In the introduction to Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser states something very significant and memorable: “We are what we eat.” The drastic change in America’s eating habits has caused this American culture to grow into something never before imagined, for better and for worse. Our culture is eating so much worse than in the past, and it's affecting the world around us as well. “In 1970, Americans spent about $6 billion on fast food [over the course of the year]; in 2000, they spent more than $110 billion” (Schlosser 3). What Schlosser is saying is that America’s addiction towards fast food is increasingly worse. More and more Americans are going to fast food and spending money so they don’t have to make dinner or other reasons of laziness. This says that Americans are accepting fast food as a main dish in the culture and eating it in place of regular meals in some cases. Eric Schlosser also states that America has become a “Fast Food Nation” (7), implying that society as a culture is dependent on the food that is provided to us through drive-through …show more content…
One of these points is hinted at in the ninth chapter of the book. Consumers were getting sick from the meat in hamburgers, which were a perfect transfer ground for the deadly virus E. coli (196). Because of this, meatpacking industries are now checking to see if the meat has E. coli. Schlosser confirms this when he states that the “meatpacking industry is now willing to perform . . . rigorous testing [to check for E. coli] for fast food chains. . .” (221). This process has led to a better food preparation process for the places we eat every day. Even though Schlosser most likely didn’t intend for the reader to think of this as a positive fact, it adds to the arsenal of facts that help describe how America has turned into a fast food nation and how this fact of life is giving us benefits or
Throughout part I of Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser writes about the ins and outs of the fast food industry. From the founding fathers to the dirty little secrets that fast food corporations would never want us to know, he reveals it all. As corporations look for every opportunity to cut costs and increase profits, we start to reexamine what type of behavior governs businesses in America. As the days of traditional ‘sit down restaurants’ dominating the market quickly disappeared, large corporations are making use of new machinery and money saving business strategies. The drawback to these business tactics is that the burden lies on another individual.
Throughout history, investigative journalists have and continue to expose injustices and corruption in America and across the world. In the book Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser retells the history of the fast food industry and exposes its unsanitary environment, unhealthy product composition, and dangerous practices. One could compare this book’s subject to that of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, which exposed the terrible conditions of the meatpacking industry, something Schlosser also discusses within the book. While the conditions of the fast food industry as a whole may be shocking at first, the reader could either drastically change their lifestyle based on the facts presented, or just push them to the back of their mind.
Workers get extremely sick in the long term from harsh working conditions and get other career ending injuries from cutting the meat. However, the biggest part of this section is about how the meat produced by slaughterhouses has become exponentially more hazardous since the centralization of the industry-- the way cattle are raised, slaughtered, and processed provides an ideal setting for E coli to spread. Schlosser uses a writing style similar to Upton Sinclair in the Jungle. Schlosser tells stories of how children have died from the poor meat handling.
In the book Fast Food Nation, the author, Eric Schlosser provides facts and evidence that fast food isn’t healthy and how they process the food is very bad. At first he starts off by showing every human eats fast food, even at the undercover Military Base in Colorado that is in a mountain. He says that, “almost every night, a Domino’s deliveryman winds up the lonely Cheyenne Mountain Road”, when they have nothing else to eat, says Mr. Schlosser(2). Once you start getting into the book you notice how he is comparing fast food to the Military Base. He goes off starting in the beginning how the first fast food restaurants started and how it led the people to end up making a fast food restaurant.
In the segment called Unintended Consequences, Patricia Buck and her daughter Barbara Kowalcyk, who are food safety advocates, visit Washington, D.C. to speak with Diana DeGette, a representative from Colorado, in order to spread concern for E.Coli and get support for Kevin’s Law, a bill that has been in circulation to pass through Congress in remembrance of her son’s death. This example shows that the documentary aims to connect with the consumers to show the risks they should fear as they are at the will of the companies. Kowalcyk’s account also supports the main argument that the documentary is trying to convey, which is that factories are more unsanitary than before. To support their case, the documentary visits Beef Products Inc.(BPI) in Nebraska and speaks with Eldon Roth, the founder of BPI, to uncover the conditions of some of his different beef factories. According to Roth, his factories are ones that are ahead of normal standards from a food safety standpoint.
