The Fast Food Culture is Detroying America Essay -- Fast Food Research

The typical American diet, with its emphasis on fast food and frozen food, is a consumption pattern reflective of, and symptomatic of, our production patterns -- what kind of jobs we find ourselves going to day-in and day-out, and the way these jobs encourage us to see the world we live in. If people are more apt to think of themselves as consumers rather than producers, if gratification is associated with consumption rather than working, doing, and making, we have only to bear in mind that this is a society where work is either unattainable or alienating. (Willis, A Primer For Daily Life, "Learning From the Banana," page 59) The psychological impacts based on today's workplace lead us to believe we have no time. We no longer make our own food. We no longer cook our own food. We experience an alienation from its sources; food comes to us ready-made, pre-packaged, and/or frozen. Our usual food choices are commonly referred to as "junk-food," and when we happen upon someone cooking a meal entirely from scratch, we often joke, "What's this, real food?" Our relationship towards food has become so skewed that we no longer expect quality. If, by chance, we happen to encounter it, we are genuinely shocked and surprised, and almost threatened, for the rare presence of quality exposes that there usually is none. We have no idea what is in our food, or where it comes from. We are alienated from the land which gives us food, and from the actual production of our food. Do we know whose hands our food has passed through before we see it stacked neatly on shelves, or handed to us in a bun at Burger King, ready for us to consume at leisure? Contrary to McDonald's "educational literature" passed out to young children in schools, hamburge... ...5; call 408.423.4069 Vegan Outreach, 10410 Forbes Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15235; e-mail mba8+@andrew.cmu.edu Other Useful sources : McSpotlight -- contains over 1600 spotlights of McDonald's wrongdoings (Once you click, choose the server nearest you: Netherlands, Finland, USA, New Zealand) Viva!Guides -- some interesting literature and ideas; "How Now Mad Cow," + others... McDonald's Very Own Dietary Info -- ingredient lists of every product, complete with calorie, fat, fiber, etc counts Screwing McDonald's -- in case you missed the McSabotager earlier in the page... McDonald's is suing people who call their food unhealthy Opposing Viewpoints : Myths & Facts About Beef Production -- The incredible health benefits you will receive by eating beef! (Curiously, funded by...) Beef Handbook--Nutrition & Health -- the U.S.D.A. tells it like they see it...