Fast Food Nation

3.5 stars out of 5

Toward the end of my vacation, I really wanted to find another book to read. After wandering for 45 minutes in Jackson, WY, we finally found a bookstore. I saw this book and I thought, why not? It's pretty famous - let's see what he has to say.

To be honest, I am a huge fan of the fast food industry. Because my lovely wife makes good nutritious meals for us frequently, we rarely utilize their services, but when on the road or in need of a quick meal, I have often counted on the Golden Arches to come through. So I started reading this book with a mindset in favor of fast food.

Granted, this book is not all about McDonald's. It covers fast food pizza, KFC, Taco Bell, etc. But McDonald's does get a lot of attention.

He starts the book with a history of how fast food began - apparently in Southern California in the 1950s. The whole book is very well researched and I enjoyed reading many of the historical parts of the book.

I had expected this to be primarily a rant of how bad fast food is for us. But his primary argument was actually how bad they are for the economy. For example, he really hated that most fast food workers were paid minimum wage and had a very high turnover rate. In fact, there is some evidence the fast food industry uses government credits for "training workers" to subsidize their hiring (and then firing) of workers. Yes, these are terrible jobs, mostly filled by teenagers, recent immigrants or people with no other skills. I am just happy there are jobs at all for this group of people. With a higher minimum wage now (this book was written a few years ago) I am not sure how the fast food industry will adjust.

Anyway, he also hated how the fast food chains strived for conformity and so all the restaurants were basically the same the world over. However, I find this very helpful when traveling - it is very comforting for me to find familiar establishments whereever I go.

He did have some valid points which I thought were good cases against the fast food industry:

1. People eat too much fast food. This contributes to obesity, which increases the overall healthcare bill for the country. People should wisen up and stop eating so much cheap food (even though it is so delicious!).

2. The fast food industry abuses various government programs. This is inevitable with government programs. For example, franchisees can use the Small Business Development loans from the government to take out loans to pay large fees to McDonald's, Subway, wherever, to start a franchise. Over 10% of these loans fail. Taxpayers are funding fast food franchisees.

3. Fast food uses a lot of chemicals to enhance flavor in their products. In fact, the whole flavor industry was a bit of a revelation to me - big companies in NJ produce nothing but "artificial flavor" and "natural flavor".

4. The fast food industry, as monopsony buyers of beef, could exercise closer control of conditions at meat packing plants. The author, like Upton Sinclair, was very down on conditions at meat packing plants. Sure, the government could also clamp down, but McDonald's is probably in a better position to do so as one of the economic lifelines of the meat industry.

5. Schools should not allow the fast food industry and soft drink industry to advertise and sell products within their school districts. Many districts, strapped for cash, are signing multi-million dollar deals with the industry and helping them sell their products. This is counter productive.

Overall, I appreciated the author's attempt, but I am still a fan of fast food. Obviously it should be eaten in moderation and natural, healthier food is much better for you. And recently the fast food industry has responded to consumer tastes by offering healthier food to eat, though I'm sorry to report that McDonald's delivery in the Philippines does not include salads.