While McDonalds' ethos and mission statement centers on family, community, service, cleanliness, quality, integrity and value, this book reveals that there's a much darker side to many of these big corporate food chains. He came up with the McDonalds family restaurant's mission statement and ethos, and he's also responsible for trademarking those famous golden arches. Ray Kroc was the driving force behind franchising the McDonalds system. He's often seen as the villain in the story of McDonalds. They developed a formula for fast and efficient consistency. By creating an assembly line of food production, the McDonalds method cut huge costs and maintained exacting standards. They changed the food preparation method, and they standardized the food, which meant that having professional cooks became redundant. The brothers developed the 'Speedee Service System,' which aimed to streamline the production process and get food expedited as quickly as possible. Fast and convenient became the two most important keywords.Įnter the McDonalds brothers, who revolutionized how restaurants prepared and served food to customers. The stage was set for a new way of thinking about food. With this new lifestyle came automobiles, and with the automobile came roadside drive-in restaurants. The war was over, and suburbia was a safe-haven, and a place to enjoy the new burgeoning consumer lifestyle. The story of fast food begins in the 1950s. So if you're brave enough, let's briefly look a lot closer at those friendly colorful buildings, serving us up those familiar favorites. While we're also told what goes into producing a typical fast food burger, it's the ethical ramifications that also leave a lingering bad taste. Not only has food production impacted climbing obesity rates and health problems, but it's also had devastating economic and social effects. In this fascinating exposé on the fast food industry, we're taken through the history of how we got to where we are today in terms of food production, and how the contemporary food chain has changed. Even if you've never eaten fast food, you've been impacted by it, and world-renowned and award-winning investigative journalist Eric Schlosser is here to tell us why. Being informed about this industry is essential, because it's not just about the food they sell us there are more sinister aspects to the business model.įast Food Nation uncovers the unsavory aspects of the food industry and globalization.

It's okay to succumb to guilty pleasures once in a while we're human, and as the saying goes, 'to err is human.' However, according to our author, being oblivious to the global behemoth that is the fast food industry is no longer an option. Have you ever heard of cognitive dissonance? Well, when it comes to food, many of us are guilty of knowing that what we're eating isn't good for us, but continuing anyway.

Eric schlosser fast food