Lowry 1

Katie Lowry

Professor Jen Day

Nutr 1020

14 April 2021

“Fast Food Nation”

“Fast Food Nation” by Eric Schlosser describes the unseen sides of one of America’s

biggest industries. Fast food restaurants began sometime around the 1950s and were very

different from what we know them as now. They were brightly colored car stops were

waitresses, often underpaid, would deliver professionally cooked burgers, fries, and hot dogs

on roller skates to waiting customers. That is until the Mcdonald’s brothers joined the business.

Their goal was to make food fast. They began their business serving food on nice plates with

cutlery, until they found this to be slowing down their progress, and found that people were

stealing these items at an alarming rate. They then scrapped this idea, completely revising their

menu, taking out anything that needed to be eaten with cutlery. Instead, they served their food

on paper plates, in paper raps, and having all drinks in paper cups. They also began the use of

the assembly line in the kitchen, this allowed for more “unskilled” workers to be hired. Anyone

could learn how to do one thing in the kitchen, like flip patties or pour drinks. This made it so

they were no longer paying large amounts to skilled cooks, and it was taking a lot less time with

all those hands in the kitchen. They also began to market items to kids, something that had

never been done before. This was called “The act of persuasion” but was really used to make

kids whine enough to parents until parents finally gave in. Many fast food places (Wendys,

Burger King, Taco Bell) adopted these techniques to help them to serve as much food as the
 Lowry 2

Mcdonald’s company was. Now it is commonplace to see these techniques used. Eric Schlosser

also went into the marketing techniques used by these fast food joints, how they would

advertise in schools, sometimes even trying to convince high school kids to skip class to come

and work for them.

I chose to read “Fast Food Nation” because I have always been very interested in the

societal impacts that these seemingly run-of-the-mill companies have. If you think about it, in

our world today you can’t go a mile without running into a fast food place. Oftentimes if you

are looking for somewhere to eat, you are faced with too many options more times than not

any at all. This all seems completely normal to us, but really it isn’t.

Eric Schlosser is an American Journalist, born in New York City in the 1960s. Schlosser

attended Princeton, where he studied history and literary journalism. After Princeton, he spent

three years studying imperial history at Oxford. Along with “Fast Food Nation” he has written

many award-winning books, such as “Reefer Madness” and “America.” He describes his work

as, “an alternative history of the United States.” Schlosser did seem to put much time and

research into this book, spending over a year researching and writing it, though he does not

appear to have any nutrition background or nutrition education.

“Fast Food Nation” came out on January 17, 2001. While this is a while ago, the things

that Eric Schlosser and those he interviewed, predicted would happen, have seemed to come to

pass. Especially with the continuously rising numbers in fast food consumption and growth. If

anything, I believe his work is more applicable today than it was before. It is very alarming to

see what he has warned us about in our everyday life right now.
 Lowry 3

“Studies have found that preparing your own food is usually healthier and less

expensive than buying fast food. But most people just don't have the time.”(Eric Schlosser) We

studied in class and in our textbooks how cooking your own meals are healthier and less

expensive, and applying it to our daily lives. Schlosser echoed this sentiment many times

throughout the book. Many times we will instinctively buy fast food when we are tired and

hungry, or maybe just craving something deep-fried and reason with ourselves, ‘it’s just a

couple of bucks, what’s the harm?’ When really those bucks quickly add up. “It's possible to go

to the market, buy good ingredients, and make yourself a healthy meal for less than it costs to

buy a value meal at McDonald's.”(Eric Schlosser)

Eric Schlosser also talked in-depth about how these days kids are drinking double the

amounts of soda, than water or milk. He also says that when filling up and drinking lots of soda,

these kids are filling themselves up with empty carbs. They are jamming themselves full of

sugar and carbs that will not lend them any energy or nutritious value.

Another thing that Schlosser seemed to echo from the textbook is that Fast food is all

artificial flavorings and science experiments. Foods in fast food restaurants are never fresh and

all food is made in a factory. What may have started as beef quickly transforms into something

frozen, long-lasting, and artificially delicious.

After completing this assignment I have realized the true societal effects that

hamburgers and fries can have on a country and on millions of people’s lives. I also learned

about the effect that empty calories and sugary foods can have on the body. This will not keep

me away from fast food but I will think it through before I instinctively turn into a drive-through
 Lowry 4

instead of going home and making something for me to eat. It is kind of weird to think that

something as inconsequential as hamburgers can change the entire world as we know it.

Work cited

BookBrowse. “Eric Schlosser Author Biography.” BookBrowse.com,

www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm/author_number/595/eric-schlosser.

“Eric Schlosser.” Author Bio, web.sbu.edu/friedsam/fastfood/author_bio.htm.

“The New New Journalism: By Robert S. Boynton.” The New New Journalism | By Robert
S. Boynton, www.newnewjournalism.com/bio.php?last_name=schlosser.

Schlosser, Eric, and Brzustowski Geneviève. Fast Food Nation. Autrement, 2003.
Lowry 5