Eric Schlosser published the groundbreaking book, Fast Food Nation in 2001, in which he explored in depth the history of fast food as an industry and culture in America and beyond. The second half of the same work detailed the inner workings of the fast-food industry and its subsequent effects on health, labor, agriculture and food processing. Schlosser published a revised edition in 2012 that included a look back at the ten years of reaction to his initial work and steps taken to mitigate the negative impacts of the industry. Fast Food Nation is a must read for anyone seeking healthy alternatives to that offered by the American made industrial food complex, a complex initiated post World War II by the advent of fast food. You will likely never consume fast food again and, perhaps more important, you won’t allow your children to do so.
Fast food had its beginnings during World War II primarily in California, where fast growing defense manufacturing concerns rapidly employed millions seeking a quick lunch. Carl N. Karcher was an early pioneer in fast food and would go on post-war to create the Carl’s Jr chain. Other early entries included the McDonalds brothers in San Barnardino. Post-war America seemed to take on a faster pace than pre-war America, giving rapid rise to faster means of transport (cars and jet planes quickly replaced trains and horses), communication (Televisions and eventually personal computers and smartphones replaced radios and similar devices), and, of course, food (TV dinners replaced home-cooked meals and fast-food restaurants replaced many sit-down family style establishments). A scene indicative of this metamorphosis from the 1994 hit movie The Shawshank Redemption features an elderly and recently paroled prisoner trying to cope with life on the outside after decades of incarceration. The old fellow has a lot to say about it all, most notably that while he was on the “inside, the world went and got itself in a damn big hurry.” He deals with it by hanging himself.
Drastic reaction to drastic change for sure, but we all know that life in the fast-paced modern world can be pretty stressful. It’s not a bad idea to step back and slow down now and then to reflect on that, including the way we produce, distribute and consume our food.
Like most Americans, especially younger ones, I enjoyed fast food. The first McDonalds opened near my hometown when I was in high school. It was trendy to hang out there on weekends and all the cool kids did (I really wasn’t that cool). When I went to college, I found a town that featured not only McDonalds, but also Wendys, Burger King, Arby’s and Roy Rogers. Wow. I didn’t give it much thought then, but these chains really knew how to locate near and cultivate their best customers. It wasn’t until reaching my mid-thirties that I began to pay close attention to what I was eating, and my focus then was primarily health driven. I was looking for healthier food choices both at home and when dining out. Fortunately, I had been raised by my grandparents in a household that generally featured home-cooked meals made mostly from stuff my family raised. I’m pretty sure I didn’t know what “fast” food was until that McDonalds opened. What I didn’t realize until much later was that most kids my age and younger had not grown up that way, and that fast-food culture had largely replaced slower paced traditional family meals in many households and restaurants in America and beyond.
This post war phenomenon begat a new way of food production distribution and sales the likes of which the world had never seen. Self sufficient family farms gradually gave way to large scale farms specializing in high production monoculture livestock and crops. Local buyers’ cooperatives gave way to larger and more efficient feedlots and crop processing facilities generally owned by multinational companies with access to world markets and distribution. The evolution of trucking accommodated by interstate highways meant that food grown on large farms in California could be processed and shipped to markets hundreds and thousands of miles away. Supermarkets replaced corner grocers and general stores giving consumers a wide variety of choices. Farmers who once grew nearly all that they and their families consumed now specialized in specific crops or livestock and sold their products in large volume into commodity markets for processing and distribution worlds away from their own soil and joined other consumers at the supermarket to buy what they used to grow themselves. As a kid I watched my dad ship milk to the local processing plant and truck cattle to auction while my grandmother shopped for butter, cheese and ground beef!
All the while food prices for consumers remained in check with inflation while farmers earned less for what they actually sold into the system at its origin, leaving little choice but to “get big or get out.” That was exactly what USDA Secretary Earl Butz advised farmers to do in the early 1970s. Consumers demanded and got their food fast, cheap and convenient. Meanwhile, farmers got the shaft, and still do. Mega corporations like McDonald’s and their friends demand cheap goods from commodity giants like Cargill and Tyson who in turn demand the same from their producers. McDonald’s is the single largest buyer of beef and potatoes in the world, and their demands don’t go unanswered.