Most of the devices used are intended to highlight the negativity and brutality imposed on both the consumers and workers involved in fast food industries. Schlosser begins the book by building up his credibility through his knowledge of several fast food chain’s humble beginnings in pursuit of the American dream. Schlosser then eases his way into the conniving manner in which fast food industries have infiltrated almost every American household and deceive their consumers. The use of rhetorical devices such as ethos, pathos, logos, repetition and parallel structures in Eric Schlosser’s book Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal fulfill his intentions of relaying the demonizing message that fast food chains are unhealthy, stimulate unfit working conditions, and monopolize on the vulnerability of America’s young people and fast-paced
He also mentions the high rates of teenagers working for Fast Food restaurants with little wages and that it distracts them from their education. Schlosser starts a new part of the book where he talks about the food. He starts with the French fries and how it is made by flavor industries and that it puts a lot of potato farmers out of work because of the small number of buyers exerting power over a large number of sellers, a market he describes as “oligopsony”. Schlosser then talks about the IBP revolution, how it changed the meatpacking industry and applying the same labor principle as McDonalds; requiring unskilled workers for low wages. the author then calls meatpacking “the most dangerous job” explaining health issues, injuries and sexual harassment for women.
Most people in this world have, at least one point in their lives, dreamt of having a perfect family, a nice house, a good healthcare plan, an affordable car and the list can go on forever. Imagine a situation where all these desires and hopes of have an enjoyable lifestyle are suddenly taken away from you. Think about a circumstance where you return home to your wife and children and realize that you don’t have enough money to even provide them with basic necessities. According to Eric Schlosser’s, Fast Food Nation, the majority of fast- food industry workers lead poor lifestyles and are financially unstable because they do not receive adequate compensation for their work and do not have a chance to improve the situation due to the power
book Fast Food Nation wrote by Eric Schlosser, he revealed how the fast food industry has effected the market in America. J.R. Simplot was born in 1909 and grew up working on his family’s farm in Idaho. At the age of 15, he dropped out of the school and began working in potato house. Soon he become the largest shipper of potatoes in the West. During World War II, he sold dried potatoes and onions to the American military and made a fortune.
Schlosser does not want to be another individual saying fast food is horrible only because of how unhealthy it is for the human body, his main message goes beyond that. Schlosser is an author who wants to give his readers the argument of how the fast food industry affected the landscape of America, created the gap between rich and poor wider, fueled obesity amongst many and even altered food production across America and the world. As well as getting the point across of how fast food is now what makes up America and is almost now part of the defination of America.
ConGra took over the meat industry before the supreme court put forth antitrust laws on meat packing. Meat packers are upset for multiple reasons. One example, due to ConGra what use to be a middle class paying job is now low paying, unskilled employment. Meat packing has become dangerous, women are sexually harassed, in order to clean the work place they must use chlorine at high temperatures causing sickness, and high rates of injury in the slaughterhouse has made workers comp harder to receive. This minor conflict depicts the gruel part of food industries which is the whole point of the book, to show the reader that fast food is not all happy meals and
Many advertisements target a specific group of consumers whether it be classified through gender, age group, or those that share similar interests. Companies try to create advertisements that leave a lasting impression of a certain product so that it can resonate in a consumer’s mind. Often, companies shape an advertisement based on the type of customers they want to attract. For example, McDonald 's, a fast food chain is likely to target children than adults. By attracting children, there is a likely chance that the children will will insist their parents or grandparents to bring them to the restaurant, which ultimately for the restaurant is about making thrice the profit.
In the introduction, it’s obvious on how Eric Schlosser (the author) feels about the growth of fast food. He opposes it, or more realistically, opposes the negative effects that the fast food industry has. In this passage, Schlosser goes into detail on how much of an influence fast food in the United States has. He explains that the process of raising, slaughtering, and processing cattle into ground beef has changed negatively mainly due to fast food. Meatpacking, which was once highly paid and a highly skilled operation transformed into a highly unsanitary and very dangerous occupation performed by immigrants.
On January 17, 2001 Eric Schlosser, a contributing editor at the Atlantic Monthly and author of Reefer Madness, depicts “The Dark side of the All-American Meal” in his novel Fast Food Nation, one of TIME’s 100 best nonfiction books. In the novel, Schlosser employs many different rhetorical strategies throughout the chapters to inform and convince his audience of the scandalous nature of the fast food industry. Schlosser describes the unseen truths of industry in order to dissuade not only the American public, but all supporters of fast food. He writes to all members of society who eat fast food, so that he can alert them of what is happening beneath the surface of one of America’s most profitable and private industry’s. Chapter five is divided
Title: FAST FOOD POPULARITY A. Introduction: Nowadays, most people -especially kids and youngsters- prefer to eat fast food, such as McDonald, pizza, fried food, and etc. Why it has become so popular? It is tastes better than homemade food? B. General Statement: Fast food industry has grown dramatically and become so popular. According to the research, people spend more money on fast food than the education.