The Real Cost of Fast Food (Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser)

Member Name: Ric!

Product:	Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser
Date:	29/06/02 (1887 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Eye opener, Spreading the truth

Disadvantages: One side of the story

It's lunchtime, you're hungry, and you need something quick. You walk through the doors of one of the popular fast food 'restaurants'. It's busy, there are lots of people around from all walks of life. Businessmen in suits, mothers with pushchairs and screaming children, men with big muscles and tattoos, adolescents with green hair and rings through every conceivable part of their body. You approach the counter and join one of the fast moving queues. No need to look at the menu - you already know what you want. Finally it's your turn and you are face-to-face with a kid who really looks like they ought to be at school. They flash an artificial smile at you, take your order, and try and make you 'go large'. You hand over your money, get given a brown paper bag, and it's all over within minutes, bar the eating. Your mouth is already watering, and you feel an inner happiness at the pleasure that you are about to experience. Yet, you feel no shame, no sense of remorse, no guilt that you are now a part of a worldwide massive exploitation of people, destruction of livelihoods and abuse of the earth and it's resources. Maybe you should feel guilty.


You don't agree with me?


That's okay - I wouldn't have thought twice about going into a McDonalds, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken or any other fast food outlet, either. That was before I read 'Fast Food Nation' by Eric Schlosser. But, he's a journalist by profession, I hear you say. He's bound to write things that will grab your attention and make you want to read it. Surely a journalist wouldn't think twice about using a bit of artistic license, twisting the truth slightly - we all know what they're like. Maybe. But remember the McLibel case? It was where McDonalds sued members of the London Greenpeace group for handing out a leaflet accusing them of promoting Third World poverty, selling unhealthy
food, exploiting workers and children, torturing animals, and destroying the Amazon rain forest. Some of it was true, some of it was made up. McDonalds sued them - they don't like lies being told about the company. But despite heavy criticism about Fast Food Nation from McDonalds and other industries, Eric Schlosser claims that no one has yet been able to cite any errors within the text, and no one has managed to get the book taken off the shelves. This book is about proven facts, and that is why it is currently No.1 in the Non-Fiction charts in Britain's bookshops still (29/06/2002).


Interested ? Curious ?


Don't bother reading this book if you are expecting a gruesome tale about people spitting in burgers or mayonnaise turning out to be a pus filled abscess in someone's chicken burger. That's not what this book is about. Eric Schlosser starts off by documenting how fast food came about. What was it that caused the revolution? Why did it all change from one person making your entire meal (cooking the burger, toasting the bun, squirting the ketchup, adding the salad), to a conveyer belt system where one person just does the same task over and over again? Schlosser describes the origins of fast food, and how the necessity arose for quick, cheap food using cheap, unskilled labour.


Advertising is explored in some depth too. How could we have reached the stage where Ronald McDonald is the most recognised figure by children in the entire world, second only to Santa Claus? Schlosser's research shows us how advertising campaigns are aimed directly at children. If you can get children to nag their parents to take them to McDonalds, then you've automatically got a whole range of adults through the door as well. There are warnings to be heeded in this book, too. American schools have started relying heavily on sponsorship from food companies, especially those that manufacture soft drinks. Und
er-funding in education has resulted in some schools displaying massive advertising hoardings in schools, (in their canteens, on their roofs, on their sports fields) to gain money from sponsorship. As a result, a significant number of teenage boys are now drinking five or more cans of soft drink per day. Each can (non-diet variety) contains around ten teaspoons of sugar, and we wonder why children are becoming obese.


Another chapter tells us about the sort of people that are employed at fast food restaurants. Why are they almost always teenagers? You may not know about how they are treated, what training they do or don't get, and what happens if they try to join a union. With so many of our children being employed by these sort of outlets at some point in their life, even if only as a holiday job, there are things in this book that every parent will want to know.


McDonalds prides itself in making its food taste the same all over the world. If you eat a BigMac in the UK, it should taste the same as a BigMac in Russia. Ever wondered why the chips that you make at home, or that you buy elsewhere, never have that unique high intensity taste that McDonalds fries do? In the US, up until 1990, the potatoes were fried in 7% cottonseed oil and 90& beef tallow. The fries taste good because they taste of beef! This unfortunately gave their fries more saturated beef fat per ounce than one of their hamburgers. Amid criticism about the amount of cholesterol this was allowing people to consume, McDonalds made some changes. This is when they had to start adding beef flavouring to the fries. In some countries this was natural flavouring (i.e. the flavour actually originates from an animal), while in other countries, like India and the UK, the flavourings contain no animal product (because of the large Hindu communities). But in Canada, Japan, Mexico and Australia, the fries are STILL cooked in beef tallow, according to Schlosser's hi
ghly researched book. Do the vegetarians in these countries realise what they are eating when they order a portion of fries? Are you a vegetarian, or a Hindu who has unwittingly been subjected to eating fries cooked in beef tallow? You may want to read this book for more details.


A large portion of the book is dedicated to the meat industry. This was one of the most disturbing parts for me. The way traditional ranchers have been treated by the big boys in the meat industry is almost unbelievable. But it gets worse. The abuse of unskilled, often illegal, immigrants in abattoirs is scandalous. Schlosser uncovers hidden truths about their treatment, the high injury and even death rate of such workers, and the way that atrocities are covered up. The book was initially written for an American reader, and as such it is the US system that is under scrutiny. But it doesn't matter where these events are happening in the world, they simply shouldn't be allowed to continue. You need to read this book to believe it. Did you realise that a typical McDonald's burger contains meat from around 100 different animals?!




Schlosser's book is extremely well written. This is not scare mongering, nor is it an anti-McDonald's crusade. Other fast food companies are also discussed, although McDonalds, being the largest and most widespread, features much more significantly. Schlosser writes in a very matter-of-fact style. He doesn't pour out his thoughts and emotions to the reader, he simply tells it as it is. There are interviews with people who find themselves in some of the predicaments that he describes.


Following the 289 pages of main text there is a 64 page section entitled 'Notes'. Here, you will find a list, organised by page number, of claims and statements, followed by the source that the information was taken from. Eric Schlosser is careful to back up everything he says in the book
with hard evidence. If you find something hard to believe, you only have to flick to the back of the book, and he explains how he came to a certain conclusion, or how he calculated a figure that he quotes.


How has this book affected me? Well, I've always known that McDonalds, Burger King, et al., serve so-called 'junk food'. I've always known that it is bad for you (which is why I find it ironic that there's a Burger King inside the hospital that I currently work at!). But, at the same time, I've always realised that it tastes bloody nice! (some of you may not agree with that last statement!) However, after reading Schlosser's book, I will no longer be a part of the culture that propagates such destruction and misery. To quote the back cover of the book;

"Britain eats more fast food than any other country in Europe. It looks good, tastes good, and it's cheap. But the real cost never appears on the menu."


(The paperback version of this book sells for £6.99 in high street retailers, and is published by Penguin books.)

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