Hitting the Books: Review of Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
By Jesse | November 3, 2010
I recently finished reading Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. As a self-proclaimed expert on the fast food industry, this was a must read. Engaging and well written, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Instead of writing out a full review, I’d like to just highlight a few interesting and shocking moments covered by the book.
- One of the opening factoids – “This year, Americas will spend more money on fast food than on higher education…” Wow.
- Colorado Springs as the primary setting. I’m intimately familiar with Colorado Springs. Two uncles and my dad all live there. I’ve visited twice this year. It’s definitely the kind of boom town, anywhere U.S.A. that is the perfect backdrop for a book about fast food.
- Scholesser covers the history and rise of fast food, from Carl Karcher to Walt Disney, Ray Croc, and the McDonalds brothers. A fascinating time in American history.
- The story of Elisa Zamot, a 16-year old McDonald’s worker in Colorado Springs
- Christopher Reaves speaking at a “Success” convention in Denver post-accident. His quote about success. “I see people who achieve these conventional goals…None of it matters”.
- The impact of the McNugget was so big that it changed the whole chicken industry.
- Hank, the independent cattle rancher from Colorado Springs. He took his life at 43 after struggling to keep his ranch open with pressures from the large meatpacking industry.
- A quote about the cleanliness of our kitchen sinks from remnants of contaminated meat from an University of Arizona microbiologist Charles Gerba “You’d be better off eating a carrot stick that fell in your toilet than one that fell in your sink”
- Kenny, a slaughterhouse worker who sacrificed his body for his meat packing employer. His story is both sad and comical. He was sliced in the back by a conveyor belt, had back surgery, suffered chlorine poisoning and spent a month in the hospital, got hit by a train, broke his leg stepping in a hole, and finally had a heart attack, all at work. And I complain about my job.
- “Eating in the US should no longer be a form of high risk behavior” – Eric Schlosser. Scary.
Overall, a very good read. I’d recommend any fast food eater to get a better understanding of what exactly we are putting into our bodies and the social and economic implications of these choices.
Chick-Fil-A Chicago Area Grand Openning
By Jesse | October 31, 2010
I was randomly in Orland Park, a Chicago-area southwest suburb for work. We happened to drive by a grand opening of a Chick-fil-A, a rare sight in the Chicago Area.
I was so excited I made my coworkers stop so I could take a few photos of the fans camping out, eagerly awaiting the grand opening.
I chatted with a few people, some had come as far as Springfield, IL, a few hundred miles away.
From the Editor’s Desk: Technical Difficulties
By Jesse | October 18, 2010
Dear Readers,
You’ve probably noticed that I haven’t been posting much lately. I’m going to go ahead and blame it on several technical difficulties that I’ve been experiencing over the last month or two.
First, my site was hacked a few times by some sort of spammer. After getting help to clean up the code, I’ve had a few times, I eventually had to move servers. Luckily for me, my extremely talented technical consultant and co-founder was able to take care of it. However, for some reason I still cannot post photos on my site. I’m sure it’s something we’ll be able to quickly get to the bottom of, but unfortunately my guy has been taking care of actual paying work, in Costa Rica no less. Lucky Bastard.
Anyway, when I finally can get my everything back to normal, I’ll get back to posting about some of the big news in the fast food industry. Like the mechanically separated chicken that’s been making the rounds, the 6-month old non-decomposing Happy Meal, and the return of the McRib.
Jesse
100 Hundred Posts
By Jesse | October 5, 2010
Congrats to me! I just realized that my last post was my 100th. Good work Jesse.
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine takes on McDonald’s
By Jesse | September 26, 2010
A very dramatic video from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine was recently sent my way. It takes a pretty bold stab at McDonald’s. Take a look.
It’s a powerful spot, but a little dramatic. However, their point is accurate. We should eat less meat. More fruits and vegetables. It may actually put years on your life.
Double What? Review of KFC’s Grilled Doublicious
By Jesse | September 4, 2010
Last weekend I was desperate. I hadn’t been to the grocery store in a few weeks. I had nothing that could be easily prepared, and I had to be at a volunteer event in an hour. I had little choice but to make my way over to my closest fast food stop, KFC.
In spite of what many of my readers may think, I generally try to eat healthy. I’m an advocate of eating healthy, organic, and local as much as possible. And occasionally, while visiting a fast food restaurant, I try to eat better. I know KFC has tried to make strides in cleaning up it’s nutrition act. But besides their grilled chicken and new side salad, there’s little on the menu in terms of health.
I was not in the mood for fried, and I didn’t have the time to pick through a grilled chicken. So I ordered a grilled version of KFC’s latest sandwich, the Doublicious.
Doublicious? Is this an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the Double Down? Tricky KFC, but not tricky enough.
The grilled Doublicious consists of a grilled chicken breast, some sort of white cheese, spicy sauce, and shredded lettuce all on a “sweet Haiwan Bread bun”. Not exactly healthy, but certainly better than the fried version topped with bacon.
As usual, this sandwich did not look anything like it’s photo.
It wasn’t nearly as bad as it looked. As you should expect for a place that specializes in chicken, the breast actually tasted like a chicken breast, not a rubbery processed blob of rib and breast meat. The sauce was tangy/spicy, and the lettuce was pathetic. They could have at least put a tomato slice on there.
Nutritionally, the sandwich had 380 calories and 11 grams of fat. Not great, but not horrible. I saved myself 100 calories by opting for the grilled version.
Overall, the grilled Doublicious is a pretty mediocre sandwich. Honestly, I thought it would be much worse, but I can’t in my right mind give it much higher than a 2.
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