Michelle Chen's Myth Analysis

The novel Fast Food Nation written by Eric Schlosser explains the monstrosity behind fast food and the secrets it holds. Schlossar talks about widely known fast food chains. He explains the secrets behind McDonald’s , Burger King, and other fast food restaurants you might eat on a regular basis. Fast Food Nation contains a detailed description of how these restaurants got started and what is inside those pre-heated hamburger, burrito, and french fries you are holding in your hand. Fast Food Nation is a well written (a bit boring) detailed book that may make you avoid fast food for a while.

In Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson’s Chew On This, the two authors discuss the upbringing and evolution of the phenomenon that is fast food, which much of American business thrives off of today. With nearly 31,000 McDonald’s spread across 120 countries, the habit of eating fast food has become a routine. Schlosser and Wilson examine everything from the birth of the industry, specifically circling around McDonald’s, to the aspects present today which have largely strayed from its original ideals. McDonald’s did not start off as a fast food joint, however. By 1940 the automobile was flourishing, and drive-in restaurants were created (beginning with Kirby’s Pig Stand); people would pull up next to these establishments and waitresses, or “carhops,”

Some people believe students should not work in fast-food chain because they can get distracted by working and the job may not provide them with skilled-based opportunities. In his essay, Amitai Etzioni, points out the bad influence fast-food chains, such as MacDonald’s, have on the students they employ. He thinks that working in fast-food chains can contribute to academic problems. The debate over whether or not students should work during school especially in fast food chain is currently a very controversial topic. I personally support Amitai Etzioni’s idea that working in fast food chains can negatively impact students’ academic careers.

“Fast food is popular because it’s convenient, it’s cheap, and it tastes good. But the real cost of eating fast food never appears on the menu.” When the idea of fast food was first created, it was met with mixed reactions. White Castle and A&W--the first two fast food restaurants ever created--worked very hard to create a service that could provide meals quickly to the people around them. Customers, at first, refused to eat hamburgers because of their tarnished image influenced by Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle.

Eric Schlosser is an author and an investigative journalist who “tries to explore subjects ignored by the mainstream media and give a voice to people at the margins of society (1).” Mr. Schlosser uses the knowledge he gained at both Princeton University and Oxford to write extraordinary books based off his hard work and investigating. In this book, Mr. Schlosser looks at the fast-food industry and the effects it has had on people 's lives. He begins with the history of McDonalds and then branches out to the history of the associated industries of fast food. Eric Schlosser points out important issues such as good nutrition, food safety, animal welfare, worker rights and sustainable agriculture.

The Strength of One’s Love for Their Family Legend, by Marie Lu is about two teenagers, June and Day. Both of their motives to fight harder, love longer, and remember more deeply, are driven from the paramount love they have for their families. June is determined to seek justice for her murdered brother, Metias, and Day is focused on giving his family a better life than his own. The major themes and personalities of the book are best portrayed in chapter 4 In this chapter, June’s relentless desire to get revenge for her brother’s murder is introduced through Metias’ death.

In Margaret Visser’s essay, “The Rituals of Fast Food”, she explains the reason why customers enjoy going to fast food restaurants and how it adapt to customer’s needs. Some examples of the most loyal fast-food customers are people seeking convenience, travelers, and people who are drug addicts. First, most loyal customers are people seeking convenience. The reason why fast food restaurants are convenient because longer hours of being open, the prices are good , etc. As Visser said in her essay, “Convenient, innocent simplicity is what the technology, the ruthless politics, and the elaborate organization serve to the customer” (131).

Fast food restaurants are also pulling people in to go eat there for example Wendy’s and McDonald’s offer salads with fruits and nuts in it but people think that the salad is fresh. So instead of going to the market to get the food people choose fast food. People have to work but instead of packing their lunch they find getting fast food is more convenient for them to buy food there. If people don’t like to cook they will choose to go to a fast food restaurant because in their minds there is no other alternative for fast

Schlosser argues America’s lives are solely based off of fast food. Throughout his writing he describes how common it is in our society in which fast food is ordered, sold, and consumed. Everywhere you go, every glimpse you take, every corner you pass, fast food is being sold everywhere. Schlosser describes throughout his text the commonality of fast food in restaurants, airports, schools, and large chained stores available nationwide, in which each compress the similarity of fast food. Not only does he include how common fast food is in an American’s life, but he describes how Americans will spend more of their money in their wallet on fast food than they would on other livelihood essentials.

The life pursued by the average young person in America is fast paced and scheduled to the point of breaking. As time has progressed this time stretched life style has impacted the need for food that isn’t cooked at home or even at restaurants that cook with traditional methods. This coupled with the swelling number of households with either a single parent or two working parents has increased the reliance on the fast food industry and in turn increased the overweight and obesity rates in the country. In his article “Don’t Blame the Eater,” David Zinczenko addresses this topic and places the blame not on those partaking in these delectable dinners, but in the hands of the fast food industry and their lack of understandable labeling. Zinczenko’s argument is valid and strong due to his equal use of ethos, logos and pathos.

While researching information on this project, the information I found included many things the fast food industry keeps from us that we often do even think about. For example, a food product can be labeled as “sugar free” but can be substituted with other things such as, agave which is often worse due to its high concentration in fructose syrup. Another example would be that, Gerber uses fruit pictures to claim its Gerber’s are made from real fruit when in reality they are filled with corn syrup, syrup and grape juice concentrate. These are known as “calorie distracters” and work really well on people who refuse to give up eating fast food. Whether they know that fast and processed foods are unhealthy or not, they are satisfied by knowing that a label says “sugar free” and therefore it is okay for them to consume it.

I. Introduction A. Hook/Attention getter: “Fast food” is named as fast food because of the whole process from ordering, preparing and serving the food just take several minutes. B. General statement: Fast food is becoming more and more popular among people around the world because of the changing of lifestyle from the past times to the present times. C. Thesis statement: Due to the convenient, affordable price and good taste of fast food, consumption of fast food is rising according to studies but it also brings negative effects on our health in the long run. II. Body A. Topic sentence: Fast food restaurant such as McDonalds (McD) or Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) are available almost anywhere in the world, and you can even get it with a simple phone call and get it delivered right in front of your door step or by ordering through their websites without leaving your work desk.

“Fast food restaurants have us hooked on to their tasty food. You See a lot of people buying fast food because how good it tastes. Well let me tell you it is not good for your health. Why do fast food places lower their prices because they know people will buy it if it doesn’t cost that much and most people buy it cause that`s how much they can afford”. Fast food places is a way to not cook every week I feel bad for people when I go to McDonald’s and ask them, do you know what you’re eating in they say

III.Conclusion A.Restatement of the thesis statement: Although fast food is convenient, affordable and have a good taste, we should avoid having fast food too often for our own health. B.Suggestion/recommendation: To totally avoid fast food is hard, but we should reduce our consumption of it, maybe twice a month. Other than fast food restaurant, maybe other restaurant should also start making delivery to cope with people’s lifestyle

However, fast food restaurants changed this paradigm by being able to order and receive an entire meal in under 60 seconds from a vehicle. This new paradigm brought jobs to millions of people, however, it came with side effects such as increasing health hazards for the American public. Fast food companies offer jobs to millions of citizens and with fast food restaurants becoming ubiquitous, these numbers will increase rapidly. According to Statista, the World 's leading statistic source, "In 2013, there were 3.65 million fast-food restaurant employees in the U.S.