Reading Response Wednesday!

 Fast Food Nation written by Eric Schlosser.

Precis

four: 'Success'

Schlosser's 'Fast Food Nation' chapter on 'Success' narrows in on a franchiser named David Feamster who runs four of the pizza chains for the parent company, 'Little Caesars' in Detroit. Feamster struggles a lot between his own morals and the parent company's expectations and guidelines. Franchisees are expected to run a business while working for the 'top guy' or the top corporation. There is no guarantee that franchisees can succeed, especially when a chain like Little Caesars is now competing with Papa Johns and other pizza places like Dominoes. General Motors adopted the idea of a franchiser to expand new stores for companies while providing jobs for other people, like Feamster. Ray Kroc, of McDonald's, tested his own franchisees because he wanted them to understand that being a franchisee meant that you had to be fully devoted and committed to the job. Franchisees' restaurants can often go out of business, especially when a new franchiser opens up next door. An example of this would be when Richard and 'Mac' McDonald sold McDonald's to Ray Kroc, but made a deal to continue to own the first McDonald's, which they renamed, 'The Big M'. Soon after, Kroc opened up a brand new McDonald's across the street from 'The Big M' and ran them out of business.

five: 'Why the fries taste good'

This chapter explores the flavors of food both in fast food restaurants and in foods that people eat every single day. It begins with telling the story of J.R. Simplot, who started out as a potato farmer, and went on to grow and process corn, avocados, cattle, and more.  At first, he began by dehydrating onions for the U.S. army during World War II, which he said looked like "gold dust." While he sold this "gold dust," he used the money to buy his potato farms. He later invested in frozen foods, which were popular in the 50's, especially since large numbers of refrigeraters and freezers were being sold then. Simplot began selling his frozen french fries to McDonald's, which noted that their customers didn't taste a difference between the fries they had before and their new frozen ones. Today the farming industry is extremely competetive and, according to Bert Moulton, a staff member of the Potato Growers of Idaho, "If potato farmers don't band together, they'll wind up sharecroppers."

Schlosser also took a visit to International Flavors & Fragrances, the world's largest flavor company, located in New Jersey. He describes how the only difference between artificial and natural flavoring is the method by which the flavor is produced. This often leads to people's confusion about "natural flavors" being healthier for their bodies. Flavorists are scientists that are efficient in tasting and their work is based on imitating scents and flavors to smell like the actual food substance.

six: 'On the range'

In conveying to the reader what goes on, 'on the range', Schlosser begins chapter six, with telling the story of Hank, a local rancher in the farm and of Colorado Springs.  When the reader reaches Hank's land a tour is given. Hank raises free range cattle and attempts to create a better relationship between environmentalists and ranchers. The production and growth of the city of Colorado Springs has led to damages on the lands of local farmers such as Hank. The city has led storm runoff into Fountain Creek, where Hank's cattle live, destroying the creek beds that used to flourish with life: "As more pavement covered land within the city limits, more water flowed straight into Fountain Creek instead of being absorbed into the ground."

The value that people held for ranchers has lowered over the years. People used to look up to ranchers and cowboys as idols, and now, it appears that was just a past dream. The variety of providers of meatpacking firms has also lowered, as smaller branches such as ConAgra, IBP, national Beef and Excel have grown into the main top four firms. Ranchers have increasingly been forced to sell their meat for lower prices, since it has become such a competeitve field. Many ranchers believe that raising cattle is on its way to being at the same level as the poultry carriers. Poultry carriers have no say in how the chickens are cared for, they have to abide by rules from companies such as Tyson. "Like most of the other leading processors, Tyson supplies its growers with one day old chicks. Between the day they are born and the day they are killed, the birds spend their entire lives on the growers property. But they belong to Tyson." Ranchers and poultry carriers have also grown to realize that by making their animals fatter by feeding them food that does not consist in their diet, they can make a lot more money.

Gems:

"McDonald's began to sell J.R. Simplot's frozen fries the following year. Customers didn't notice any difference in taste. And the reduced cost of using a frozen product made french fries one of the most profitable items on the menu- far more profitable than hamburgers. Simplot quickly became the main supplier for french fries to McDonald's. At the time, McDonald's had about 725 restaurants in the United States. Within a decade, it had more than 3,000."

"Out of every $1.50 spent on large orders of fries at a fast food restaurant, perhaps 2 cents goes to the farmer who grew the potatoes."

"About 90% of the money that Americans spend on food is used to buy processed food"

"The act of drinking, sucking, or chewing a substance releases its volatile gases. They flow out of the mouth and up the nostrils, or up the passageway in the back of the mouth, to a thin layer of nerve cells called the olfactory epithelium, located at the base of the nose, right between the eyes. The brain combines the complex smell signals from the epithelium with the simple taste signals from the tongue, assigns a flavor to what's in your mouth, and decides if it's something you want to eat."

"A person's food preferences, like his or her personality, are formed during the first few years of life, through a process of socialization. Toddlers can learn to enjoy hot and spicy food, bland health food, or fast food, depending upon what the people around them eat. The human sense of smell is still not fully understood and can be greatly affected by psychological factors and expectations... Childhood memories of Happy Meals can translate into frequent adult visits to McDonald's, like those chain 'heavy users,' the customers who eat there four or five times a week."

Thoughts and Questions:

Something I found interesting was the connection between an 'hourglass' and America's agricultural economy. "At the top there are about 2 million ranchers and farmers; at the bottom there are 275 million consumers; and at the narrow portion in the middle, there are a dozen or so multinational corporations earning a profit from every transaction." I thought that the connection was completely valid in showing how people don't benefit off of these food ways. Ranchers don't gain much profit anymore, and people eating this food become more and more unhealthy, while the workers don't get treated right nor do they get paid well.I also thought that it showed how much people aren't aware of these issues, because, maybe, if they were, they'd actually want to do something about it.