Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal (Harper Perennial P.S. Edition)
 | Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal (Harper Perennial P.S. Edition) Date: 05 July, 2005 — $9.72 — Book Rating: |
I just finished Fast Food Nation a few days ago, and I have to say it made me very uncomfortable. It also made me feel a bit vindicated, for reasons I won't disclose here.
Make no mistake about it: Scholsser has an agenda. And he isn't shy about pursuing it. He makes little attempt to be objective; in fact he claims that there really isn't much of anything to remain objective about. The worst part is, he's probably right. What starts off as a look at the rise of America's fast-food empire morphs into a disturbing, scathing condemnation of America's largest restaurant chains, their government supporters, the meatpacking industry - and how all have conspired to wreck our cultural, political, geographical and international landscapes.
Schlosser shines a harsh spotlight on the many government initiatives that have propelled the quick food serivce industry into the forefront of corporate America. He accuses the meatpacking industry of aiding and abetting the conspiracy, the corporate heads for targeting children with food that could be as unhealthy as cigarettes, company policies for incentivizing the creation of a permanent, uneducated, underpaid disposeable workforce...and the government for willingly subsidizing the whole enterprise with our tax dollars in exchange for donations.
It's a very long, very liberal (and in certain ways very libertarian) case to build, but this isn't a short book. This book has everything that Super-Size Me didn't: detail, elaboration on key points, and in-depth interviews with key players. After a certain point, you'll start to wonder if Schlosser has ever heard of a sense of humor. But if you can bear the bleakness of the setting, you'll learn a whole lot.
When I was finished reading the chapters on meat handling disease and sanitation, I made up my mind: I was going to cut down on my ground beef intake, and avoid eating any restaurant items containing ground beef. Even if it comes from the 'nicer' chains like Ruby Tuesday and Fridays. If these sections of the bookdon't curdle your stomach, you aren't human.
Suffice to say, the book is well worth the read as long as you get the updated version with recent updates added at the end to acknowledge some of the changes in the industry since 2001. When you're done, you might even regret reading it in some respects. But if he's right -- and I think he is -- much of the world will definitely live to regret not acting on this information.
Obsidian Hit Counter
since: 18 Oct 2004