by Jen Shark
Daily Lobo
With school in full swing, I find myself with barely any free time - especially to eat.
Sometimes, the easiest choice is to grab a nice, big, juicy burger from Sonic or perhaps across the street at McDonald's. Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser, might change someone's mind the next time he or she decides to step under those golden arches.
It is no secret how incredibly unhealthy fast food is, but Schlosser digs deep into the history and successes of fast food. Fast Food Nation starts at the beginning of the fast-food industry with the stories of the founders. For example, the book has a story about hot dog stand owner, Carl Karcher, who started the food drive-in trend. Karcher then inspired people like Robert Schuller, who opened up the nation's first drive-in church. One hundred people listened to him preach on top of the snack bar of a drive-in movie theater while seated in their cars. It is fascinating to see how many of these multimillion-dollar industries started from college-age people trying to find a way to make extra money.
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As the book goes on, many facts about fast food, such as the fascinating world of flavoring, are revealed. I never knew how much food-processing companies rely on flavoring to sell their products. I used to be a huge fan of strawberry milk
shakes - until I read this book. There are more than 50 ingredients in the artificial strawberry flavoring alone. That is far more ingredients than it takes to make a milk shake itself. Other flavor peculiarities are the grilled chicken sandwich from Wendy's, which contains beef extracts, and the argument that natural flavoring is more harmful than artificial flavoring.
Besides learning what goes in the food, Schlosser takes the reader into the lives of the people who work for the companies. I have always been a die-hard carnivore and could never give up meat --- ----no matter what my vegetarian roommate tells me about animal treatment and what is in meat products. However, I found myself wanting to protest meat for the way the meatpacking workers are treated. The chapter titled, "The Most Dangerous Job," made me feel like I was reading Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Not much has changed in terms of meat processing. Workers use incredibly long, sharp knives to cut the cow parts without protection and are barely compensated, if at all, for an injury on the job.
This chapter was probably the most interesting part of the whole book and could have been a book on its own. I remember reading this chapter before bed and having terrible nightmares to think that such working conditions still exist in our country.
This book is essential to anyone who really wants to know what is going on behind the scenes of companies who are taking over our world at an ever-growing pace. I challenge anyone to read this book and say they are not affected by what Schlosser has discovered and won't think twice when pulling up at the next drive-through line.
Fast Food Nation
Eric Schlosser
Grade: A-
