Prices Not Listed on the Menu
In Eric Schlosser's first book, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal (2001), through hard facts, witty insight, and meticulous research, he produces a book-length view of how quickly and methodically the fast food business has taken over our country. Schlosser tracks the fast food industry from America's first infatuation with fast food to its origins in 1950's California and its global triumph. Additionally Schlosser discusses the full transformation of our landscape, work force, economy, pop culture, and our diets. This infiltration of the booming fast food industry has invaded every aspect of our culture. Our diets are forever changed because of the fast food industry. People's lives have become busier and busier, leaving little time to sit for a meal. The fast food business has taken advantage of this fact, creating an easy solution for many Americans: cheap food, numerous locations, and quick service. When people started having to work longer hours and women started working also, so that the family could have enough money to live the lifestyle they've become accustomed to, fast food restaurants became a necessity. These restaurants provide busy people with a quick and
" (66) Many of our once rolling hills and beautiful pastures have turned into super-highways with restaurants serving a quick bite and strip malls all along the roadsides, due to this method of expansion. One particular fast food chain Schlosser continues to use as an example in this book is the American favorite, McDonalds. These interesting and vivid descriptions help the reader realize how fast food chains, such as McDonald's, have applied industrial practices of mass-production, specialization, assembly line principles, and mass-marketing to continue to succeed and spread their legacy. Possibly the scariest part of the fast food industry is the effects it has had on the American work force, especially the things that go on behind the smiling faces at the counter. Our entire culture is centered on this constantly growing business. " (7) By becoming such a large part of our economic structure, the fast food industry has been deemed "untouchable" from the government. But, fast food establishments have been serving up a lot more than burgers and fries; the lasting effects on diets have increased obesity and malnutrition among Americans. Schlosser also notes that fast food is ingrained in our society to such a degree that working for a franchise has become a teenage rite of passage, "No other industry in the United States has a work force so dominated by adolescents. He did persuade me to look deeper and behind the counter of restaurants I see everyday. Schlosser speaks of horrible injuries and working conditions, and most notably violations of labor laws. Schlosser begins his deconstruction of the fast food industry with the analysis and history of McDonalds as an American economic power symbol. Restaurant signs have become taller and taller as they compete or the attention of drivers on highways. Schlosser made very good points along the way, and completely discussed the true impact of this business on our culture, from it's sprawling locations, work force and economic impact to its major effect on our eating habits. " Schlosser also parallels this to the way other businesses and industries have been forced to change their own methods.
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Acceptance Essays
