Prices Not Listed on the Menu

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In Eric Schlosser's first book, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal (2001), through hard facts, witty insight, and meticulous research, he produces a book-length view of how quickly and methodically the fast food business has taken over our country. Schlosser tracks the fast food industry from America's first infatuation with fast food to its origins in 1950's California and its global triumph. Additionally Schlosser discusses the full transformation of our landscape, work force, economy, pop culture, and our diets. This infiltration of the booming fast food industry has invaded every aspect of our culture.

Our diets are forever changed because of the fast food industry. People's lives have become busier and busier, leaving little time to sit for a meal. The fast food business has taken advantage of this fact, creating an easy solution for many Americans: cheap food, numerous locations, and quick service. When people started having to work longer hours and women started working also, so that the family could have enough money to live the lifestyle they've become accustomed to, fast food restaurants became a necessity. These restaurants provide busy people with a quick and

Companies, whether or not they are involved in the fast food business, have been faced with a decision to revamp their operations in order to thrive, or go out of business because they can no longer keep up with industries whom have."...the tremendous success of the fast food industry has encouraged other industries to adopt similar business methods."(5) Schlosser also confronts the growing power of such businesses as Disney. Schlosser discusses Ray Kroc and Walt Disney's friendship in the World War I ambulance corps, and refers to the great alikeness in their business methods. The author also shows the reader how high school dropouts and uneducated men have driven these flourishing businesses. He makes the reader question just how naive America is to allow what goes on behind the counter, and how the nation has let this industry change our way of life.

Our entire culture is centered on this constantly growing business. Schlosser's points out just how dependent we are upon its economical stability. The fast food industry has a huge demand for beef, chicken, and potatoes and in turn changed the American agriculture process. Schlosser uses fast food metaphorically in his work, by examining how the need for uniformity in our culture has affected our entire economy. Schlosser states that, "Fast food is now so commonplace that it has acquired an air of inevitability, as though it were somehow unavoidable, a fact of modern life." (7) By becoming such a large part of our economic structure, the fast food industry has been deemed "untouchable" from the government. Its source of stability to our economy forces the government to be more lenient in its policies.

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Approximate Word count = 1149
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: People