FAST FOOD???....think again...

Fast Food


I would to talk on this----Fastfood..

i read a book called "The Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlossler, i read this book last year, some time around october, when i was about to give my semester exams, i must say it was a very interesting read....it gave an insight about what goes inside the burger you consume in any McDonalds, it is something which we do not pay attention in everyday life, but is something so big that can save humans in poverty stricken countries from starvation.

wondering how??? well, when i heard first about this, i was like "yea, right, what can a stupid cheese burger do?"

i'll tell you, what Eric Schlossler told me...

a burger/pizza/hotdogs at a fast food outlet is the extreme form of processed food one can consume. The amount of oil=money which is used to PREPARE this food can be used for lot of other meaningful purposes in poor countries, and the funny part is that this food is the unhealthy to the core!!!What does it contain??? Preservatives....yes..junk..yes.. and some more junk...
the fries which taste sooooooo good, do you actually know how old are they?..since when have they been kept in the freezer???..In India, at home we are forbidden to eat food which has been in the fridge for more than 2 days, and here we happily eat food which have been there in the freeze without questiong any thing,funny huh??

the book also tells us what scientists do in a secretly located lab in some remote part of the States. They use their intellect in creating essences, flavours, which are added to various food items, for example, various chemicals are used to create the tantilzing flavour of strawberries, when the food item does not even contain strawberries.

there is the history of burgers in the united states, how a couple started selling them in a small town, and then in drive-in systems in the 1950s....followed by McDonalds, KFC, Burger King etc etc. how they grew and started spreading the "american culture" across the globe. What was interesting to see that European countries like Germany were more open to the fast food culture, owing to their scarred history. The youth in Germany were ready to embrace any new culture,which gave them a new identity, you can call this "americanization of the world"....

Fast Food nation also tells us how fast food chains have changed the culture, economy, workforce and landscape in many countries....

The politics of food, which have been i full swing in African countries is an outcome of this fastfood mania in a huge way....as i mentioned above the burger is equivalent to the oil=energy, whichcan be used for better things.

Then it explains the hazardous consequences of fast fooding, the rate of obesity has shot up around the world. If one has to analyse the fat in a chicken patties present in a KFC burger, that much amount of fat is suppose to be consumed over a week, but children consuming it on a regular basis is just deadly....

what caught my attention, is the chapter" why do the fries taste so good"....explains the technology behind the fries....

believe it or not, but eric schlosser spent an entire month surviving on McDonald burgers, and not not only he fell sick...but also gained a lot of unwanted weight....all part of his research though!

My Prof. Harold Witt was an interesting guy...

about whom i'll post in the next blog...

as for now...try getting your hands on this book....will make you think how a burger can change some one's life in some other part of the world.

cheers..