Chew on This : Everything You Don't Want to Know about Fast Food

I recently picked up Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser to become better versed in the horrors of fast food, so that when I was preaching to my niece about the ill effects of this garbage, I would sound credible. To my amazement I came across an abridged version that was targeted at kids: Chew on This. After reading a couple chapters of Fast Food Nation I decided to put it on hold and dig into the tween version so that I could pass it along to my niece when I was done. I must say, increasing font size, adding some pictures, and putting the word poop in some subtitles, does not a children’s book make. While I found the book interesting and informative, I’m not sure how Schlosser’s direct and unimaginative reporting style would fair show more with young minds, especially those addicted and in denial.

There were some pretty affecting findings in the book, none the less, as Schlosser points out that the fast food industry is feeding and feeding off of children. Not only is the majority of the marketing targeted at the youth, but children’s foods are manufactured to taste sweeter and less bitter than adult foods, often altering a child’s future tolerance to normal flavoured foods, consequently keeping them hooked on the junk food. We are also taught about the chemical labs that have the omnipotent power of flavouring foods with additives, as well as making their odours more appetizing … since we probably wouldn’t want to eat them in their unaltered state.

He enlightens us on the horrifying process by which cattle and chicken are mass produced and inhumanely treated in feedlots, for their short lives, and how the millions of pounds of waste they create can affect neighbouring water bodies and soil. Of course the common family farm doesn’t usually factor into this equation because most of them have been put out of business by approximately four huge meat packing companies that are cornering the market. Now, they aren’t the only ones that have had to close up shop, as Mom ‘n Pop restaurants all across North America have been shut down by the low prices and ‘Speedee Service System’ (Originally created by the McDonald’s brothers) of the fast food chains.

As unfortunate as all of this is, the part that strikes a chord the most with me is the slave labour that fast food creates. With ‘McJobs’ now a part of the English language, basically meaning a low-paying job that will lead to nowhere, there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight. Our teenagers are working until the wee hours of the morning on a school night to dish out burgers, and overseas children and teenagers are working 16 hours a day, for sometimes as little as .20 cents an hour, to make the crappy toy in a happy meal. And for what … so that we can feed the corporate monster and make ourselves, and our children sick? For Shame.

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I recently picked up Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser to become better versed in the horrors of fast food, so that when I was preaching to my niece about the ill effects of this garbage, I would sound credible. To my amazement I came across an abridged version that was targeted at kids: Chew on This. After reading a couple chapters of Fast Food Nation I decided to put it on hold and dig into the tween version so that I could pass it along to my niece when I was done. I must say, increasing font size, adding some pictures, and putting the word poop in some subtitles, does not a children’s book make. While I found the book interesting and informative, I’m not sure how Schlosser’s direct and unimaginative reporting style would fair show more with young minds, especially those addicted and in denial.

There were some pretty affecting findings in the book, none the less, as Schlosser points out that the fast food industry is feeding and feeding off of children. Not only is the majority of the marketing targeted at the youth, but children’s foods are manufactured to taste sweeter and less bitter than adult foods, often altering a child’s future tolerance to normal flavoured foods, consequently keeping them hooked on the junk food. We are also taught about the chemical labs that have the omnipotent power of flavouring foods with additives, as well as making their odours more appetizing … since we probably wouldn’t want to eat them in their unaltered state.

He enlightens us on the horrifying process by which cattle and chicken are mass produced and inhumanely treated in feedlots, for their short lives, and how the millions of pounds of waste they create can affect neighbouring water bodies and soil. Of course the common family farm doesn’t usually factor into this equation because most of them have been put out of business by approximately four huge meat packing companies that are cornering the market. Now, they aren’t the only ones that have had to close up shop, as Mom ‘n Pop restaurants all across North America have been shut down by the low prices and ‘Speedee Service System’ (Originally created by the McDonald’s brothers) of the fast food chains.

As unfortunate as all of this is, the part that strikes a chord the most with me is the slave labour that fast food creates. With ‘McJobs’ now a part of the English language, basically meaning a low-paying job that will lead to nowhere, there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight. Our teenagers are working until the wee hours of the morning on a school night to dish out burgers, and overseas children and teenagers are working 16 hours a day, for sometimes as little as .20 cents an hour, to make the crappy toy in a happy meal. And for what … so that we can feed the corporate monster and make ourselves, and our children sick? For Shame.

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Have I heard this before? I wonder how much material was borrowed from Fast Food Nation? I liked that book a lot more - but that was a different time and perhaps, I saw the material for the first time there.

In any case, if you haven't read Fast Food Nation and eat fast food, you should take a gander at this book. Cheap fast food is not cheap nor really food - it is fast though. The cost will hit you in the waistline or the environment. And food only in the sense that you can eat it but it really more chemicals with flavors that mimic food.

Somewhere from these type of books, I learned that eating can be an experience - not just a mindless act of putting things in your stomach. Try to experience food. It'll do your body and soul good.

Chew on This is written by the author of Fast Food Nation – it’s like the young adult version of Fast Food Nation. According to Amazon, it’s geared to children twelve years old/seventh grade and up. One word of warning – the secret behind Santa is revealed in this book. Probably not a problem for the target audience of this book but it was a problem for my nine-year old. He reads above grade level so he didn’t have trouble reading or understanding this book but he still has a 3rd grader’s ideas about Santa so I was disappointed that this book gave away the secret.

Other than that, I loved this book. It really focuses on the fact that fast food is marketed primarily towards children, in ways that I hadn’t really thought of show more before. I knew my kids like McDonald’s because of the Happy Meal toys and the Play Places but I never realized how calculated all the marketing was to be geared toward children, who would then drag their parents and grandparents to the fast food restaurants with them. I’m so naive!

It also discussed the practices of factory farming of which most kids are probably not aware. I also appreciated the discussion of how they make fast food taste good – all the artificial ingredients and so forth.

I was hoping that this book would turn my son off of fast food but I didn’t get that lucky. However, I think the ideas in this book will continue to rattle around in his head and when he gets a little older his food choices will be affected by what he learned in this book. I was certainly turned off of fast food after reading this book! I highly recommend this book. It would be a great book for a family book club that could be the jumping off point for a family discussion about the family’s food choices – I enjoyed discussing this book with my son quite a bit. show less

I picked this one up because it's being read by the seventh graders at my sons' school. It's not bad, in that it may open kids eyes to some of the harms of processed foods and the fast food industry. It leaned a little too anti-corporate for my taste. I'm not sure what the age recommendation is on this, but if I were a parent giving it to a younger child to read, I would want to know that it does have some references to Santa as a fictional character. Maybe most kids (but probably not all) old enough to read this would not be affected by that.

I enjoyed the thorough research and gory details Mr. Scholsser put in this book. Everything from the history of the fast food industry to the tricks they use to deceive customers about food is detailed in Chew On This . However, I felt that the writing was a little too juvenile.

It'll be a long time before I visit a fast food restaurant or eat meat again after reading this book. The book, from the author of Fast Food Nation, is an exploration of the founding and development of fast food restaurants. The ways that these companies market, advertise, and prepare the food that is served is explored. The health impact on Americans and those world wide from the changing diet and consuming fast food is included as well.
The narrative is engaging, but seemed jarring at times when the second person was used.