Buy Used/3rdParty

More product information

Find other editions of Fast Food Nation : The Dark Side of the All-American Meal (Softback, Hardback, Audio, E-Book)

Similar Products

Audio CD Description On any given day, one out of four Americans opts for a quick and cheap meal at a fast-food restaurant, without giving either its speed or its thriftiness a second thought. Fast food is so ubiquitous that it now seems as American, and harmless, as apple pie. But the industry's drive for consolidation, homogenization, and speed has radically transformed America's diet, landscape, economy, and workforce, often in insidiously destructive ways. Eric Schlosser, an award-winning journalist, opens his ambitious and ultimately devastating expose with an introduction to the iconoclasts and high school dropouts, such as Harlan Sanders and the McDonald brothers, who first applied the principles of a factory assembly line to a commercial kitchen. Quickly, however, he moves behind the counter with the overworked and underpaid teenage workers, onto the factory farms where the potatoes and beef are grown, and into the slaughterhouses run by giant meatpacking corporations. Schlosser wants you to know why those French fries taste so good (with a visit to the world's largest flavor company) and "what really lurks between those sesame-seed buns." Eater beware: forget your concerns about cholesterol, there is--literally--feces in your meat. Schlosser's investigation reaches its frightening peak in the meatpacking plants as he reveals the almost complete lack of federal oversight of a seemingly lawless industry. His searing portrayal of the industry is disturbingly similar to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, written in 1906: nightmare working conditions, union busting, and unsanitary practices that introduce E. coli and other pathogens into restaurants, public schools, and homes. Almost as disturbing is his description of how the industry "both feeds and feeds off the young," insinuating itself into all aspects of children's lives, even the pages of their school books, while leaving them prone to obesity and disease. Fortunately, Schlosser offers some eminently practical remedies. "Eating in the United States should no longer be a form of high-risk behavior," he writes. Where to begin? Ask yourself, is the true cost of having it "your way" really worth it? --Lesley Reed

Customer Reviews Interesting, but Outdated Conclusions! Schlosser summary of the industry provides some interesting, and sometimes outdated, facts. Clearly fast-food focuses on low-costs - sometimes even at the expense of speed. However, it is not the root cause of all the problems cited in the book. Nonetheless, it was very interesting to learn that the Federal "Work Opportunity Tax Credit" provides up to $2,400 for each new low-income worker hired for at least 400 hours, despite a study finding that about 92% would have been hired anyway. This is paid even for no-growth fast-food minimum-wage jobs with 300-400% turnover! Schlosser also point out that 90% of fast-food workers receive no benefits and work less than 40 hours/week. Franchising is often touted as a safe way to become a business owner. However, Schlosser states that 38% of all new franchises fail within 4-5 years, vs. a 6% lower failure rate for independent businesses. Further, fast-food franchisees often have to sign away their right to file complaints, must buy only from approved suppliers, sell their franchise only to buyers approved by the chain, and can be terminated at the discretion of the chain. Schlosser then tracks the evolution of the Monfort meat-packing plant in Greely, CO. - from a friendly, unionized environment with a waiting list to apply, to low-wage, non-union, largely immigrant staffed, high-turnover firm with often dangerous working conditions and no job-security. (Not the fault of fast-food, however,) Schlosser also details cases of food-poisoning at fast-food outlets. Hamburger is particulary problematic because of the vast amount of mixing, and the unsanitary conditions in large feedlots. The good news, however, is that the chains have since set quality standards that seem to have substantially reduced the problem. Unfortunately, we are left without any data on the current state of cleanliness. Those looking to learn what really goes into their hamburger and sausage, however, will be disappointed. Having formerly worked for Armour and used a computer to create low-cost recipes for those products, I can assure you that you would be "fascinated." Recommendations offered by Schlosser include having eg. McDonald's demand better treatment for farmers and meat-packing workers. Nice idea, but highly unlikely to happen. A more likely source of improvement would come through improved government meat inspection, and the cessation of hiring illiterate illegals (easily cowed into accepting unsafe and unsanitary conditions) - both by the fast-food outlets and the meat-processors Powerful & Frightening but the Solution is NOT Soy. Eric Schlosser's indictment of America's fast food culture has enjoyed a long run on the bestseller lists and motivated tens of thousands of people to drive past McDonalds and in search of healthier, cleaner and more humanely raised food. Clearly it's time that we demand "slow food" in the form of the safe, clean and healthy foods eaten by our ancestors -- i.e. grassfed meat, pastured dairy products and organic fruits, vegetables and grains. Instead, many health conscious people are turning to soy foods and soy milk. Although soy has been widely publicized as a "miracle food" that can prevent disease and a "green food" that can save the environment, these myths are the self-serving creations of the soy industry itself. The NY Times even tells us that soybean farming has destroyed more acres of the Amazon rainforest than beef raised for fast-food franchises. So drive past the Golden Arches but know that the answer is not in the energy bars, shakes, veggie burgers and soymilks at the health food store. The drive to turn America into a Soy Food Nation is itself big business and the scary next chapter of Fast Food Nation. Too dry? Try "My Year of Meats" This book was tremendously informative, confirming so many of my suspicions and fears with thorough research and a Michael Moore-esque attitude towards those attempting to avoid answering probing questions. Sometimes, however, a book like this may be interesting but not necessarily engaging and pleasurable the way fictional literature can be. My antidote came three months later, when I finally happened across a book that had been on my list for quite a while. "My Year of Meats" by Ruth Ozeki. She writes of a journey of discovery made by a documentary filmmaker commissioned to make seemingly innocuous promotional films for the beef industry to be aired in Japan. Along the way she discovers pretty much the same things Schlosser relates, but as I followed the story it hit me more personally to experience the revelations with her rather than read the conclusions, summarized after the fact, as Schlosser does with his own research. Her subsequent novel, "All Over Creation", I discovered just two months ago but, coincidence or not, it completes the other half of Schlosser's work in fictional form by covering the potato side of the story in an even more intricate, well-developed work of literature than her previous effort. Yet I don't recommend these other books as any diminishment of my regard for Schlosser's text. Fact-based, it still remains the difinitive resource for a thorough analysis of the fast food industry, aspects both seen and unseen.