Fast food is popular because it's convenient, it's cheap, and it tastes good. But the real cost of eating fast food never appears on the menu.
Eric Schlosser
I'm a huge supporter of animal rights - and I've been an outspoken critic of the cruelties routinely inflicted on livestock at factory farms. But it really bothers me that the mistreatment of pigs and chickens and cows seems to attract a lot more attention and spark a lot more outrage than the abuse of immigrant workers.
McDonald's revolutionized fast food. They introduced a way to eat food without knives, forks or plates. Most fast foods can be eaten while steering the wheel of a car and the restaurants are usually drive through.
Most fast food is fried. Fried food tastes great, and people don't seem to care about the fat aspect.
The fast-food industry is in very good company with the lead industry and the tobacco industry in how it tries to mislead the public, and how aggressively it goes after anybody who criticizes its business practices.
Fast food chains spend a large amount of marketing to get the attention of children. People form their eating habits as children so they try to nurture clients as youngsters.
One might expect that the families of murder victims would be showered with sympathy and support, embraced by their communities. But in reality they are far more likely to feel isolated, fearful, and ashamed, overwhelmed by grief and guilt, angry at the criminal-justice system, and shunned by their old friends.
Firstly, should we be selling and buying irradiated meat? I think that's up to the consumer, ultimately. But the second point is, this irradiated meat should be clearly and unmistakably labeled as irradiated meat.
I try to persuade people to act in ways that are not only in their own interest, but in the interest of society at large.
'Fast Food Nation' isn't about my journey into the dark world of fast food and the prison book is not about my journey into the prison world. I'm not using myself as any kind of narrative link.
By birth and upbringing, I think I'm emotionally resilient. I don't feel like I'm a depressive person.
I never consciously set out to model myself after Upton Sinclair.
Studies have found that preparing your own food is usually healthier and less expensive than buying fast food. But most people just don't have the time.
I'm just angry at the sort of things that are winding up in ground beef. I'm angry that other people - mainly children - are going to be sickened by eating a hamburger.
Different people, in good faith, can look at the same fact and interpret it differently. But that's where an interesting conversation begins.
I hadn't planned on being an activist.
I think it's important that people know what they are eating and especially to know what their children are eating.
Very few people realize that the U.S. government does not have the power to order the recall of contaminated meat.
I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.
I'd like to think that, in the United States, you can criticize a company that makes hamburgers without having to worry about what might happen to you.
I'm all in favor of animal rights, but I'd like to see the food movement take a much stronger stand in defense of basic human rights. If you're a vegan or a vegetarian, you should care about the people who are picking your fruits and vegetables by hand.
I've been called communist, socialist, anti-American.
By the way, I'm not a vegetarian. I have a lot of respect for people who are vegetarian for religious or ethical reasons.
One of my favorite dishes in the world used to be steak tartare, which is raw ground beef seasoned and then served.
McDonald's has been extraordinary at site selection; it was a pioneer in studying the best places for retail locations. One of the things it did is study very carefully where sprawl was headed.
Journalists aren't supposed to be cheerleaders.
Yes, a cheeseburger and fries is probably my favourite meal. But I don't eat ground beef anymore.
Like Hollywood movies, MTV and blue jeans, fast food has become one of America's major cultural exports.
The thing that's been inhibiting long-form investigative reporting is fear - fear of being sued, of being unpopular, of being criticized by very powerful groups.
The fear of murder has grown so enormous in the United States that it leaves a taint, like the mark of Cain, on everyone murder touches.
It's possible to go to the market, buy good ingredients, and make yourself a healthy meal for less than it costs to buy a value meal at McDonald's.
As a matter of fact, most cases of food poisoning are never linked back to their source.
I think there should be very strict limits on the pathogens that can be sold in your meat. There should be limits on disease-causing pathogens. Tests should determine whether the meat is contaminated or not, and you shouldn't be allowed to sell contaminated meat.
The importance of recalls is to show that contaminated meat is getting out the door. And when you look at these recalls, in many ways the most disturbing thing about these recalls is how little of the meat actually winds up back at the plant.
Hey, I used to eat at McDonald's: I liked the taste of the food, especially the French fries.
I was introduced to the world of modern food production in the mid-1990s, while researching an article about California's strawberry industry for the 'Atlantic Monthly.'
I really like hamburgers and French fries, and I don't consider myself some kind of gourmand.
I can understand why a single parent, working two jobs, would find it easier to stop at McDonald's with the kids rather than cook something from scratch at home.
The symptoms of food poisoning often don't appear for days after the contaminated meal was eaten. As a result, most cases of food poisoning are never properly diagnosed.
It's not a question of McDonald's vanishing from the face of the earth. It's a question of these companies assuming some more responsibility for what they're selling.
'Fast Food Nation' appeared as an article in 'Rolling Stone' before it was a book, so I was extending it from the article, and by that time, everyone could read the article.
Since 1966, hundreds of books have been published that follow murderers along their paths of destruction. Every serial killer, it seems, now has a biographer or two.
Even academic elites are drawn to the figure of the murderer, which has long been a focus of attention for psychiatrists, sociologists, and criminologists.
There is a growing market today for local, organic foods produced by small farmers. And farmers' markets have played a large role in making that happen.
I'd been eating fast food all my life without thinking about it. And the more I learned about the subject, the more intrigued I became.
If you eat, you should be concerned about the people who are providing you with food.
