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Geoff Bond's |
BOOK REVIEW |
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Book Review Index |
Fast Food
Nation You don’t have to go back to Pleistocene times to find a food supply that is radically different to today’s. Eric Schlosser has produced a remarkable and shocking exposé of how our food has been debased in just one generation. With all the tenacity of a great investigative journalist, he has burrowed behind the scenes to expose the scandalous adulteration, misdirection, duplicity and humbug practiced by the fast food industry. He castigates the fast food assault on schools: “eight-year olds are ideal customers – they have 65 years of purchasing in front of them”, burbles a trade journal. In a meticulously researched and powerfully argued account, Schlosser visits the labs where scientists artificially re-create the smell and taste of everything – from cooked meat to fresh strawberries; and horrifically describes the feedlots and slaughterhouses. He looks at how the purchasing power of the giant fast food chains is changing America’s traditional landscape and culture – by driving small farmers out of business, by intensifying agriculture, by deskilling food preparation and by the whole scale use of illegal immigrant labour. This book is a compelling and grisly description of our modern food supply. This is prescribed reading for anyone who doesn’t realize that cheap food and junk food is, in reality, very expensively paid for. |