Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

Last Updated on December 7, 2016

Fast food Nation is a contemporary book written by an American investigate journalist, Eric Schlosser. The book brings forth the dark side of the contemporary fast food industry. The need for high production and fast preparation at low cost has made the fast food industry flourishing.

About the author :

Eric Schlosser is an American journalist and author born in Manhattan, New York. He is known for his works such as Fast Food Nation (2001), Reefer Madness (2003), and Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety (2013).

About the book :

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal is best-seller book, about the United States fast food industry. In this book, Schlosser aims at bringing awareness about the things going behind the screens in the fast food industry to the consumers. He also includes few of his personal experiences with fast food restaurants.

Schlosser discusses about the influence of food habits in todays’ lifestyle to be the reason for majority of nutrition issues, health problems and obesity. Apart from these health consequences, the fast food industry today is hiding the method of preparation of these foods. The current scenario is that consumers are totally unaware of the food they are eating and how it has been brought to the table.

Undoubtedly, the American fast food industry is gaining popularity globally with its expanding food chains all over the world. The fast food industry is targeting its mass production and accumulation of funds, leaving behind the needs of fair working conditions and individual appreciation. Schlosser questions the mechanizations of these fast food industry behemoths and their quality of food production.

The objective of the author is to make the consumers aware about the negative influence of this fast food industry in their modern lifestyle. He adds to the fact that the consequences of consuming these foods impact both the health and the society. Through his personal visitations to various fast food company production houses, he tries to expose the unobvious things happening behind the manufacturing and production unit. Even though the fast foods are satisfying to the taste-buds, they are truly detrimental to health because of the added chemicals, preservatives and sugars.

Schlosser also hints the lack of federal oversight on these issues. Some of the social factors mentioned by the author are unsanitary slaughterhouses, hazardous working conditions, unfair workers treatment and exploitation. His investigation provides an insight about the manufacturing sector of these fast food industries, particularly how the products are made, what gets into it and who is responsible for the degradation of quality.