Schlosser: Fast Food Nation
The fast food industry has been infused into the every nook and corner of American Society over the last three decades. The industry seen to have originated with a few modest hot dog and hamburger of Southern California have been perceived to have extended to every nook and corner of the nation, marketing an extensive range of food products to which affordable customers are found widely. Fast food is presently provided at restaurants and drive-through, at stadiums, airports, zoos, high schools, elementary schools and universities, on cruise ships, trains, and airplanes, at K-Marts, Wal-Marts, gas stations, and also at hospital cafeterias. As per an estimate the total expenditure of Americans on fast food during 1970 was about $6 billion. (Introduction: Fast Food Nation - The Dark Side of the All-American Meal)
The expenditure had a massive increase to about $110 billion in 2000. Americans presently perceive to have spent more money on Fast food in comparison to the total expenditure on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos and recorded music. The allurement of fast food begins with the pulling open of the glass door, feeling the flash of cool air, walking in, get online, preview the background color pamphlets above the counter, placing order, paying a few dollars, watching the teenagers in uniforms pushing various buttons and instantly taking a plastic tray containing food wrapped in colored paper and card board. The whole practice of purchasing fast food has become so common and mundane that it is presently similar to brushing the teeth and stopping at red light. It has become a social custom to an American similar to the small, rectangular, hand-held, frozen and reheated apple pie. (Introduction: Fast Food Nation - The Dark Side of the All-American Meal)
Eric Schlosser, a renowned journalist brought out his book Fast Food Nation: the Dark Side of the All-American Meal that has become popular instantaneously taking into consideration of the fact that a common American usually consumes at least three Hamburgers and four orders of French Fries every week. Schlosser intended to bring out the adverse impact of the fast food industry through his writings. (Rosenberg, Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser) The myth-shattering book reveals about the story of America and the obsession of the World with Fast food, ever since it's origin during 1950s in Southern California to the global achievement of a handful of burger and fried chicken chains. In a meticulously investigated and strengthened argument-based narration Eric Schlosser accesses the labs where scientists were engaged in recreation of the smell and taste of everything-from cooked meat to fresh strawberries; the interviews with workers at abattoirs reveal some of the worst safety conditions; narrates accurately where the meat arrives from and just why the fries taste good; and visualizes the way the fast food industry is progressing not only to our diet but also to our landscape, economy, workforce and culture. (You are what you eat. But do you really know what you're eating?)
Schlosser in his book reveals the values of incorporated in the fast food and the world it has created. The book reveals the fast food to be the revolutionary force in American life. The fast food is analyzed by Schlosser both as commodity and as a metaphor. The diet of the people that they consume depends upon the interaction of socio, economic and technological forces. The early Roman Republic could attain their food from its citizen-farmers; the Roman Empire, by deploying the slaves. The diet of the nation is found to be more enlightening in comparison to their art and literature. About 25% of the adult American population attends a fast food restaurant every day. Within a short span of time the fast food industry has revolutionized not only the American dieting pattern but also the landscape, economy, workforce and popular culture. (Introduction: Fast Food Nation - The Dark Side of the All-American Meal)
The fast food and its adverse effects have been taken to be inevitable, irrespective of the fact that it is taken twice a day, or being attempted to avoid it or have never taken a single bite. The impact of the inordinate growth of the fast food industry has entailed radical changes in the American Society. With the effects of inflationary trend the hourly wage of the average U.S. worker has enhanced in 1973 and then persistently decreased during the subsequent two and half years. During that time women began to join the workforce to a great extent, and sometimes influenced less by a feminist perspective than by a necessity to pay the bills. It is seen...
Therefore from the results of this study alone it would be quite easy to conclude that access to fast food is responsible for increased obesity. Other evidence may however dispute this conclusion though. A very recent study by Morland & Evenson found examined the relationship between the presence of different types of food establishments and a number of different diet-related health outcomes, including obesity, in the southern region of the
"While a handful of workers manage to rise up the corporate ladder, the vast majority lack full-time employment, receive no benefits, learn few skills" (Schlosser 6). The companies actually receive tax credits for hiring low-income workers although "in 1996 an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor concluded that 92% of these workers would have been hired by the companies anyway" (Schlosser 72). "While the real value of the wages
However, as bad as the conditions may be working inside the restaurants, conditions in the meat-processing plants that provide the animal products used by the industry are far worse. Workers safety laws are ignored, and disease is prevalent. Schlosser reports a heart-rending tale of a young boy who died from E.coli bacteria after eating a tainted Jack-in-the-Box burger. It is difficult to track the source of an infection because
Fast Food Nation -- Chapter 2 America without McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and other fast food restaurants is difficult to imagine these days, but before Ray Kroc bought the franchise rights to McDonald's in the mid-twentieth century, fast food was not an entrenched part of our culture. In Fast Food Nation,' Eric Schlosser spends the second chapter of his book describing how Ray Kroc paralleled the work of Walt Disney and
This is the construction Schlosser follows in this chapter. Schlosser's style and progression in this chapter both builds and strengthens his argument in several ways. The picture plays on typical views of families while also detailing a specific instance of the problems that occur in the slaughterhouse and meat packing world. The passage that follows does the same thing, at first noting that nothing seems especially amiss, but then notes
Fast Food Nation" Chapter 3 "Behind the Counter" Process essay: The process of coaching children in youth sports In his chapter, "Behind the Counter," of his expose Fast Food Nation, the author Eric Schlosser highlights the darker side of working at a fast food restaurant. The labor is frequently young, often exploited, and regarded as a disposable commodity by the managers. In fact, it works to the company's advantage if there
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