Fast food as a metaphor in Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation (Essay Sample)

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Fast food as a metaphor in Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation
In the book Fasts Food Nation, Schlosser focuses on fast foods as a metaphor to changes that have taken place in the American society as well as a commodity, with fast foods increasingly being associated with American culture. The author draws parallels between the diet and culture of a nation, Schlosser mentions that a myriad of factors influence what people eat. The fast food industry is concerned with profits and not the nutrition of consumers. Invoking Walt Disney as a business founded almost at the same time as McDonald’s was formed simply highlights that the fast food chain is a business that primarily focuses on profits and growth rather than health concerns. This essay focuses on fast food as a metaphor in the book Fast Food Nation.
There have fundamental changes in America since WWII fast foods have been adopted by Americans to the extent that children can easily identify with popular brands of fast foods. One of the peculiar aspects is McDonaldization of America, where giant corporations in the fast food industry have dominated the food economy to the detriment of small businesses. Even though, market forces may have led to this phenomenon, there has been increased standardization of food products across restaurant chains. The standardization is likened to lack of uniformity and individuality in America, as corporations become bigger by adopting standardization approach adopted from the food industry.
To further highlight on similarities with the phenomenon of standardization is focus on houses which have the same designs that are now common in Academy Boulevard, Colorado Springs. The author points out on this feature as it like the ‘architecture equivalent of fast food’ (Schlosser 60). In this sprawling town, subdivision has mostly focused on standardization whereby fast food joints are the main points of reference. There are other strips with similar designs with southern California which is the birth place of fast foods. By likening landscapes to standardization in the fast food industry, Schlosser highlights on the cultural problems of identity in America. At the same time, the fast food industry is one of fastest growing segment, showing that the restaurant industry is likely to influence eating habits more than ever before.
The fast food culture has brought homogenization in America to the extent that people seem to have less freedom on their choices. Schlosser also focuses on the way fast food corporations are ran like machines, and the corporations have expanded to many counties that it is almost impossible to resist the effects of fast foods in America. At the same time, even farmers who become aware of the harmful effects of the corporate machine also realize that they have to deal with the big corporations or risk getting out of business. It is as though the corporate machine has trapped people, while consumers cannot also entangle themselves from consuming the cheap fast foods. Consumers are bombarded with advertisements, and fast food chain outlets sponsor events where there are likely to be children and their parents.
In the production chain of fast food businesses, meatpacking industries and slaughterhouses play an important role. These businesses rely on cheap labor mostly migrant workers and unskilled labor, which in turn results to high profits for the businesses. However, the working conditions have been far from safe over time. Essentially, it as though the workers were enslaved while working under strenuous working conditions in a brutal environment. Metaphorical parallels between the lives of workers in the meatpacking businesses and Americans show that the rise in fast foods has inadvertently also resulted to corporate greed. It is no wonder that the problem of obesity cannot easily be tackled with fast food culture now the norm in America.
Like Hollywood movies, fast foods ha...