Fast food nation Essay Example for Free

Fast food nation Essay Let’s be real, the idea of choosing fast food is an attractive option. The ease of driving to a pick-up window to grab a delicious meal for a few dollars in under a couple of minutes is so hard to resist. I mean, who wants to drive to the grocery store to buy ingredients that cost more than an item on the value menu? Who wants to prepare and spend time cooking when you could just wait a few minutes to have someone make you food? Worst of all, who wants to clean up after the mess you made so you can repeat the cycle over again? I could see why many Americans choose such an appealing option. On the other hand, it appears that there are numerous consequences that people are too blind to notice. The entire experience about eating food among friends and families had been replaced by a rushed bite. It is to the point where people view fast food as an essential part of their habitual life. This leads to many problems like health and economic issues. America may have evolved into a fast food nation, or really a fat food nation. To this day, it seems that fast food is the â€Å"go-to† option because of its convenience, tastiness, and practicality. Unfortunately, the entire experience of eating food has transformed into a â€Å"routine†¦that is now taken for granted† (Schlosser 3). I agree with Schlosser because many people disregard the traditions that food brings to the table. Friends and families come together to eat food and enjoy each other’s company. Yet people overlook it and choose to finish their food within minutes with no words exchanged to continue what they were doing before. I think that one of the main reasons is how fast paced our country has become, and how our eating habits have sped up. Families have changed the way they eat as the years have progressed. Before, it was considered that â€Å"housewives would have a home-cooked meal ready for their husband and kids† (guest speaker, 11/20) when they arrived home. They would eat together and have conversations about anything on their minds. Those times have gradually dissolved when the workforce required wives to take on occupations. As of now, everyone is recommended to secure a job, thus are too busy to cook all the time for their families. The last thing a working mother wants to do when she comes home from an exhausting day of work is to prepare a troublesome meal for the family that is scarfed in seconds. So how do they find a way to overcome their problems? They decide to drive to a bulding that serves a warm, tasty meal to bring back to their families just to satisfy their hunger to move on with their lives. A different scenario is where students are always rushed with jam-packed schedules filled with academics, sports, and extra-curricular interests. Many students do not have the spare time to cook meals in between their busy lives. On top of that, students’ energy levels tend to be depleted at the end of the day. Cooking takes too much time and energy, or even thinking of what to make. This leads to the next convenient option: drive-thru restaurants. Nowadays, the essentialism of fast food has taken over in numerous American lives. Those with active agendas may view such fast food as â€Å"something as having universal validity rather than as being a social, ideological, or intellectual construct† (Rossiter 11/13) for practical reasons. Today’s hurried pace does not allow people the opportunity to eat leisurely with the company of others. Rather, the replacement of traditional food to fast food is the result of an intense schedule of work and school. When fast food first appeared on the planet, there was a huge economic boom after World War II. Since fast food made a successful mark in history, â€Å"fast food was added to the Merriam- Webster dictionary in 1951. † (Sena). As time progressed, there is no doubt that fast food is loved by not only Americans, but everyone globally. Modern society is always on the go, so grabbing a quick bite is always on demand. With that in mind, the rising of prices, due to economic recession, have changed the perception of many fast food owners. So how do they approach this obstacle? It seems as though fast food franchises have focused on â€Å"high volume, low cost and high speed product† (Sena). In this day and age, many people â€Å"work for wages and use wages to pay for food† (Rossiter 9/4). Due to recession, there are many working class citizens who do spend their money on fast food because that is all they could afford. It is unfortunate because people are being diagnosed with many health problems since they lack the money to buy healthier products. Speaking of which, I think it is quite ironic that a cheeseburger costs just as much as broccoli. Is it not ridiculous that healthy foods cost a lot more than value meals at restaurants? I never grasped that idea and I think that healthy foods should be cheaper than unhealthy junk food. If major fast food corporations drop the prices of healthier foods such as chicken wraps and grilled chicken salads with less fattening dressing and increase prices for the burgers and fries, health problems would be less of a concern. People would be able to eat a standard meal for an affordable price. Furthermore, if people ate healthier food, they would have more energy to be more productive in their jobs. Maybe if fast food