Fast Food Nation

2022-03-05T01:53:34Z

58.182.47.164: /* Background */

{{Short description|2001 book by Eric Schlosser}}
{{About|the book|the film|Fast Food Nation (film)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2018}}

{{Infobox book
| name = Fast Food Nation
| image = Fast food nation.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = First edition
| author = Eric Schlosser
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country = United States
| language = English
| series =
| subject = [[Fast food]]
| genre = [[Non-fiction]]
| publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin]]
| pub_date = January 17, 2001
| english_pub_date =
| media_type =
| pages = 288 pp
| isbn = 0-395-97789-4
| dewey = 394.1/0973 21
| congress = TX945.3 .S355 2001
| oclc = 45248356
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
'''''Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal''''' is a 2001 book by [[Eric Schlosser]]. First serialized by ''[[Rolling Stone]]''<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/fast-food-nation-part-one-the-true-cost-of-americas-diet-19980903|title=Fast-Food Nation Part One: The True Cost of America's Diet|last=Scholsser|first=Eric|publisher=[[Rolling Stone]]|year=1998}}</ref> in 1999, the book has drawn comparisons to [[Upton Sinclair]]'s 1906 [[muckraking]] novel ''[[The Jungle]]''.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Jungle|last=Sinclair|first=Upton |url=https://wwnorton.com/college/history/america-essential-learning/docs/usinclair-%20the_jungle-1906.pdf |publisher=Doubleday, Jabber, & Company|year=1906|oclc=149214}}</ref> The book was adapted into a 2006 [[Fast Food Nation (film)|film of the same name]], directed by [[Richard Linklater]].

== Background ==
''Rolling Stone'' asked Schlosser to write an article looking at America through fast food in 1997 after reading his article on migrants in ''Atlantic Monthly''.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/523/schlosser-food-finances.html|title=Q & A: Eric Schlosser, author of 'Fast Food Nation,' on the state of the American food system|website=www.pbs.org|access-date=2018-04-10}}</ref> He then spent nearly three years researching the fast-food industry, from the slaughterhouses and packing plants that turn out the burgers to the minimum-wage workers who cook them to the television commercials that entice children to eat them with the lure of cheap toys and colorful playgrounds.<ref name=":1" /> The experience enraged and appalled him.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2001/mar/14/food/fo-37251|title=The Hamburger Critic (and His Own Critics)|last=SAGON|first=CANDY|date=March 14, 2001|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2018-04-10|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}}</ref><ref name="bestnotes">{{cite web|url=http://thebestnotes.com/booknotes/Fast_Food_Nation/Fast_Food_Nation03.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130615182804/http://thebestnotes.com/booknotes/Fast_Food_Nation/Fast_Food_Nation03.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 15, 2013 |title=Fast Food Nation, Analysis Book Summary Online Chapter Notes |date=May 16, 2008 |website=TheBestNotes.com |access-date=May 2, 2014 }}</ref>suuuu

==Summary==
The book is divided into two sections: "The American Way" and "Meat and Potatoes". "The American Way" the first part, takes a historical view of the fast food business by analyzing its beginnings within post-World War II America while "Meat and Potatoes" examines the specific mechanisms of the fast-food industry within a modern context as well as its influence.

=== "The American Way" ===
The first section of ''Fast Food Nation'' opens with a discussion of [[Carl N. Karcher]] and the [[Richard and Maurice McDonald|McDonald brothers]], examining their roles as pioneers of the fast-food industry in southern California. This discussion is followed by an examination of [[Ray Kroc]] and [[Walt Disney]]'s [[Ray Kroc#Purchasing McDonald's|complicated relationship]] before ending with the consideration of the intricate, profitable methods of [[advertising to children]]. Next, Schlosser visits [[Colorado Springs, CO]] and investigates the life and working conditions of the typical fast-food industry employee, learning how fast-food restaurants pay minimum wage to a higher proportion of their employees than any other American industry.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/11/17/where-near-minimum-wage-workers-work-and-how-much-they-make/|title=Where near-minimum-wage workers work, and how much they make|date=November 17, 2014|work=Pew Research Center|access-date=2018-04-10|language=en-US}}</ref>

