There is an unspoken menace, an accepted evil in our society. Its presence is duly noted, yet ignored. Their bright neon signs advertise their quick easy meals, but behind the facade of happiness lies a bed of deceit and lies. Their corporate grip can be felt in every part of your lives, on every street, and sidewalk. Fast food, it is a cute killer wrapped up in bright cellophane and cardboard, but one that cannot be ignored any longer. Today, more than 160,000 fast-food restaurants feed more than 50 million Americans each day, generating sales of more than $110 billion dollars annually. This disease of the body is not stagnant either, McDonald’s alone opens new restaurants at the rate of 2,000 per year and employs more people than any other …show more content…
(Pirello, P6) We should take clear and decisive action against the almost overwhelming grip of fast food, whether it be right in our home or out in courthouses and federal legislation unless it is too much of an economic burden. Fast food is like a cheap sweet poison, just like a cigarette is modified to get you hooked and addicted after just a few hits. The thought of buying fast food has now become perfunctory to us, we walk into a brightly lit one story restaurant that has neon lighting around the side, walk up to the counter and order God knows what with, mystery ingredients inside of it. Our order will be taken by a someone who is barely old enough to drive a car an probably hasn't even graduated from high school yet. However we will eat our greasy food, however bland it may be or how cold it is, we will allow these places to batter our taste buds with their salty, fat packed food. They will have us though, In fact in 2000 alone Americans spent more than …show more content…
Not literally, however, but each year less and less individually owned restaurants survive in this world. It's been the fear of many economists that these large conglomerates will absorb a section of the industry until the monopolize their specific part of the pie. Just like Standard Oil back in the 1800s the lack of competition could result in companies forcing consumers into eating low quality over priced food. The lack of competition in a free market will give too much power to the company over the consumer, this would put the company’s interests for profit over their concern with the consumers happiness. This fear is nothing to scoff at, already the meat industry is broken up into 5 large companies. Fast food is threatening to develop into the same box, the same few fast food chains (McDonald’s, Burger King, Arby’s, and Jack in the Box) will move into small town America and drive out old mom and pop eateries and diners, ones that our parents would hold dear as old childhood memories. This process keeps repeating over and over again, the already attractive chains offer cheap food in large quantity, that other places can’t keep up with. Fast food is killing our food culture very quickly, and replacing it with the same neon signs and tasteless food, but no one can compete with the simple yet highly refined practices of the mega million
Common sense seems to dictate that fast food is bad for you, however, many Americans consume fast food on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis. In “Don’t Blame the Eater,” David Zinczenko argues that fast-food companies and the food industry are to blame for America’s obesity epidemic, essentially that it is not the individuals fault for becoming obese, and that in essence, fast-food companies ought to take responsibility for the health issues induced by consuming the food. He explains how bombarded you are with unhealthy, greasy, and fattening food everywhere you look; whereas it is much more difficult to access healthy alternatives. He describes the vicious cycle of purchasing cheap ailing meals, rather
Fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American society. Everywhere you turn you can see a fast food restaurant. An industry that modestly began with very few hot dog and hamburger vendors now has become a multi-international industry selling its products to paying customers. Fast food can be found anywhere imaginable. Fast food is now served at restaurants and drive-through, at stadiums, airports, schools all over the nation. Surprisingly fast food can even be found at hospital cafeterias. In the past, people in the United States used to eat healthier and prepared food with their families. Today, many young people prefer to eat fast food such as high fat hamburgers, French-fries, fried chicken, or pizza in fast
Section 1: Typically, we need a well-balanced meal to give us the energy to do day-to-day tasks and sometimes we aren’t able to get home cooked meals that are healthy and nutritious on a daily basis, due to the reasons of perhaps low income or your mom not being able to have the time to cook. People rely on fast food, because it’s quicker and always very convenient for full-time workers or anyone in general who just want a quick meal. Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation argues that Americans should change their nutritional behaviors. In his book, Schlosser inspects the social and economic penalties of the processes of one specific section of the American food system: the fast food industry. Schlosser details the stages of the fast food production process, like the farms, the slaughterhouse and processing plant, and the fast food franchise itself. Schlosser uses his skill as a journalist to bring together appropriate historical developments and trends, illustrative statistics, and telling stories about the lives of industry participants. Schlosser is troubled by our nation’s fast-food habit and the reasons Schlosser sees fast food as a national plague have more to do with the pure presence of the stuff — the way it has penetrated almost every feature of our culture, altering “not only the American food, but also our landscape, economy, staff, and popular culture. This book is about fast food, the values it represents, and the world it has made," writes Eric Schlosser in the introduction of his book. His argument against fast food is based on the evidence that "the real price never appears on the menu." The "real price," according to Schlosser, varieties from destroying small business, scattering pathogenic germs, abusing wor...
