws are being challenged and circumvented; how towns and small cities with large beef processing facilities are being harmed socially, culturally and environmentally; how the application of the assembly line mentality was applied to food industry, (thus reducing the skill level required to a specific certain task, keeping wages low). It is difficult for me to think a proper respect of the safety and economic concerns of lower level employees would increase beef prices dramatically. Sadly, I think it is all about control, profits, and market share.
The most memorable part of the book for me was where a franchise owner drove his employees to a Success Seminar to hear inspirational stories about working hard and being successful. Towards the end of the seminar, Christopher Reeve is wheeled onstage and tells the audience that since his accident, his priorities have changed: "It doesn't matter" (about fame, money, success). Mr Schlosser writes that these men and women are touched by a sudden awareness of something hollow in their own lives. (p.107) There is something hollow about the business philosophies of "Bigger", "Better", "Faster", "Cheaper", "More Convenient", (as well as "Greater Market Share" and "Brand Loyalty") when there is such disrespect for the employees of these businesses, the local farmers, the consumers and the citizens of the local economy. It is almost insulting how America is being conned into thinking this is is the new normal and there can be no other way. In my view, Nutritional Health, Sustainability and Local Market Economies should be the real focus of the food industry.
I am a big believer in the proper evaluation of opportunity cost. If you spend a dollar here, you cannot spend the same dollar there. If you spend your 2 weeks of work granted vacation days in Florida, you can’t spend the same two weeks vacation in California. We have many choices but our time, money and efforts are not unlimited.
Thus, if you change the America’s view of dining experience into cheap, pre-packaged, convenient, chemically “tasty”, disposable meals with low nutritional value processed by temporary immigrants and high tech machines, controlled by profit-driven corporations, then what is the cost? Well, here is my list: poor eating habits and portion control; adjusting the location and sanctity of family meals which dissolves the family community; promoting the idea of thinking that food should be cheap, and thus insisting on it, regardless of health benefits of cheap food; separation of the food preparation from the public eye -- and thus lack of proper understanding of what is really in our food; and uninformed transfer and “dependence” on the food industry, thinking they have own best interests in mind. Well, America and the world, we are "having it our own way", to quote a fast food jingle that I grew up with.
A fictional movie was made from this book which I will probably watch soon. Mr. Schlosser was also a main contributor to the film, Food Inc., which visually shows some of the topics from Fast Food Nation. I highly recommend it to anyone who really wants to understand the modern food industry.
