HW #7

Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation. 


Introduction


Fast food has major impact with America and through the world it expanded and it actually became very popular. In my book I will explain how McDonalds and other major food industries are starting the rule the world in a way. In a way it shows that McDonalds represents America. 


"Hundreds of millions of people buy fast food every day without giving it much thought, unaware of the subtle and not so subtle ramifications of their purchases." 


This book doesn't seem so interesting it seems like it will eventually get boring but it might actually change my thoughts about fast food 


Chapter 1


McDonalds was the first major industry and all other fast food companies starting building their companies around how McDonalds built their company. 


I couldn't find the quote but it was about how people from America went to another country and actually tried to modify the McDonalds so it was more like the ones in the United States.


The book is actually starting to get a lot more interesting and is actually starting to make me want to read the book 


Chapter 2


McDonalds are tyring to reach out to the kids and they are trying to put things into their head so they can buy more food. They are basically brain washing the kid like how mostly every other company does but it makes me think if McDonalds were the first company to start. 


I'm really starting to enjoy the book and is starting to become a really good interesting book to me and i actually like it.


Chapter 3


McDonalds are using different areas of the country to make do experiments and tests to see what will make their McDonalds better they went to Colorado Springs and renovated McDonalds and starting making different things such as restaurant technology and testing out different software. They tested robotic machines that serve soda and foods. 


"At a 1999 conference on foodservice equipment, top American executives from Burger King, McDonalds and Tricon Global restaurants, Inc. appeared together on a panel to discuss labor shortages, employee training, computerization, and the latest kitchen technology"


I found the chapter very interesting when they talked about Colorado Springs and how they had robotic food servers and robotic drink dispensers. The chapter got very boring after that part of the chapter I lost some interest in the book. 


Chapter 4

There are advantages to becoming a business owner or owning a fast food restaurant or chain even though they brainwash the people and take plenty of the money. In businesses you can get federal loans because at first you can be in debt without even selling or opening the store. 


What i found that was very interesting to me was how the former hockey player started his business up and it seemed so easy buying the business and things similar to that but when you read on the chapter its really hard to actually start a business. 


Andy and Jay said something very interesting in class on how McDonalds and other companies use brain washing and use their employees to get more companies. They brain wash kids and i guess since staring a business is hard brain washing and using kids can be a good thing rather then a bad.


Chapter 5


J.R. Simplot is one of the richest men in the world selling his potatoes and his greens to McDonalds he is the third leading giver to McDonalds and other fast food markets. McDonalds make there fries differently then other fast food places they actually put them in 93% beef tallow and it gives the fries different taste. The aroma of food is what makes us eat things and it saves us from being poisoned. McDonalds have a smell that make people want to eat it. 


Its pretty interesting that McDonalds have 3 different suppliers of fries and how aroma is about 90% of how something tastes. 


Chapter 6


Since the growth of McDonalds and fast food markets they are using unfair tactics to lower prices of ranch cattle so they can keep their business going since McDonalds now lowered the amount of places they take beef from. This is now similar to a century ago when the economy was controlled by a corporation alliance called the "trust" they set prices on the cattle. Now the suicide rate of a cattle rancher jumped to 3 times the national average that proves a lot about what is going in the the rancher business and the fast food business.


"The suicide rate among ranchers and cattle farmers in the United States is now about three times higher than the national average." That was an interesting gem and quote that the fast food companies can have a part in what is going on and how hard it is to be a farmer. 


It is very interesting to find out that Hank died when he committed suicide, he seemed like a person that wouldn't do that to himself like a person who would fight back against the fast food companies. 


Chapter 8


The most dangerous jobs in the fast food industry has to be being a factory worker. The workers work in pretty good conditions but they do horrible things to the animals even though it is a slaughter house. They cut the cattle into a half and then they pull of the organs and throw them down a chute. There is also a man who waits every 10 seconds to cut the necks of the cattle and kill them they usually sit around a puddle of blood the whole day. The late night cleaning is mostly done by illegal immigrants and is considered the most dangerous job in the whole plant.


"During the same years when the working conditions at America's meat packing plants became more dangerous- when line speeds increase and illegal immigrants replaced skilled workers- the federal government greatly reduced the enforcement of health and safety laws" 


The cleaning process is actually pretty interesting to me because the manager of the cleaning company had a friend that lost 2 fingers and went in to shock because he forget to turn off the machine he ended up working the next day. Also the way they kill the cattle is pretty hard to see the movie Andy showed us in class friday was pretty hard to see for some people.