The second half of Fast Food Nation that I read consisted of chapters three, four, and five, from page fifty-nine to page one thirty one.
Main Topics:
Chapter three is entitled behind the counter, and was a very interesting read! The main topics that were discussed in this chapter had to do with where fast food is coming from and how employees are treated. Fast food restaurants are receiving the food that they assemble in precooked, frozen form that have been vacuum-sealed in plastic bags. An example from the book was that the guacomole that is soled in Taco Bell restaurants isn't made at Taco Bell, but in a factory in Michoacan Mexico, and then shipped all over the United States to Taco Bell restaurants. The main employees at fast food restaurants are people under the age of twenty, this age group has been chosen simply because they lack experience, meaning they don't know when they are being screwed over by a company, and they don't need to have a lot of skill to work in the fast food industry.
Chapter four entitled Success, was all about franchises and how being able to franchise many fast food restaurants has contributed to the success and widespread of fast food restaurants. Franchises are appealing to people who are looking to make money, and also the executives who own the entire company (ex. little ceasars). Throughout this chapter many individuals were brought up and their success stories were told, but at the end of the chapter Christopher Reeves spoke to a group of fast food workers and executives stating that while you may be on top now, everything can fall apart in an instant. All in all this was an interesting chapter.
Chapter five which started the beginning of part two of the book: Meat and Potatoes, was entitled Why the Fries Taste Good. Just by the name of this chapter I knew this was going to be good! The disturbing reason why the fries taste so good lies within the flavoring companies that are adding chemicals to our foods. The fast food industry is made up of processed foods and sees nothing wrong with this. Something interesting I read was that out of every $1.50 spent on a large order of fries at a fast food restaurant, only 2 cents of that is going to the farmer who grew the potatoes. Family potato farms are being over taken by HUGE corporate potato farms.
Terminology/Things Learned:
Out of everything that I read one term stuck out to me that I didn't know before reading this part of the book. It is called throughput, which is a factory's speed and volume of it's flow, a much more crucial measurement, than the number of workers it employs or the value of it's machinery (Fast Food Nation, 68). This term to me basically shows that at the end of the day a business is a business and they don't care what they have to do as long as they are making a profit.
Implications:
Everything that I learned from this part of the book is extremely important. Not only are these fast food restaurants harming our environment by shipping frozen food all over the United States and producing these foods in big factories, but these food are also extremely unhealthy for people, yet these businesses could care less. We need to start caring about what we are putting into our bodies and where this food is coming from. I am extremely excited to keep reading, because this book is really starting to get interesting!
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