FAST FOOD

NATION
AN ESSAY WRITTEN BY ERIC
SCHLOSSER

THE AUTHOR
Eric Schlosser studied American History
at Princeston University.
Deeply interested in the US way of life
and habits, he analysed these themes
by writing two plays: Americans (1985)
and We the People (2007).

THE AUTHOR
Schlosser wrote the essay in 2001, but also
other books about social and political themes in
the USA: Reefer Madness (2003) and
Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the
Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety
(2013).

THE ESSAY
Fast Food Nation examines the influence of fast
food industry in the US and worldwide.
It gives a very detailed overview of the health
and alimentary situation at that time, revealing
shocking facts about how food is processed and
where it comes from.
Chew On This (2005) is an adaptation of the
book for younger readers.

THE ESSAY
It evolved from a two-part article inRolling
Stone. Schlosser helped adapt his book into the
omonymous 2006 filmdirected by Richard
Linklater.
Fortune called Fast Food Nation the "Best
Business Book of the Year" in 2001.
It is divided into two parts:

THE AMERICAN WAY

The Founding Fathers of fast food: Carl N. Karcher
(southern California) funded Carls JR., a hamburger
chain. His father used to tell him: The harder you
work, the luckier you become. The other ones
were McDonald brothers (California).
Development of the automobile industry drive-in
restaurants
An insight of McDonalds and its ad campaign
targeting children

THE AMERICAN WAY

In the third chapter, he analysis the working
conditions at McDonalds and Burger King by
describing the daily routine of Elisa Zamot, an
employee at McDonalds.
fast food chains employ young people for
small periods of time, they are low-wage and
underpaid workers.
These youngsters often have to face with hard
working conditions and accidents/ robberies.

MEAT AND POTATOES

Potatoes are primarily eaten by US
citizens, more than dairy products and
wheat flour.
focus: today about 49 pounds/ year
of potatoes and 30 pd/ year of french
fries, which 90% sold at fast foods of.
Their taste depends on the cooking oil
McDonalds used a mixture of 7%
cottonseed and 93% beef tallow.

MEAT AND POTATOES

The Americans like strong and good tastes, above all
the association sweet-salt these are chimically
fabricated in industries where aromas are added in
food whose taste is weak or almost absent.
90% of $ spent on processed food.
So-called natural or artificial flavors are both
man-made and the former are not healthier or purer
than the latter.

MEAT AND POTATOES

Childhood memories of Happy Meals can traslate into frequent
adult visits to McDonalds, like those of the chains heavy users,
the customers who eat there four or fve times a week.
Mc invented Chicken McNuggets in the 80s, changing the US
diet and raising the consumption of chicken higher than the one of
beef.

MEAT AND POTATOES

Greeley, Colorado, is a factory town where Schlosser visited
The ConAgra Beef Company. Others are IBP (Iowa Beef
Packers), The Beef Packers. These are slaughterhouses,
where the working conditions were brutal once again.

MEAT AND POTATOES

strikes in Greeley, horrible smells in these areas which
cause respiratory problems and headaches, even nervous
systems damages. HYDROGEN SULFIDE was the main cause.
Dangers on work can also lead to physical incidents and to
death. Health problems can also involve fast food customers
the case of Escherichia Coli in 1997: a toxine causes
HUS (hemolytic uremic syndrome), mortal for children.
Every year more than 25% US citizens affected by food
poisoning.

MEAT AND POTATOES

At the beginning of XX century, hamburger: a food for the
poor. White Castle, first hamburger chain, sponsored it as
health and safe, removing the social stigma.
Other cases of disease: Salmonella. Workers in
slaughterhouses: the case of Kenny Dobbins at Monfort.

MEAT AND POTATOES

In the final chapter, Schlosser considers how
fast food has become an American cultural
export following the Cold War: the collapse of
Soviet Communism has allowed the mass
spread of American goods and services,
especially fast food the world is catching up
with America's rising obesity rates.

IN CONCLUSION..
Popularity of the book driven by the change of
times.
In 2000 stagnant sales in fast foods due to
mad cow disease, in addition to economic
crisis in chains such as Taco Bell, Burger King.
Enormous dissatisfaction with Mc because
of its public image they hired Temple
Grandin to check the relationships with meat
trades.

SO
Schlosser visited many different industries, farms and
restaurants like the ones described in the essay to report
more precisely the facts and situations where he found
himself.
Just in the introduction, he gave several details linked
to the roots of American culture and state of mind: nearly
forty years ago, about 75% of money was spent to buy
food to be cooked at home; now the expense has
lowered to about 50% of peoples money, used to buy
a meal in restaurants, mainly fast foods.

SO...
Nearly forty years ago, about 75% of money was spent to
buy food to be cooked at home; now the expense has
lowered to about 50% of peoples money, used to buy a
meal in restaurants, mainly fast foods.
Today the SAD (Standard American Diet) is about 50%
carbohydrate, 15% protein, and 35% fat. Nearly half of the
meals ordered from a menu were hamburger, French fries, or
poultry, and about one third of orders included a carbonated
beverage drink. From 1970 to 2008, the per capita
consumption of calories increased by nearly 25% in
the US, whose10% was from high-fructose corn syrup.

EXCERPTS
In 1970, Americans spent about $6 billion on
fast food; in 2001, they spent more than $110
billion. Americans now spend more money on
fast food than on higher education, personal
computers, computer software, or new cars.
They spend more on fast food than on movies,
books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and
recorded music combined.

EXCERPTS
The key to a successful franchise can be expressed in
one word: uniformity. Franchises and chain stores
strive to offer exactly the same product or service at
numerous locations. Customers are drawn to familiar
brands by an instinct to avoid the unknown. A brand
offers a feeling of reassurance when its products are
always and everywhere the same. We have found out
that we cannot trust some people who are
nonconformists, declared Ray Kroc, one of the
founders of McDonalds. The organization cannot
trust the individual; the individual must trust the
organization.

EXCERPTS
One of the ironies of Americas fast food industry is
that a business so dedicated to conformity was
founded by iconoclasts and self-made men, by
entrepreneurs willing to defy conventional opinion.
Few of the people who built fast food empires ever
attended college, let alone business school.
They worked hard, took risks, and followed their own
paths. In many respects, the fast food industry
embodies the best and the worst of American
capitalism its constant stream of new products and
innovations, its widening gulf between rich and poor.

THE BOOK AND US CULTURE

This essay has been inspired by the situation at
that time and partially influenced it in turn. It
reflects those days facts and it also shocked
the public opinion with its revelations and
investigations about worldwide known fast food
chains.

SOURCES
http://
deadspin.com/the-great-american-menu-foods-of-the-sta
tes-ranked-an-1349137024
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Size_Me
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food,_Inc .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_Will_Be_Blood
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_Chains
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reefer_Madness_(2003_book )
https://medium.com/@katenorquay/what-i-learned-from-4
-years-working-at-mcdonalds-f278ad27faee#.
at3e7z94q