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I just finished reading Fast Food Nation and wondered what you guys, if you've read it, thought about it. I thought it was a bit dry in places but overall a good read. I'm pretty disgusted by the alleged business practises of fast food corporations and definitely the beef industry. Thoughts?

Haven't read it, really want to, really should.

gimmie some dirt outta the book cuz I'll never read it

I'm in a few vegetarian/vegan communities and that book comes highly recommended but I haven't read it yet .. it's one of those books on my wish list at Amazon

I've read portions of it. Seems like my thing, I should really pick it up.

Joey wrote:I'm in a few vegetarian/vegan communities and that book comes highly recommended but I haven't read it yet .. it's one of those books on my wish list at Amazon

The author goes into detail about slaughter houses which is really quite disgusting. I eat meat, but could barely read some of the stuff. What's worse is the condition the workers in meatpacking plants are put in. It is one of the most dangerous jobs in the US. He goes into details of losses of fingers, limbs, decapitations, people getting crushed in the machinery. Then if they are injured the company will either force them to keep working with false diagnoses or fire them. The beef industry comes off really bad in the book. The government has no control over the industry. They can't even recall meat that is known to have e. coli or some other disease. They have to negotiate with the company, who decides when to recall and how much meat, usually too little and too late. It stays that way because they have such a strong lobby, yet when McDonalds required their suppliers to kill cattle more humanely, it was done instantly.

Anyway, I'm starting to ramble, it's all in the book.

Yeah, see I'm not too concerned with the people in that line of business heh .. call me cruel but I just can't be sympathetic towards someone who makes a living hacking and torturing animals. I can't really feel sorry for the odd person who gets squished in the machinery when animals everyday by the thousands are being crushed, mutilated, getting their throats slit, hung upside down and beaten etc etc ... maybe that's just me though. Seems silly to be concerned about the odd mishap on the job when millions of animals are being put to their death and slaughtered for food everyday by the minute/hour/second. These people have a choice in how they want to make a living .. unfortunately the animals aren't as lucky.

I don't eat meat or any animal ingredients for that matter. obviously.

i respect vegans/vegetarians and all, but personally I just cannot find within myself any sympathy for things like chickens. sorry :/

meh to each their own .. i didn't either until i researched it and read stories etc ..
i have more sympathy for animals then i do for people

Yeah, I'm not a very sympathetic person in general though. It's not malicious, it's just... not in me to care very much... My sister on the other hand is 12 and she has started refusing to eat most meat cause she can't get over the fact that there's a dead animal sitting on the kitchen table. See, I just don't see it that way.

Neil down and obey.. wrote:gimmie some dirt outta the book cuz I'll never read it

From Amazon.com
On any given day, one out of four Americans opts for a quick and cheap meal at a fast-food restaurant, without giving either its speed or its thriftiness a second thought. Fast food is so ubiquitous that it now seems as American, and harmless, as apple pie. But the industry's drive for consolidation, homogenization, and speed has radically transformed America's diet, landscape, economy, and workforce, often in insidiously destructive ways. Eric Schlosser, an award-winning journalist, opens his ambitious and ultimately devastating exposé with an introduction to the iconoclasts and high school dropouts, such as Harlan Sanders and the McDonald brothers, who first applied the principles of a factory assembly line to a commercial kitchen. Quickly, however, he moves behind the counter with the overworked and underpaid teenage workers, onto the factory farms where the potatoes and beef are grown, and into the slaughterhouses run by giant meatpacking corporations. Schlosser wants you to know why those French fries taste so good (with a visit to the world's largest flavor company) and "what really lurks between those sesame-seed buns." Eater beware: forget your concerns about cholesterol, there is--literally--feces in your meat.

Schlosser's investigation reaches its frightening peak in the meatpacking plants as he reveals the almost complete lack of federal oversight of a seemingly lawless industry. His searing portrayal of the industry is disturbingly similar to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, written in 1906: nightmare working conditions, union busting, and unsanitary practices that introduce E. coli and other pathogens into restaurants, public schools, and homes. Almost as disturbing is his description of how the industry "both feeds and feeds off the young," insinuating itself into all aspects of children's lives, even the pages of their school books, while leaving them prone to obesity and disease. Fortunately, Schlosser offers some eminently practical remedies. "Eating in the United States should no longer be a form of high-risk behavior," he writes. Where to begin? Ask yourself, is the true cost of having it "your way" really worth it?

