Reddit reviews Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal

Since it hasn't been mentioned yet, the book Fast Food Nation addresses this topic with some good examples of why the common fast-food business model sucks (e.g., Taco Bell, McDonalds) but other fast-food business models have done well (e.g., In-and-Out). One of the core tenants of the successful model is paying workers a living wage and making their work experience a positive, viable career.

it's cause they eat grass and graze and have not conducted genetic selection based primarily on marbling. that's what this book taught me anyways. i think it was in fastfood nation too actually.

https://www.amazon.ca/Steak-Search-Worlds-Tastiest-Piece/dp/0143119389

https://www.amazon.ca/Fast-Food-Nation-Dark-All-American/dp/0547750331

Thanks!

• Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. Cronon, William.
  
  
• Selling 'Em by the Sack: White Castle and the Creation of American Food. Hogan, David Gerard.
  
  
• Revolution at the Table: The Transformation of the American Diet. Levenstein, Harvey.
  
  
• The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Pollan, Michael.
  
  
• Manifestos on the Future of Food and Seed. Shiva, Vandana et al.
  
  
• The Jungle. Sinclair, Upton.
  
  
• Banana Cultures: Agriculture, Consumption, and Environmental Change in Honduras & the United States. Soluri, John.
  
  
• The Fruits of Natural Advantage: Making the Industrial Countryside in California. Stoll, Steven.
  
  
• Corn and Capitalism: How a Botanical Bastard Grew to Global Dominance. Warman, Arturo.
  
  Very cool to see the actual course listing information. I'd forgotten what it was like to flip through an actual paper course catalog with that kind of stuff in it. Thank god for the internet.
  
  Also, you helped me figure out what book I was trying to remember in this comment! It was The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan. IIRC, it was an awesome concept and 75% of it was an absolutely fantastic read, but one of the sections (maybe the third one?) was bit uninspired. Still overall worth the read, for sure, just be prepared to slog through one section. (And don't skip it, because what it discusses is still relevant to the final section, even if it's not as entertaining as the rest of the book.) It's worth it in particular for anybody living in an industrialized "modern" nation; it provides some of the come-to-Jesus moments that we all need to hear periodically. It's not on the level of Fast Food Nation in that regard (which is required reading for every American and Canadian, as far as I'm concerned), but still.
  
  EDIT: And that helped me remember another book I've heard recommended, also by Michael Pollan: In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto.
  
  You're on a roll, friend.

I could spend hours listing all the fun ways that the agricultural industry abuses its workers. While it's a very depressing story, I'm not sure it's much different than what has generally happened to the American economy - basically, big corporations have worked to systematically suppress unions and deregulate labor standards. Here are some of the fun things that regularly happen right here in the United States:

1. Beef production hasn't changed much over the last few decades. Unlike the poultry industry, it's notoriously difficult to standardize cattle size and shape, which means that most of the work can't be reliably done by machines. So, essentially, most slaughterhouses operate by having people stand right next to each other on an assembly line with giant knives, hacking away at quickly moving hunks of cow. Naturally, the work is quite dangerous, and the faster the plant moves, the more likely workers will get injured from knives or pulled muscles. Unfortunately, the industry has been increasing the speed of the production line for decades in order to maximize profits. When a worker does get injured, an entire system is in place to discourage the person from heading to the doctor - very often, they are given clearance by a nurse and thrown right back into the assembly line until they are too injured to work, after which they are quietly (or not so quietly) pushed out. The fatality rate in meat packing plants is one of the highest in any industry.
   
   
2. Even worse are the cleanup crews that must completely sanitize an entire building of dangerous equipment before work resumes the next day. These people walk around slaughterhouses with high-powered hoses filled with steaming hot dangerous chemicals, which creates a fog so dense that it's difficult to see. In order for the machines to get properly clean, they often must be turned on, meaning that you have people running around spinning blades practically blind. I don't have to really spell out what sometimes happens.
   
   
3. The poultry industry is largely controlled these days by a handful of huge companies. For ranchers to sell chicken in the market, they therefore have to agree to their rules. Nowadays, that usually requires buying special eggs at an exorbitant price directly from the company, raising them, and selling them for a meager profit. My mom remembers when she was younger that farmers were often the best dressed people in school. Today, because of the way big companies have rigged the system, farmers are often struggling in poverty.
   
   This is just a sample. The agriculture industry is on my "shit list" of horrible institutions, right up there with the big banks and the oil companies. Unfortunately, much less people care about the conditions of these workers, largely because they are "poor" and not "middle class" folk. We are all affected by the big banks offering cheap housing loans to basically gamble on the securities market. But who gives a shit if an illegal immigrant loses an arm in a slaughterhouse? Or some poor guy is essentially disabled for the rest of his life because a factory didn't want to report his injury to the government authorities? Or some rural chicken farmer can barely scrape by because Tyson will only buy chickens from their own specially produced eggs rather than the ones that naturally come out of a chicken's ass? The whole agriculture industry is shit. I haven't even gotten into how Monsanto uses genetically engineered crops to basically control the industry. It's not that mass-produced food is bad; it's that our country is currently run by out of control greedy assholes. And it needs to stop.
   
