Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
Reviewed by Jana Patton. Posted on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
Eric Schlosser
HarperCollins, 2001
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal changed the way America views and consumes fast food. Author Eric Schlosser describes how social, economic, and technological forces created the often-grisly fast food industry and how the fast food industry changed the landscape and health of America.
Schlosser is an award-winning journalist and correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly, an American magazine founded in 1857. His skills as a reporter put him on the bestsellers list three times. Fast Food Nation is assigned reading in colleges across the nation.
Schlosser explains the impact fast food has on the American culture and ultimately the entire world. “Fast food has proven to be a revolutionary force in American life,” he writes.
He identifies those who have had the greatest impact on the fast food culture. One industry pioneer was Carl N. Karcher who founded Carl Jr.’s hamburger chain.
In 1941, Karcher borrowed $326 to buy a hot dog cart in Los Angeles. He sold hot dogs, chilidogs, and tamales for a dime each and soda for a nickel. Five months later the United States entered World War II and Karcher had earned enough money to buy a second hot dog cart.
By then, California was populated with millions of people from all nationalities. Drive-in restaurants were starting to pop-up in the early 1940’s and, according to Jesse G. Kirby, the founder of an early drive-in restaurant chain, “People with cars are so lazy they don’t want to get out of them to eat!”
By combining waitresses, cars and late-night food, drive-ins became the hottest trend. Budding entrepreneurs tried their hands at running fast food operations and while many failed, a few successful owners increased the desire for fast and cheap food.
With the growing number of hungry customers, the industry turned to technology, trying to decrease the time it took to get food to a customer and to increase customer return trips.
By 1970, Americans spent about $6 billion on fast food; in 2000, they spent more than $110 billion. Americans now spend more money on fast food than on higher education, personal computers, computer software, or new cars. They spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and recorded music combined.
A nation’s diet can be more revealing than its art or its literature, Schlosser writes.
He probes the effect of advertising and marketing on the consumer. He examines the role of “supersizing” in creating an over-weight population. He explores food plants, describing grotesque situations that would not meet health standards. Injuries, some reported and some not, as well as random ingredients falling into large vats of boiling potatoes are describe in detail.
His writing style is exciting and easy to follow. He includes many facts and interesting details that make it difficult to put down. He subtly presents his findings to help others understand how food, especially the fast food industry, has shaped the way people eat. This book is great for all levels of readers and anyone who enjoys food.
Gallery