Joey wrote:Yeah, see I'm not too concerned with the people in that line of business heh .. call me cruel but I just can't be sympathetic towards someone who makes a living hacking and torturing animals. I can't really feel sorry for the odd person who gets squished in the machinery when animals everyday by the thousands are being crushed, mutilated, getting their throats slit, hung upside down and beaten etc etc ... maybe that's just me though. Seems silly to be concerned about the odd mishap on the job when millions of animals are being put to their death and slaughtered for food everyday by the minute/hour/second. These people have a choice in how they want to make a living .. unfortunately the animals aren't as lucky.

I don't eat meat or any animal ingredients for that matter. obviously.

Actually, a lot of the work force is made up of illegal/legal immigrants who speak barely any english if any, and don't really have too much choice in regards to jobs they can get. Injuries are much more common than an odd mishap. But yeah, I was really bothered by the slaughtering as well, the author tells of one event, which I won't go into, (let's just say it involves a cow that is still alive), that really disturbed me. Plus at feedlots they often feed them animal remains instead of grain or grass. But the circumstances of the workers and the slaughtering of the cows are both horrible in my mind.

I don't know this book but it's things like the fast food industry and the beef industry that made me become a vegitarian.

happeningfish wrote:i respect vegans/vegetarians and all, but personally I just cannot find within myself any sympathy for things like chickens. sorry :/

I saw this documentary on PBS a couple months ago showing the treatment of chickens and ever since then I haven't been able to eat the stuff (except free range on rare occassions).

Dabekk wrote:I don't know this book but it's things like the fast food industry and the beef industry that made me become a vegitarian.

I saw this documentary on PBS a couple months ago showing the treatment of chickens and ever since then I haven't been able to eat the stuff (except free range on rare occassions).

I'm seriously thinking of not eating beef anymore after reading this book.

Joey wrote:I don't eat meat or any animal ingredients for that matter. obviously.

In the afterword of the book he talks about the reaction about McDonalds using beef flavoring in their fries, even though they said it was all vegetable oil. It caused a big uproar among vegetarians and riots in India at their locations. I think they've stopped using beef now, but he mentions that in Canada they still cook them in beef tallow.

Anyway, I'm not sure what they really use, but thought you'd be interested to know, if you wanted to investigate further. If you eat fries from there that is.

McDonald's fries are cooked with vegetable oil, but are made with beef tallow and beef seasonings .. I don't eat at McDonalds .. Wendy's fries and Harvey's fries are safe .. Burger King uses beef/chicken as well.

I've already investigated nearly every fast food joint in canada and the us Plus I have my nifty guide to fast food places that goes over what's vegan/vegetarian and what isn't.

As for the chicken bit .. yeah, watching chickens getting their beaks seared off while they're still alive to feel the pain, seeing them crammed in cages on top of each other and covered in their own filth, etc etc was enough for me .. free range doesn't mean anything. It just means they might get a breath of fresh air on the way to the slaughterhouse ..just another gimmick to make themselves look better.

If you can seriously sit down and watch the video "meet your meat" ( http://www.meetyourmeat.com/ ) and still be able to walk away and eat a hamburger then I'd be very surprised. One 5 minute video on a cd was all it took for me and I haven't touched meat since. I stopped overnight and haven't looked back.

Only thing I miss is pizza .. but even that craving isn't all that bad *shrugs*

How's A&W compared to the other fast food joints? Better? Worse?

I eat there more than any of the other places..

A&W is one of the last places to offer a veggie burger .. along with Wendy's .. most places do offer alternatives but there's always gotta be a few places who refuse to give in

http://www.awrestaurants.com/default.htm

I'm not positive about their fries and what they cook/make them with .. but I'll find out

Though if it matters A&W announced that the company is moving to buy 100 % pure Canadian beef rather then imported beef

Joey wrote: Only thing I miss is pizza .. but even that craving isn't all that bad *shrugs*

Luckily, if I ever become a vegetarian, my favourite kind of pizza is plain cheese.

I don't eat cheese