   You can read about all this stuff in Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, although it's mostly common knowledge among people with an understanding of the industry.
   
   EDIT: I just want to add that this is why I get infuriated by discussions of the "healthiness" of mass-produced food. Personally, I'm highly skeptical that the trace residue of pesticides on your tomatoes is going to eventually cause cancer, or that there is any harm to eating a little cellulose gum in your foods, or that sucralose is going to cause you to grow tumors on your testicles, or any of the other silly things people believe about food products. And I think all this discussion misses the point. Why are you so worried that you might maybe have a 5% increased chance of getting cancer at 64, when people are living shitty lives right now directly in front of your noses? It just feels selfish to mention the health risks of mass-produced foods when the bigger problem is how the industry is crapping down the throats of workers.
   
   TL;DR The agriculture industry sucks because it treats its workers like shit, not because it puts cellulose gum in your granola bars.

I know my comments are going to get buried under all the other ones. I think that's a good sign because you have obviously tapped into a very real and significant issue.

I was a picky eater, by most standards I still am. I didn't try a green pepper until I was 26 because my mom worked a full time job and I was alone at home with nothing but a microwave. When I met my gf/wife I lived on Domino's (they had a special named after me :( ) and bagged salad.

15 years later I now eat a lot more variety and make sure to include veggies with every dinner/breakfast for a more balanced diet. I can eat most anything raw but cooked veggies send me heading for the hills (there is a video of my trying cooked broccoli trying not to wretch).

Here's my point...I came around because as I read and learned more I knew I was basically poisoning myself with crap processed food that was high in fat and salt (BLISS POINTS!) I eat a lot better now and if my wife who is a SAHM puts food in front of me I damn well eat it. ;)

In reference to kids try this. Go out and catch a possum then strap it into a high chair and try to feed it mushed peas for a while. Kids are already hard enough to feed without a united front (not to mention the concerns with in utero...crap in crap out). My kids will eat anything because we don't make faces or act up in front of them if we don't like it. Hell my wife is Vegan but still makes meat for all of us and she doesn't say jack shit about it.

My point is I think your concern is valid. I think if she at least showed signs of being open to change you'd probably feel differently. I too had a great metabolism at 25...not so much now at 40. Plus again all that processed food is basically a death sentence.

These books are good reading IMHO:
http://www.amazon.com/Salt-Sugar-Fat-Giants-Hooked/dp/0812982193/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421072518&sr=8-1&keywords=sugar+salt+fat

http://www.amazon.com/Omnivores-Dilemma-Natural-History-Meals/dp/0143038583/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421072547&sr=8-1&keywords=omnivores+dilemma

http://www.amazon.com/Fast-Food-Nation-Dark-All-American/dp/0547750331/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421072565&sr=8-1&keywords=fast+food+nation

Not that I know of, although you can look at the labels and find out, but if you want to avoid perfume you have to avoid everything in the frozen section of the supermarket other than plain frozen vegetables. Also, tons of baked goods, chips, lots of things in bottles and cans.

Look on the labels of your food. The phrases "Natural flavors," "Artificial flavors," or "Natural and Artificial flavors" all mean perfume.

If you want to avoid it, you pretty much have to buy unprocessed food.

If you want more information, the book "Fast Food Nation" goes into tons of detail.

Here's all my favorites! For books:

Fast Food Nation.

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto.

Food Rules: An Eater's Manifesto.

Salt Sugar Fat.

"Pandora's Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal".

For movies/documentaries:

Fed Up,

Fast Food Nation,

That Sugar Film,

Food Fight,

Forks Over Knives,

The Future of Food,

Sugar-Coated.

I believe all of these are on Netflix!

Perhaps you should read [The Jungle by Upton Sinclair] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Jungle-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486419231) or the more contemporary [Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser] (http://www.amazon.com/Fast-Food-Nation-Dark-All-American/dp/0547750331) for some insight in to the labor force that keeps this food system working. Unfortunately, I think most of us would ignore animal welfare and safety if it was what we had to do to feed and cloth our own families.

You need to consider the context of the posts before trying to connect anything.

The question about water intoxication was a discussion relating to overdosing on the very common drug caffeine. Please re-read the thread taking into account the context.

The thread on McDonald's food isn't about overdosing. It's about thinking a junk food is a real (i.e. nutritious) food. It's great youve managed to have a sixpack when living on junk food, but is that really the best way to develop and maintain muscle definition?

I understand you like eating what you do. Many people do enjoy junk food. All I'm saying is we should stop pretending mcdonald's products replace healthy eating. I strongly recommend Supersize Me, a documentary about a guy who did nothing but eat fast food every meal for a month. Additional follow-up documentaries & books relavent to the topic include Food Inc or the book Fast Food Nation. I'll be you a dollar you won't be defending a junk food diet after you've read/watched these titles.

Fast Food Nation - I quit eating fast food for about 2 years after that read. After a while though I fell out of my ivory, non-greasy tower and now I eat fast food in moderation, maybe once a month.