restaurants changed their items to healthier alternatives, such issues could be less of a concern. It is hard for me to say if the book effectively conveyed the messages that Eric Schlosser wanted to share because there could have been more evidence throughout the rest of the book. Fast Food Nation was great to read about the history of how the founders lived and how fast food shaped America. Since I grew up in Los Angeles, near Anaheim, it shocked me how that Carl Karcher described the city that had â€Å"palm trees and orange groves, and smelled the citrus in the air† (Schlosser 13). If I had to describe Anaheim, I would think about the convention center, the Angel’s Stadium and of course, Disneyland; yes, this theme park is the â€Å"happiest place on Earth†, but not really like â€Å"heaven† (Schlosser 13). I found it quite interesting how fast food became a huge success after the invention of cars came up. It never crossed my mind that the creation of drive-in restaurants became such a great hit and helped the economy out incredibly. I also found this book interesting because of automobiles, this led to â€Å"the world’s first motel and the first drive-in bank. † (Schlosser 17). Due to that, food stands introduced â€Å"curb service† which seemed like drive-ins became acceptable year-long. I had no idea that the McDonald brothers were the ones to start the Speedee Service System, thus starting the fast food nation. Nor did I know that they â€Å"employed only young men† (Schlosser 20) and that attracted families rather than hiring women which attracted teenage boys. What interested me the most was that young employed men attracted families rather than teenage girls. If employed women attracted boys, it would only make sense that employed men attracted females. However, within the required pages of the book, I would say that the Schlosser could have done a better job to convey his messages. In the introduction, he stated his thoughts about how fast food affected America and how he would approach his thoughts. However, the first chapter went off topic and gave the audience a better understanding of the founding fathers of the biggest fast food joints in the world. I think that he should have referred to the impacts that fast food had on people. There was not much information about how fat food influenced the traditions of food or what happens behind the cash register. He did say a little bit about the economic trends and how the Speedee Service System allowed more families from the working- class background could afford their products. I was hoping Schlosser would talk more about traditions and experiences about food and how it evolved today. I believe that he could have stated more evidence on how fast food impacted the lives of America in the present and cut out a lot of history. Sure, the information from the past helped me understand what was going on, but rather talking about the lives of the founders, more information about what was really inside the food behind the counters could have helped Schlosser’s message. When I heard about this book, I assumed he would talk about how each item on the fast food menus were really created. I was looking forward to read about new ingredients that were injected and what livestock was raised and used to make the burgers. Also, Schlosser could have mentioned his opinions on solutions to these problems. By stating a few possible answers, he could have touched some reader’s hearts enough to make changes in their lives. It could have even helped society think twice about stuffing a Big Mac or Double-Double in their mouths. On top of that, I anticipated something similar to the documentary â€Å"Super Size Me† in the sense that Schlosser would have conducted an experiment to shock his readers. Something like Morgan Spurlock’s social experiment would have opened my eyes even more about fast food and â€Å"the issue of rising of†¦corporate social responsibility. † (Riley). By throwing in some appalling facts, it would have been more effective to the readers. Perhaps Schlosser could have one person eat any kind of fast food for a month and see if any drastic changes occurred. At the end of the day, I think it is up to the consumers to choose if they want to eat French fries or not. They are the ones to decide if they should consume a Wendy’s triple stacker burger and know the consequences. America has more options than fast food, there are easy recipes to cook, make food in advance if a schedule is too busy, or buy in bulk to save money. Eric Schlosser may have enlightened his audience throughout the rest of the book, but he can only do so much to influence his readers. Works Cited Riley, Jim. CSR at the Movies Supersize Me in 7 Minutes. Tutor2u. Tutor2u Limited, 20 Feb. 2011. http://www. tutor2u. net/blog/index. php/business-studies/comments/csr-at-the-movies-supersize-me-in-7-minutes Rossiter, Jaime. Food Nationalism/Ethnicity. Essentialism. San Diego State University, San Diego. 1 Dec. 2013. Lecture. Rossiter, Jaime. Global Food Regime. Geography of Food. San Diego State University, San Diego. 25 Nov. 2013. Lecture. Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Sena, Matt. Fast Food Industry Analysis 2013 – Cost Trends. Fast Food Industry Analysis 2013. FranchiseHelp Holdings LLC, n. d. Web. 28 Nov. 2013. http://www. franchisehelp. com/industry- reports/fast-food-industry-report.