Over the last 50 years, the fast food industry did not only sold hamburgers and french fries. It has been a key factor for vast social changes throughout America. It has been responsible for breaking traditional American values and reinstating new social standards that specifically aims to benefit the industry’s growth. These social standards have inevitably changed the way the American youth respond to education and self-responsibility. Eric Schlosser, an author of Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, excellently uses logic to present the tactics used by the fast food industry to cheapen and promote labor along with the social changes that occurred in the American youth as a result. Schlosser aims to dismantle and dissect
What is happening to our economy is that so many people are going to these fast food restaurants because they are basically on just about every corner. So, for adults that makes it easy if they didn’t have anything planned for dinner because they can just pick something up from the local fast food restaurant on their way home from work. Also, it is very cheap. For example, a bundle at McDonald’s can feed up to four people at one time and it only costs about fifteen dollars! So, in the long run, it is just easier to go pick up some fast food rather than wasting your time cooking an actual meal. Lastly, even though fast food is very cheap and on every corner, it is not healthy at all. Studies have proven that a person that ate McDonald’s for his meals for a full month ended up having some serious health changes. In conclusion, even though it is very easy to access and very cheap, fast food has some serious health issues and be very harmful.
‘Fast Food Nation’ by Eric Schlosser traces the history of fast food industry from old hot dog stands to the billion dollar franchise companies established as America spread its influence of quick, easy and greasy cuisine around the globe. It is a brilliant piece of investigative journalism that looks deep into the industries that have profited from the American agriculture business, while engaging in labor practices that are often shameful.
Like the vast majority of Americans, I’ve eaten at a fast food restaurant before. Maybe the tables were sticky, or chicken was suspiciously white, but the fries tasted great, so I’d overlook the less enjoyable aspects of my experience. After reading Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, I understand that isn’t an option anymore. In ways both big and small, the fast food industry exerts a ridiculous amount of power over the American consumer, and it’s imperative that this be understood, should any impactful changes be made. As it stands now, the fast food industry is in dire need of reform, as it poses innumerable health and societal risks to the country and the world.
In the book Fast Food Nation: The Darks Side of the All-American Meal, Eric Schlosser claims that fast food impacts more than our eating habits, it impacts “…our economy, our culture, and our values”(3) . At the heart of Schlosser’s argument is that the entrepreneurial spirit —defined by hard work, innovation, and taking extraordinary risks— has nothing to do with the rise of the fast food empire and all its subsidiaries. In reality, the success of a fast food restaurant is contingent upon obtaining taxpayer money, avoiding government restraints, and indoctrinating its target audience from as young as possible. The resulting affordable, good-tasting, nostalgic, and addictive foods make it difficult to be reasonable about food choices, specifically in a fast food industry chiefly built by greedy executives.
The New York Times bestseller Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal is one of the most riveting books to come out about fast food restaurants to date (Schlosser, 2004). Fast food consumption has become a way of life for many in the United States as well as many other countries in the world. The author Eric Schlosser an investigative reporter whose impeccable researching and bold interviewing captures the true essence of the immense impact that fast food restaurants are having in America (2004). Beginning with McDonald’s, the first fast food restaurant, which opened on April 15, 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois to current trends of making fast food a global realization McDonald’s has paved the way for many fast food restaurants following the same basic ideal that is tasty foods served fast at a minimal cost (2011). Schlosser explains how fast food restaurants have gained substantial market share of the consumers; he also shows that by marketing to children and offering less unhealthful fare, that are purchased from mega-companies which are often camouflaged with added ingredients and cooked unhealthful ways, that these companies are indeed causing irreparable harm to our country (2004).
Millions of American people buy fast food every day without thinking about where, how and why. The ramifications of fast food is impacting the American people both around the waist line and the community where they live at. “As the old saying goes: you are what you eat.” (Schlosser) The customer have made the choices to eat fast food or not. The industry doesn’t care about the customers; studies have shown that the fast food industry is the reason for the rise of American obesity. “Live fast and die young” (Moore); this could not be more true when looking at the impact of the fast food industry.
Fast food has changed the face of the world. Major chains like McDonalds span all over the world. Fast food chains are continuing to grow despite numerous facts of their unhealthiness. Fast food has been proven to be a dangerous food source, yet people continue to purchase it. The more people buy fast food the more it allows the big corporations to grow. People continue to eat fast food because there are no other convenient options.
Fast food is widely considered a hallmark of American culture, but has spread worldwide. In a society where everyone is always on the go, the fast food industry has persuaded people to give up quality in favor of artificially-enhanced taste and drive thru convenience. Experts often blame fast food for obesity and related health problems. By using advancing kitchen technology to move towards efficient large-scale production rather than increased quality, the fast food industry has created lower quality food, forced lower standards of taste, and has caused adverse health effects in it’s consumers.
Over the last three decades, fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American society and has become nothing less than a revolutionary force in American life. Fast food has gained a great popularity among different age groups in different parts of the globe, becoming a favorite delicacy of both adults and children.
Fast food contains high amounts of salt, sugar, fat, and preservatives. Americans in today’s society want food and they want it now. Manufacturers have figured this out and fill the food with many artificial and unhealthy chemicals. If a person saw what the food looked like in the pre processed state, one would most likely not buy it or eat it.
Which all provide either ready to eat food, or it will be ready really quick, hence the name “fast food”. The process they use to make the food is very efficient, so efficient it makes you question if the food is really food. All the food is processed, all made in a factory somewhere, using god knows what kind of ingredients, then frozen and shipped to all the restaurants over America. People say that Americans are becoming addicted to it, or are addicted with the efficiency of it. Being able to stop quick, get fast food and go on about their day with minimal time loss. Why not right? Why wouldn't you save your time, by simply grabbing some fast food? Being that it’s so efficient, there’s no way that it’s going to have the same health value as a home cooked meal. Most of these meals are high in fat, calories, and sodium; this is because they are prepared in factories with little regard for dietary