Reading this book affected me as much as Glassner's The Culture of Fear did last year. I had already decided to stop eating fast food after seeing Supersize Me, but this decision was cemented after reading Schlosser's work. I felt as though I was reading it for a class, I highlighted like crazy and there are all kinds of comments written in the margins. It certainly made me feel very cynical about the influence that corporations have over politics and society in general, and has led to me taking other measures to reduce their influence over me personally. I recommend it for just about anyone. ( )

Page-turningly disgusting. I can't eat McDonalds anymore, though i'm curiously unphased on other fast foods. ( )

There's no doubt that this is a well-written and eye-opening book. For me, having already read Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food, I think I already had most of this information. Fast Food Nation just didn't have enough new material for me, so I skimmed it, but didn't actually read enough to count it as "read." ( )

Schlosser dives into the reality of our food supply. It isn't just about fast food, folks! Consider how many cattle really comprise your single hamburger, purchased and created from your local store's meat supply... Consider the men and women who's jobs and hands had a role in the raising, slaughter, and packaging of that hamburger... Consider the regulations in place to ensure the package claims of 'hormone-free' and 'all-natural' really mean what they mean - and what do they really mean?

Schlosser's point may as well be 'get to know your food- where it came from, who made it, and what's added to it.' While he didn't uncover anything new for me relating to the poor health fast food is causing our nation, he did highlight the painfully domineering and centralized agribusiness.

Ultimately, we need a food revolution! What's it going to take for food and the food business to climb out of it's tainted mess? The best answer right now is you through the food choices you make. Spread the word about this book to those who most need the revelation. ( )

This is another in an apparently long line of books that further my conviction to not mail a damn thing off on April 15th. This is not simply a vegetarianized, critical tirade about Mickey D’s, Papa Kroc (and John) and the fat and globalization shed unmercifully across the globe. Schlosser mines the depths of the fast food industry and its affects from Corporate all the way down to the soon-to-be-extinct, individual Idaho potato farmer, cattle rancher, and illegal immigrants getting slaughtered themselves by working in today’s unregulated slaughterhouses.

When it comes to food processing, the industry and their campaign contributions have ensured that OSHA, the FDA, the USDA, et. al. have all the impact of so many trophy wives sunbathing in a basement. Sherman Act? What f#%king Sherman Act? Nike and Kathie Lee what’s-her-name have to answer to their overseas sweatshops? That’s cute. Apparently stateside sweatshops where 1/3 of employees will face injury or death EVERY YEAR are A-Ok. As is the failure of government legislation to VOLUNTARILY add more lighting and sightlines to burger joints in hopes of not having all 4 or 5 McTeen cashiers killed in robberies every week. As is the taxpayer subsidization of at least 1 outta 7 new Subway Sandwich shops as we obviously need a few thousand more of those damn things. As was the diseased beef rejected from the main conveyor belts serving fast food clients to be specially packaged for USDA distribution to our public school cafeterias – numerous years after the first big E. coli 0157:H7 outbreaks. I suspect when this book came out Big Tobacco sported the same grin Barry Bonds must of had with the Mitchell Report release.

Normally I get fatigued when, as in the case of SUVs, Wal-Mart, and rap music, one particular segment of an industry is vilified in activist propaganda as the problem of an obviously broader situation. Aside from many other notable inclusions, McDonalds is positioned this way throughout the book’s narrative – and it really seems appropriate (if only because the “McThis" and "McThat” never really gets old. I suppose Wal-Mart also fits this category). Their “Speedie Service System” and startling global spread encompass the whole history of the mass mechanization of food and the innumerable issues – financial, medical, and ethical – that have ensued. Despite the necessary selectivity of the author, he seemingly covers it all. Additionally the peppering of individual’s stories – throughout the spectrum/process, from the exploited to the avaricious – truly infuses the human element into this dismal scenario. Assuming I’m not the last person to read this book, I highly recommend. ( )