=== "Meat and Potatoes" ===
The second section of the text begins with a discussion of the chemical components that make the food taste so good. Schlosser follows this with a discussion of the life of a typical rancher, considering the difficulties presented to the agricultural world in a new economy. Schlosser analyzes the meatpacking industry, which he tags as the most dangerous job in America.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/01/how-to-make-the-countrys-most-dangerous-job-safer/302395/|title=How to Make the Country's Most Dangerous Job Safer|last=Schlosser|first=Eric|work=The Atlantic|access-date=2018-04-10|language=en-US}}</ref> Moreover, the meat produced by slaughterhouses has become increasingly more hazardous since the centralization of the industry due to the way cattle are raised, slaughtered, and processed, providing an ideal setting for [[E coli]] to spread.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180312150520.htm|title=Water troughs are key to E. coli contamination in cattle|work=ScienceDaily|access-date=2018-04-10|language=en}}</ref> Additionally, working conditions continue to grow worse. In the final chapter, Schlosser considers how fast food has matured as an American cultural export following the Cold War and how the collapse of Soviet Communism allowed the mass spread of American goods and services, especially fast food. As a result, the rest of the world is catching up with America's rising obesity rates.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.who.int/gho/ncd/risk_factors/overweight/en/|title=Overweight and obesity|website=World Health Organization|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-04-10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/|title=Obesity and overweight|website=World Health Organization|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-04-10}}</ref>

==="Afterword"===
In the 2012 edition, Schlosser published a revised edition that included an afterword. In the afterword, he looks back at the relevance and criticism of the first edition and how it inspired other works as well as how the fast food industry has evolved in the ten years following the book, including its effects on policy and childhood obesity rates. He concluded that, given the swift, decisive and effective action that took place as a result of this interest and intervention, many of the problems documented in the book are solvable, given enough political will. The afterword can also be read in an article penned by Schlosser at ''[[The Daily Beast]]''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/12/still-a-fast-food-nation-eric-schlosser-reflects-on-10-years-later|title=Still a Fast Food Nation: Eric Schlosser Reflects on 10 Years Later|last=Schlosser|first=Eric|date=March 12, 2012|work=The Daily Beast|access-date=2018-04-10|language=en}}</ref>

==Reception==
Rob Walker, writing for ''[[The New York Times]]'', remarks that "Schlosser is a serious and diligent reporter" and that "''Fast Food Nation'' isn't an airy deconstruction but an avalanche of facts and observations as he examines the fast-food process from meat to marketing."<ref name=":2">{{cite news|last1=Walker|first1=Rob|title=No Accounting for Mouthfeel|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/01/01/21/reviews/010121.21walkert.html|access-date=February 22, 2015|work=The New York Times|date=January 21, 2001}}</ref> Walker however does raise concerns about the data on which Schlosser bases his claims.<ref name=":2" /> For example, Schlosser suggests that hundreds have died from E. coli infections as a result of eating fast food. However, as Walker points out, “[Schlosser] extrapolated his figures from an annual total in a report on food-related illness, which itself relied on a good deal of extrapolation. Moreover, that report doesn't address fast food specifically (and in fact Schlosser builds his numbers from figures including E. coli cases that are not even food-borne), which is relevant because fast-food outlets are hardly the only places where processed meat is sold."<ref name=":2" />

Julia Livshin, writing for ''[[The Atlantic]]'', believes "Schlosser's book is not just a compendium of kitchen horror stories. In clean, sober prose packed with facts, he strips away the carefully crafted feel-good veneer of fast food and shows how the industry's astounding success has been achieved, and is sustained, at an equally astounding cost—to the nation's health, environment, economy, and culture."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/interviews/ba2000-12-14.htm|title=Interview – 2000.12.14|website=www.theatlantic.com|access-date=2018-04-10}}</ref>

