Luke Jensen

02/20/2011

AP Human Geo

Block 3

Fast Food Nation Essay

Fast Food Nation covers two spectrums of the American fast food experience; the

historical and cultural domination of American fast food post WWII, and the route that fast food

takes from the animal/vegetable to your mouth. Author Eric Schlosser starts the book by

discussing Ray Kroc, the leading force behind the absolute domination of McDonalds as the

nation’s largest fast food restaurant. As a cultural icon, McDonalds is unsurpassed; the golden

arches symbol is globally more recognized than the Christian cross. After discussing the global

cultural spread that McDonalds has facilitated, Schlosser talks about the culture of working as a

minimum wage fast food employee. According to Schlosser, the fast food sector employs more

minimum wage workers than any other industry, breeding a culture that is unlike any other.

In the second part of the book, Schlosser investigates the industry that provides the food

to the fast food industry. He illustrates a disgusting and dangerous situation where illegal

immigrants are bussed in to work 12 hour days wallowing in blood and filth. In some cases, the

legs of workers will literally be submerged in blood and excrement for an entire day. Schlosser

also mentions the substandard safety regulations employed by the meatpacking industry, which

leads to missing digits and horrible scarring from the huge blades that cut through meat.

Schlosser punctuates the end of the book by discussing how the cultural infiltration of American
exports, such as fast food, have led to growing obesity rates in other countries since the end of

the cold war.

“The kill floor is hot and humid. It stinks of manure (Schlosser 170).” With this quote,

Schlosser highlights the sense of place that is brought to the reader. You feel as if you are within

the dark, humid slaughterhouse, and surrounded by fetid smells and blood. “We wade through

blood that’s ankle deep and that pours down drains into huge vats below us (Schlosser 171).”

This quote gives an even more disturbing image of place. The reader feels as if he is wading

through the ankle-deep pool of blood, watching a calculation worker slice the carotid arteries of

cows as they are conveyed past. The author is able to create a sense of place by vividly

describing the working conditions of these migrant workers as a sort of hellish captivity. The

sense of place is created by the sympathy a reader experiences for the terrible situation that a

migrant worker is trapped in; forced to work in disgusting, dangerous conditions to feed himself

and his family.

One of the themes of geography illustrated in Fast Food Nation is Place. Schlosser

illustrates place by vividly describing the physical characteristics of a slaughterhouse. He then

describes the human characteristics of the workers, who are forced to labor illegally in dangerous

and unsanitary conditions. These characteristics help to bring a sense of place to the book.

Another theme of geography illustrated by Schlosser is Location. Although absolute location is

hardly mentioned at all, the relative location of fast food chains is described throughout the book.

Using land marks in southern California, Schlosser accurately describes the beautiful scenery

and surroundings of the first McDonalds.

 Another theme of geography in Fast Food Nation is Region. Region is a large part of the

focus on culture that Fast Food Nation has. Sometimes Schlosser refers to the vernacular region

of the south; other times he refers to the formal region of the mid-west. Region is used to

describe the spread of the fast food industry across the nation and eventually across the globe.

For instance, the European region has much more fast food than it did twenty years ago; no

thanks to the spread of American Culture. Schlosser uses region to indicate just how far the

reaches of American culture can extend to.

Fast Food Nation is a riveting story of the spread of American food culture across the

nation and globe. It perfectly illustrates just how much harm fast food is doing to various parts of

America; whether general health or the plight of migrant workers, the contagious spread of fast

food can be recognized as nothing more than a plague on our society’s health and culture.