Fast Food Nation Chapter One

Fast food marketing is a dirty political game. Marketing is a tool of power, more specifically money power. Successful marketing strategies propelled fast food and beverage companies to some of the most stable corporations in the world. But how did these mom and pop shops dominate the competition? They created a commodity through marketing. Cool people drink coke not pepsi. Ronald and his friends hang out at McDonalds, and so should you, were the implications. Marketers went as far as advertising in schools. Coke or Pepsi for lunch instead of water and milk. Big Cola poured Millions of dollars into the struggling public education system. This accomplished a cradle to the grave type of marketing for beverage and fast food companies. Things changed so fast and the public made huge illogical leaps in the name of saving time. And in doing so, endangered our children.

“In many respects, the fast food industry embodies the best and worst of American capitalism at the start of the twenty-first century – its constant stream of new products and innovations, its widening gulf between gulf between rich and poor” (Schlosser 6). In 2001 Eric Schlosser published “Fast Food Nation.” Eric Schlosser’s early 21st century muckraking text, “Fast Food Nation,” attempts to shed light on the consequences of the fast food industry on American society. The rise and growth of the fast food industry, like the meatpacking industry, illuminates the evolution of the American dream in post-World War II America. “Fast Food Nation” is a book about fast food, the values it embodies, and the world

Eric Schlossers book Fast Food Nation is not only an expose of the fast food industry but also shows how the fast food industry has shaped and defined society in America and other nations as the fast food culture spreads globally. He connects the social order of society to the kind of food it eats and the way it eats that food, and relates fast food to other social processes and institutions. His facts are based on years of research and study, and are presented in and easy to follow narrative. Schlosser is so thorough and convincing in his argument, it's impossible to

Fast Food Nation is a good literary nonfiction book as a result of Schlosser using relevant anecdotes that allow the reader to connect with the working conditions associated with fast food, and by providing a new perspective on the topic

When thinking of America most people tend to think of baseball and football games, apple pie, barebeques on the weekends and most importantly fast food. The fast food industry since it started in the early 1900’s has taken America by storm and forever altered the fundamentals of American society, as seen in Eric Schlosser’s informative novel Fast Food Nation. In his novel Schlosser gave his audience a behind the scenes look on how the fast food industry takes his viewers into the dark side of the fast food industry by exposing the greed of larger companies and its impact on smaller companies, and the injustices of the meat packing industry. It’s clear that throughout the whole novel Schlosser’s is against the giant fast food industry franchise.

This book discusses the fast-food industry and seeks to describe the impact of the industry on the U.S. economy and society. Also, it talks about the guys who has been investigating the fast food industry for many years. From his broad research, he has uncovered an abundance of little-known, frequently unsettling truths about the fast food industry.

The paper is a review of Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. Schlosser has been investigating the fast food business for many years. He has interviewed someone from slaughter house workers, farmers, and employees about their experiences and the food being served at fast food restaurants. Schlosser tells the history of the fast food nation after WWII and examines the fast-food industry including conditions of the meat industry and the chemical they put in meat they serve to the people of the world.

Fast Food Nation is comprehensively researched and dreadfully convincing. Most of the research comes from abundant first hand accounts and interviews that Schlosser conducted while traveling throughout the country. Schlosser's writing style is very interesting as he mixed personal stories with a landslide of facts and observations. He uses numerous sources including newspapers, journals, books, news reports, articles, and personal accounts. During the two years that he researched the book, he ate a lot of fast food and visited places that affect the fast food industry from the ground up. Schlosser documents all of his claims that he makes in the book. Fast Food Nation was one of the most well researched books that I have ever read.

Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Print. While I was looking at the cover of the book, I noticed that it included the words “All American Meal”, and I wondered what that meant. For me when I hear those word I picture a McDonald’s, or any other fast food restaurant. Why is that? Is it because the United States comes in at 12th for the most obese country, with 35% of the population in overweight (Worldatlas). Or is it because we have made a name for ourselves, by being the country that consumes the most fast food (Economist)? In the first chapter of the book The American Way, Schlosser is disscussing various fast foods we eat such as McDonald 's, Domino 's, and describes how fast food has impacted American lives, such as obesity in all age groups due to the appeals to younger children. He talks about the McDonald brothers and Carl Karcher and how they established McDonald 's and Carl 's Jr.

Knowing what is in your fast food might make you think twice the next time you devour it. As the rise of the fast food nation in America has increased to an all-time high, so has the weight and waists of Americans all around the country. Not only has the United States grown to love the acquired taste of greasy golden fries and juicy burgers, it has also grown ignorant to the way their food is prepared. In the novel, “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal”(2002), by Eric Schlosser, he makes compelling points in his position against the fast food industry.

One of the most shocking books of the generation is Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation. The novel includes two sections, "The American Way" and "Meat and Potatoes,” that aid him in describing the history and people who have helped shape up the basics of the “McWorld.” Fast Food Nation jumps into action at the beginning of the novel with a discussion of Carl N. Karcher and the McDonald’s brothers. He explores their roles as “Gods” of the fast-food industry. Schlosser then visits Colorado Springs and investigates the life and working conditions of the typical fast-food industry employee. Starting out the second section, Schlosser travels to the western side of Colorado to examine the effects presented to the agriculture world in the new

From a study completed by Chicago-based Research International USA completed a study called “Fast Food Nation 2008. The panel consisted of 1,000 respondents of ages 16-65 who provided their inputs with an online survey which was conducted between March 13 through 2008. Which was based on results on fast food restaurants like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s are gaining popularity even through the economic hardship and recession. Marketing strategy has become more of influence on kids and young American’s. As population grows and the demand increases of fast food restaurants are expanding their stores to capturing more consumers. Fast food chains are also willing to change their menus to continue to gain and retain repeating customers.

People today believe that the government is supposed to eliminate any possible danger from the food they consume, but that is not the case. In the book Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of The All-American Meal written by Eric Schlosser, he discusses numerous problems with food production. Some of these issues are discussed in the “Epilogue”, “What’s In Meat”, and “Most Dangerous Job” chapters where Schlosser elaborates on the government’s role and how workers are mistreated. In the article, “U.S. Meatpacking Under Fire: Human Rights Group Calls for Line Speed Reduction, ERGO Standards,” it explains how the working conditions in the meat packaging industry are hazardous and are violations of basic human rights. Although workers are affected by the government’s role in the food industry, consumers are affected as well. The consequences of the lack of governmental oversight, like food contamination and others, are discussed in the film Food Inc. “Escaping the Regulatory Net: Why Regulatory Reform Can Fail Consumers”, an academic journal written by Henry Rothstein, explains how “putting consumers first” is difficult for the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to accomplish because with consumer’s interests that means regulatory reforms are most likely going to fail.

We live in a world that is in a continuous process of transformation, considering that progress manages to control all the aspects of individual's life. Being part of a society which is always changing makes it essential for people have to adapt to all these aspects. One of the biggest problems for the American society is that it has no time to eat, since it is always on the run. Fast food came as the greatest solution for this problem. Since the process of modernization of the American society is accelerated day by day, the fast food industry has gained its place on the market. Even if individuals are well aware of the problems they can and will encounter if they eat fast food, they are forced by the circumstances to fall back on it.

Cafeteria cooks are not “cooking” anymore; instead, they heat up unhealthy frozen lunches, open canned goods as vegetables, and rely on easy-to-make foods like fries and pizza that attract the young students. Very few schools provide healthy lunches that have enough nutritional content for the students. In addition, schools are progressively limiting recesses and physical education that involve exercises needed to have a healthy body and fight obesity. Interestingly, at the beginning of the film, McDonald’s was being sued for the causation of obesity of two teenage girls. Meaning, society is starting to realize the effects and unhealthy risks of a fast-food diet; this conflict is shown throughout the film and even to this