To prepare myself for human geography in the upcoming year, I read the book Fast Food Nation (The Dark Side of the All-American Meal) over this summer. This book was written by Eric Schlosser who has received many journalistic honors for his books. This book was published in January of 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company in New York, NY. This was a medium sized book being that it was only 288 pages in length. I enjoyed this book and enjoyed learning the secrets of fast food establishments. Schlosser shows us in this story two different subjects; fast food post WWII and how the food is made for Americans to eat. The first section of the novel, “The American Way’, is an introduction to the fast food world. It starts with the stories of the McDonalds brothers and Carl N. Karcher and their rise to become a pioneer of fast food industry. These pioneers found out how to make a business unlike anything America had ever experienced before. These pioneers found business in the West Coast to start off then expanded. This novel talks about how these pioneers made their companies work, how the kitchens ran and how they found out methods that were efficient. The first section also brings us to Colorado Springs, CO. Here, it shows us the life of fast food employees, the working conditions these employees face everyday and it explains their minimum wage pay. The second section, “Meat and Potatoes”, is about what goes in the food/the taste. Schlosser goes into great detail about where the
The investigative journalist, Eric Schlosser, has written a book to illuminate an epidemic that started in America and is now becoming one of the world’s largest problems. In Fast Food Nation, Schlosser frames today’s Fast Food giants in history,American entrepreneurialism, and over consumption in respect to consumer and employee wellbeing. The power of all modern Fast Food giants combined have eclipsed the power of any one government. Marketing has become a key component to luring consumers to fast food. Schlosser makes the argument that a once AllAmerican ideal, fast food has grown too big to control.
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
Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser, is a stark and unrelenting look into the fast food industry that has ingrained itself in not only American culture, but in culture around the world. There is almost no place on earth that the golden arches has not entered. Aside from Antarctica, there is a McDonalds on every continent, and the number of countries that have fast food restaurants is growing on a daily basis. Schlosser describes in detail what happens behind the scenes, before the hamburger and fries come wrapped in environmentally safe paper and are consumed by millions of people daily
1. Eric Schlosser chose the topic of fast food industry because he became quite inspired after reading an article about illegal immigrants in a strawberry field and how they a suffered in the process. The article was based on an investigation that was placed on the fields while they worked. It was also based on the immense impact that this industry had on society. Schlosser wanted to as said in his book “shed light” to the world on how successful hard working industry works. Also the way American industries portray and work in the diligent industry throughout the years . Since the fast food restaurants are known as one of the most active businesses which makes them a perfect example of what he was trying to convey.
Fast Food Nation Essay A threat brought by the fast food industries. In the novel; Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, the author's perspective of the fast food industry is the detail description of fast food companies. Schlosser had travel to Colorado Spring to research and uncover the mysteries of fast food chains. The author obtains his detail account through receiving real life accounts to having to visit different locations to strengthen his argument that American has become a fast food nation.
The author displays the harsh actuality of the fast food industry through the use of ethos. Schlosser’s writing in Fast Food Nation is from a first person point of view for the most part due to the fact that the anecdotes and people that are mentioned throughout the book are people or stories the author has witnessed himself, heard from the source himself, or met himself. For instance, Kenny is a man that is introduced in Chapter 8. Kenny worked for a meatpacking company and met with Schlosser for an interview. Kenny, during the
The story of the fast food industry and its effect on the world is well told in the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. Schlosser makes the claim that, what started out as a special treat for the kids eventually ended up defining a way of life. During a brief period of time, the fast food industry has helped transform not only the American diet, but also our countryside, economy, workforce, and popular culture. The book thoroughly describes how important the two factors of money and power are in today's society. The book clearly establishes the broader thesis that as consumers, we should know what we eat even if it makes us uncomfortable by the knowledge.
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.
To begin with, this paper is a review of the book “Fast Food Nation.” Initially, the book describes the unknown dangers of numerous fast food restaurants and its suppliers. Amazingly, the information in this book will shock people and will hopefully make people think twice before grabbing any fast food at McDonalds. Eric Schlosser’s novel is a modern take on Upton Sinclair’s
Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, used ethos, pathos, and logos to get his readers on his side of the argument. Schlosser understood how to use rhetoric when writing this book, he knew how to appeal to our emotions, how to maintain his credibility, and he had clear motives throughout. He made it pretty clear that he didn’t like fast food, using words like “mundane” or “unexceptional,” those words are almost never used in good context (3). Schlosser used many facts and statistics to amplify our disgust for the fast food industry, many of which we can look up with a few taps on a computer’s keyboard.
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
This chapter interested me a lot because it showed how the fast food restaurants stated in America. The most interesting thing that I learned was that McDonalds wasn't a fast food restaurant first; only after renovation, it became popular to the costumers due to the cheap
When eating a burger from a fast food restaurant, the average person does not stop to think how the food they are eating was made. As convenient as it may seem, the fast food industry is a $200 billion a year giant, and many people simply do not know the impact that it truly has. In Fast Food Nation some believe that food safety regulations can be sidestepped and low meat quality and poor management are putting the health of many Americans in danger.
Eric Schlosser's book Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal explores the effects of the spread of multinational fast food corporations into other countries, and the resulting loss of national culture. In his chapter “Global Realization” Eric Schlosser claims that “The global expansion of American fast food is homogenizing cultural identities; like Las Vegas, it offers “a brief sense of hope… that most brilliant illusion of all, a loss that feels like winning” (Schlosser). Schlosser intentionally chooses the order and content of the information and examples he provides in order to promote his main claim. He uses both subtle and direct strategies to persuade his reader. In order to critically evaluate the validity of