Book Review: "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser

I think that most people can agree that summer homework isn't exactly fun. After all, summer should be for long dog walks, drinking in the sunlight, spending time watching movies, and playing games! And yet our teachers insist upon thrusting extra work upon our shoulders. It wasn't until this year that I decided that maybe the homework isn't meant to torture us, but instead to prepare us for the next year's work. Mind you, I'm not completely convinced. But I'm getting there, all thanks to the novel Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser.

This summer, I had quite a bit of homework for AP Human Geography - and surprisingly, I found it to be extraordinarily interesting! My instructions stated that I needed to read Fast Food Nation, answer about thirty open-response questions, watch the Robert Kenner documentary "Food Inc.," and respond to approximately eight questions. When I read this, I may or may not have groaned. Talk about a lot of questions!

But to my delight, both of my assignments focused on a topic I am fascinated by: the fast food industry. So I decided to take the homework in stride; perhaps I would learn something new, and could share it with you all! And, I do like to read. As it turns out, Fast Food Nation wasn't torture in the slightest.

On the contrary, I found the novel to be wonderfully eye-opening and powerful. Not only does it discuss the health dangers of fast food, including information on E. coli 0157:H7, but also provides insight into the source of your typical Double Cheeseburger. The next time you walk purposefully through your local supermarket, take note of all of the different brands available to purchase. There appears to be quite the variety, yes? Nope. According to Schlosser, agriculture has primarily been taken over by a few huge, multinational corporations, which I found to be fascinating. Further, while I knew that industrial agriculture isn't exactly known for treating its workers and the animals it slaughters well, I was shocked to discover the horrors that both people and creatures face each day. Workers are injured all the time, as the most important tool in modern slaughterhouses is a knife. And the animals, who are raised on massive feedlots, fed a diet of corn, and are designed to grow faster, fatter, and cheaper, are no better off. Low income communities are preyed upon by the meatpacking industry, as they tend to accept low wages and are less interested in joining unions; Fast Food Nation makes the reader wonder whether the people or the meat companies are more protected.

A truly staggering and slightly alarming read, Eric Schlosser's novel will certainly make an impact on you. Both an expository piece and a call to action, I found Fast Food Nation to be wonderfully inspiring; it truly made me curious as to the history behind the ingredients in my refrigerator. I do disagree on the novel's stance on saturated fat, but it was written in 2001, and this is solely a matter of my personal beliefs. On the whole, it was splendid.



Summer homework or not, this book is definitely worth your while. And if you, my friend, have some extra work to do over these bright, sunny days, I wish you luck. Have a snack. Do some jumping jacks. Get going!

- Maya

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Photo by Dan Gold on Unsplash