''[[Publishers Weekly]]'' wrote, "While cataloguing assorted evils with the tenacity and sharp eye of the best investigative journalist, [Schlosser] uncovers a cynical, dismissive attitude to food safety in the fast food industry and widespread circumvention of the government's efforts at regulation enacted after Upton Sinclair's similarly scathing novel exposed the meat-packing industry 100 years ago. By systematically dismantling the industry's various aspects, Schlosser establishes a seminal argument for true wrongs at the core of modern America."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-395-97789-7|title=Nonfiction Book Review: Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser, Author Houghton Mifflin Co $26 (288p) ISBN 978-0-395-97789-7|work=PublishersWeekly.com|access-date=2018-04-10|language=en}}</ref>

=== Industry response ===
Terrie Dort, president of the National Council of Chain Restaurants, the trade association representing many of the country's major fast-food chains, released this statement about Schlosser and his book: "It is unfortunate that Mr. Schlosser's book, 'Fast Food Nation,' categorizes the entire fast-food industry in such a negative light. The restaurant companies that comprise the industry provide employment to hundreds of thousands of workers across the country and offer consumers a wide variety in menu options and prices. We take exception to the characterization in this book."<ref name=":1" />

Lester Crawford, director of the Center for Food and Nutrition Policy at Georgetown University and a former meat inspector for the USDA, says he has read only "snippets" of Schlosser's book but calls it "well-intentioned criticism."<ref name=":1" />

==Young reader version==
{{anchor|Chew on This}}
An adaptation of ''Fast Food Nation'' for younger readers titled ''Chew On This: Everything You Don't Want to Know about Fast Food'' was published in May 2006 by [[Houghton Mifflin]]. ''Chew On This'' was first published in 2006, is an adaptation of the main work created by Schlosser and Charles Wilson for younger readers.<ref>{{Cite journal | date=January 2007| title="Chew on This": An Interview with Charles Wilson, Curriculum Review, 2007-Ja| url=https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ754937| journal=Curriculum Review| language=en| volume=46| issue=5| pages=14| issn=0147-2453}}</ref> This book follows the general plot structure of ''Fast Food Nation'', but simplifies its predecessor's original content to make it more readable for younger children.

=== ''Chew on This'' reception ===
Some critical reception has been positive.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Chew on This, Eric Schlosser & Charles Wilson| url=https://www.kqed.org/bayareabites/321/chew-on-this-eric-schlosser-charles-wilson| access-date=2021-04-14| website=KQED| language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last=Larsson| first=Minna-Leena| date=2008-09-22| title=Chew on This: Everything You Don't Want To Know About Fast Food| url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=00094056&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA188352685&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs| journal=Childhood Education| language=English| volume=85| issue=1| pages=56–58}}</ref> [[Common Sense Media]] gave the book 4/5 stars, but writing that "...the photographs seem randomly placed throughout the book, and the narrative can wander a bit. Even so, teens probably will be inspired to rethink their habits."<ref>{{Cite web | last=Pavao| first=Kate| date=2010-03-30| title=Chew on This – Book Review| url=https://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/chew-on-this| access-date=2021-04-14| website=Common Sense Media| language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[The Corporation (2003 film)|''The Corporation'' (film)]] — a 2003 Canadian documentary film critical of the modern-day corporation and its behavior towards society
* [[Labor rights in American meatpacking industry]]

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
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==External links==
* [https://www.c-span.org/video/?164691-1/fast-food-nation Presentation by Schlosser on ''Fast Food Nation'' at the 92nd Street Y, May 31, 2001], [[C-SPAN]]
* [https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/01/01/21/specials/schlosser.html Audio Interview with ''The New York Times'']

{{Food industry criticism}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fast Food Nation}}
[[Category:2001 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Current affairs books]]
[[Category:Books about the United States]]
[[Category:Business books]]
[[Category:Health and wellness books]]
[[Category:Rolling Stone articles]]
[[Category:Criticism of fast food]]
[[Category:Books about food and drink]]
[[Category:Houghton Mifflin books]]
[[Category:Non-fiction books adapted into films]]
[[Category:Books by Eric Schlosser]]

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Fast Food Nation