Chew On This: Everything You Don’t Want To Know About Fast Food

As a result of the proximity of junk food joints to high schools, high-schoolers are eating copious amounts of it. This means that gastric bypass operations, which reduce the size of the stomach and limit the amount of food that can pass through the small intestine, have become far more routine than such life-threatening operations should be. Risks include internal bleeding and intestinal leaks.

The rise in obesity is directly linked to rise of the fast food industry. Schlosser and Wilson show how “as the fast food industry has grown, so have the waistlines of most Americans,” with two-thirds of adults and one-sixth of children overweight or obese (159). Scientists have found that the reason for the obesity epidemic is a clash between the present overabundance of food and our bodies’ propensity to store fat, a habit learned over generations when food was scarce and hard to come by: “Our bodies […] still function as though the food may run out at any moment. As a result it’s much easier to gain weight (and store energy as fat) than it is to lose it” (160). 

While fat cells are vital to our body’s health, an obese person has eight times the required amount. The extra fat cells place extra demands on organs and lower immunity. Going on a diet only shrinks the fat cells, rather than getting rid of them, which is why being obese early in life “may fundamentally change a person’s body chemistry,” making it difficult to be of normal weight later on (161). 

Although the high fat, sugar and calorie content of foods in the fast food industry can make people obese, the corporations once again place the onus on the consumer and say that their weight is their own responsibility. However, fast foods have been designed to get people to want to consume them repeatedly, and the industry earns most of its money from a small group of customers who eat at their establishments more than three to four times a week. The upscaling of portion sizes is also a contributor to obesity. Some meal combinations at fast food restaurants contain all the calories the average person should consume in a day.

In a society that values thinness, obese or overweight children often have low self-esteem and are the victims of bullying. However, the strain on the body is even worse, leading to heart disease, cancer, and Type II Diabetes, the last of which kills twice as many Americans as car accidents. 

The worldwide expansion of fastfood franchises means that McDonald's and KFC earn most of their money outside of the United States. As a result, foreign cities are adopting an Americanized appearance, creating the phenomenon of a “‘McWorld.’”The authors write that “[p]eople in poor and developing nations often view McDonald's and the other fast food chains as symbols of American freedom, progress and technology,” and engage in a dance of cooperation with the corporations, whose only desire is to grow and make more money (182). 

Given that McDonalds is so deeply enmeshed in Americana, one complication that arises when branches are opened abroad is that people’s attitudes towards the brand are shaped by current attitudes to United States foreign policy. Fast food restaurants have even become the sites of worldwide terrorist activity and protest. 

Mad cow disease, which occurred in cows who were eating the remains of dead cows, did much to attack the burger’s popularity. Facing criticism both in the United States and overseas, McDonald's in recent years has worked to improve its public image, doing things such as instructing its suppliers to treat its animals in a more humane manner and adding healthier items to their menus. Even Ronald McDonald has undergone a cool, hipster, skateboarding makeover, proposing to be a worldwide ambassador for “‘fun, fitness and children’s well-being’” (189). This may reflect genuine concern for consumer health or is to simply find a way to avoid being blamed for America’s obesity epidemic.

Some programs have been put in place to try and combat the fast food influence. One is the Edible Schoolyard program Esther Cook runs at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in the San Francisco Bay Area, which teaches children about growing and harvesting vegetables and rearing chickens humanely. It means that “food isn’t something you wolf down quickly and then forget about. It’s an integral part of daily life” (194). The program was popular and set a prototype for how things were run in the rest of the country. Such programs teach important things about food and life, such as the dignity of labor, the care of public property, and the beauty of nature. 

Finally, the book advises readers how they can stand up to the fast food industry’s exploitation. The first and most obvious way is to stop buying fast food from exploitative corporations and deny them funds. Alternately, the reader can support owner-run, rather than franchised, businesses, those that care about the quality and provenance of their food and the well-being of their staff. 

The book concludes where it began: at the entrance of a fast food restaurant. This time, however, it encourages the reader to look around and notice things, such as the teenagers behind the counter and the toys given away with meals and then to have a think about where the food came from. Now, equipped with a new awareness of the fast food industry, consumers can make a choice about whether they want to eat there or not.