Eric Schlosser's Fast Food: The Hidden Cost
Fast Food: The Hidden Cost
Eric Schlosser begins his book Fast Food Nation by comparing the secrets Cheyenne Mountain hides as a metaphor for the hidden dangers of the fast food industry. From the outside, Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, Colorado appears to be a beautiful mountain, just another peak in the wild wilderness of the Rocky Mountains. To an observer, there is nothing unusual about it. In reality it hides the North American Aerospace Command, the Air Force Space Command, and the United States Space Command. Cheyenne Mountain is a top-secret, underground combat operations center. It covers four and a half acres and is designed to withstand a nuclear explosion. Schlosser discusses the origins of fast food, how it is made, and its impact on communities and farmers. …show more content…
If fast food was part of growing up, then Americans will return to it again and again to try and recapture those happy feelings of childhood through the taste and smell of delicious, heavily processed, and chemically altered comfort food. Exploitation of employees is another secret the fast food industry would rather hide. Fast food corporations actively seek out part-time and unskilled labor to fit into their throughput assembly-line model. To maximize output, these corporations target young, unskilled workers and minorities who are willing to accept low pay and no benefits. “Fast food workers are by far the biggest group of low wage workers in the United States today.” (Schlosser 72) Little to no training is provided or needed to work in fast food. Employees are assigned to one task on the production line. Most stations have one duty. The machinery has pictures and instructions in
Spanish and English. Labor laws are routinely ignored as employees under eighteen use dangerous slicers and fryers. Many minor employees work more hours than the law allows. To avoid overtime the restaurants hire many employees and no one works over 40 hours. Taco
Eric Schlosser begins his book Fast Food Nation by comparing the secrets Cheyenne Mountain hides as a metaphor for the hidden dangers of the fast food industry. From the outside, Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, Colorado appears to be a beautiful mountain, just another peak in the wild wilderness of the Rocky Mountains. To an observer, there is nothing unusual about it. In reality it hides the North American Aerospace Command, the Air Force Space Command, and the United States Space Command. Cheyenne Mountain is a top-secret, underground combat operations center. It covers four and a half acres and is designed to withstand a nuclear explosion. Schlosser discusses the origins of fast food, how it is made, and its impact on communities and farmers. …show more content…
If fast food was part of growing up, then Americans will return to it again and again to try and recapture those happy feelings of childhood through the taste and smell of delicious, heavily processed, and chemically altered comfort food. Exploitation of employees is another secret the fast food industry would rather hide. Fast food corporations actively seek out part-time and unskilled labor to fit into their throughput assembly-line model. To maximize output, these corporations target young, unskilled workers and minorities who are willing to accept low pay and no benefits. “Fast food workers are by far the biggest group of low wage workers in the United States today.” (Schlosser 72) Little to no training is provided or needed to work in fast food. Employees are assigned to one task on the production line. Most stations have one duty. The machinery has pictures and instructions in
Spanish and English. Labor laws are routinely ignored as employees under eighteen use dangerous slicers and fryers. Many minor employees work more hours than the law allows. To avoid overtime the restaurants hire many employees and no one works over 40 hours. Taco