Meanwhile the actual content of this newly produced “mega food” has changed dramatically to last longer, taste better and even look and smell better. Aided by processing with chemical additives and clever packaging techniques, food is now made to last longer for long-distance shipping and shelf life in the store. Your food is not so much “grown” to meet standards of quality as it is “manufactured” to meet standards of price, convenience and longevity. Nowhere is this more evident than in the kitchens, containers and drive through lanes of millions of fast-food establishments.
The resulting health effects of a fast-food diet have been documented and discussed a lot. Higher fat and sodium content has led to increased prevalence of certain cancers, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. The industry has responded with more diversified menus that include some healthier choices; but the popularity of the Bic Mac, the Whopper and fries hasn’t waned. Fast food, perhaps rivaling the auto and beer industries, has been wildly effective at advertising and branding their goods, much of it aimed at children. Consider that Ronald McDonald has been identified as the most popular figure among children only after Santa Claus! Mister Rogers, who devoted much of his career railing against advertising aimed at children, must have been appalled.
“Big” is an adjective bantered about a great deal in the modern era: big tobacco, big oil, big tech, big pharma, and big banks, to name a few. How about big food? It was the potential adverse health effects of fast food that first turned me against it. It is much more that has furthered my disdain. Like Walmart (big retail?), big food has made billions of dollars, much of it by jeopardizing the health of its patrons, exploiting its workforce, and squeezing every last buck from its suppliers, vendors, and producers. Farmers have borne much of the cost, having to sell their goods at low prices in a commodity market that few of them ever fully comprehend or conquer.
Even the landscape has become victim to fast food culture. I can’t possibly count the number of Styrofoam, cardboard and plastic containers I’ve retrieved over the years in a feeble effort to mitigate litter, most of it originated from fast food restaurants. Having spent much of my life in commercial real estate and community development, I have witnessed firsthand the proliferation of fast-food establishments in lower income communities, very often those of predominantly non-white population. They would deny it as blatantly as big tobacco did; but it seems to me that big food targets the poor and less educated. It’s all in the eyes of the beholder, but the sight of a neon-adorned, ultramodern fast food building in small towns and inner-city neighborhoods surrounded by paved parking and idling cars waiting in line at the drive-through for pre-made, low-grade food is not my idea of picturesque, or of what’s good for the world.
It all sounds like a bad dream, and I wish that’s all it was. The good news: people, communities, and even the industry itself are starting to pay attention and take more positive steps. Schlosser’s book and a subsequent movie were big catalysts toward that. Many people now pay closer attention to the food they eat and its sources. Communities in many places have begun to restrict the number and style of fast-food establishments permitted, some even passing outright bans on fast food. The industry has offered varied and, in limited cases, healthier menu options, more environmentally friendly packaging, and better wages and benefits to its employees (perhaps the latter more the result of a tight labor market than concern for anyone in particular).
All of us are food consumers, and we are the ultimate driving force for change. Perhaps instead of bargain hunting for what most sustains us and asking why healthy food costs so much, we should be asking why unhealthy food costs so little. Really, low prices at what cost? Our culture, our landscape, our environment, our workers, and our very health and well-being.
It begins with us. Know your food and know your farmer. Sourcing food is not always easy and big food is banking on that, but it’s easier now than it’s ever been. Be suspicious of food arriving in sealed plastic metal and cardboard. Read the ingredients and avoid those with more than three, especially if it ends in “ene” or “ous.” Those are usually chemical additives. Shop, when possible, at farmers markets and local cooperatives. Many farmers like us work hard to bypass big food to sell directly to you. It might be a little less convenient and more costly to meet us in the middle, but doing the right thing isn’t always the easiest or the cheapest, but it’s still the right thing.