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1-Page Summary of Fast Food Nation

Overall Summary

Eric Schlosser’s book Fast Food Nation is an attempt to describe how American eating habits have changed since World War Two. He tracks the transformation by following many different people: fast food workers, executives at fast food companies, ranchers and potato farmers in Colorado and its environs, large-scale farming operations, meatpacking plants that create new flavors for processed foods.

Eric Schlosser begins his article by describing the emergence of fast food companies like McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s after World War Two. Many of these chains benefited from the growth of suburbs in California as soldiers returned home from war and settled with their families in car-based communities along highways between major cities. In addition to this, mechanization made it easier for companies to replace workers at a fast pace without having to worry about union benefits.

Schlosser then notes that many American teenagers worked part-time jobs at fast food restaurants during high school or college in order to earn money for necessities such as clothes and tuition fees. He also mentions that some people felt guilty working at places like McDonalds because they knew that they were serving unhealthy foods which could potentially cause health problems later on in life. However, he says that most people continued working there even though they believed it was wrong because the wages were good (about $5 an hour) compared to other minimum wage jobs available at the time (such as flipping burgers).

In Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser discusses the fast food industry. He writes about how the fast food companies make most of their money from “franchises” or landlords who rent out the brand to franchisees. The author also interviews people such as small time ranchers and executives at big corporations in order to study what’s happening with farming today. Finally, he talks about meat production and processing throughout America by describing workers’ lives and current practices that have become increasingly mechanized.

Yes, food safety is a big issue for consumers. Large-scale meat and poultry plants often allow fecal matter to contaminate the food supply. This has led to outbreaks of Salmonella, E. coli, and other viral and bacterial contagions throughout the food supply. However, too much deregulation has allowed government agencies like OSHA and the USDA from adequately keeping track of these dangers in meat-packing plants or restaurants that serve this kind of food.

Schlosser ends the book with two important messages. The first is that fast food is not just an American phenomenon, but one that’s popular around the world. The second is a call to action for consumers and businesses to make changes in their eating habits and production processes. He believes these changes can be made by selectively boycotting certain fast-food practices, learning more about how your food is caught, cooked or distributed, and ultimately improving those patterns for everyone involved—consumers as well as workers across the US and globe.

Introduction

Eric Schlosser begins his book by focusing on one region of the United States in particular: Colorado’s “Front Range.” He believes that this suburbanized part of the Mountain West is an emblem of late 20th-century economic growth, and its problems.

Schlosser says that the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station is a technologically advanced military installation, hidden in the mountains. It’s known only to select government employees with high-level security clearances. However, it relies on fast food just like any other workplace.