A School Reads Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal.
Cathy Belben is Library Media Specialist at Burlington-Edison High School in Burlington, Washington, and can be reached at cbelben@be.wednet.edu.

            The discovery of mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalitis, or BSE) in the U.S. beef supply in December 2003 prompted many Americans to reconsider their diets and question what is in the food they consume. Even before the American mad cow scare, however, a major work of modern muckraking delved into the hidden threats lurking in the meat supply and assorted dangers associated with the fast food industry.  Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal--a book Andrew Roe of the San Francisco Chronicle called “as disturbing as it is irresistible”— scrutinizes the industry from its genesis, exposing its impact on workers, consumers, and world culture. When I first read the book just after its publication in 2001, I became determined to share the book with as many readers as possible, convinced that Schlosser’s exposure of corporate greed, workplace inequity, and lack of sanitation in the fast food industry demanded the attention of a population addicted to the fast food lifestyle and literally dying of obesity.

Mad Cows and English Classes

            In addition to my library media responsibilities, last fall I was assigned to teach an 11^th-12^th grade contemporary literature class. Despite the extra duties and the time it took away from my role in the library, I was happy to have had the opportunity to share books with students in a different way. One of the works of contemporary literature we read was Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation. Selecting a book that affected me so powerfully could easily be seen as subversive, and I don’t deny the charge, but I don’t feel any worse about choosing this book than a health teacher should for teaching about the hazards of tobacco use. Information is out there, and teens need to know about it. Few are going to rent documentaries about the dangers of smoking, and it’ll be a rare few who pick up Fast Food Nation on their own. We don’t hesitate to teach teens about the risks of unprotected sex or the danger of driving; we should be as responsible about providing nutritional information. 

Students at my school read no other full-length non-fiction books in any of their English classes, and few read non-fiction books for pleasure, so selecting Fast Food Nation allowed me to offer a learning experience that students were currently lacking. An avid reader of all sorts of non-fiction, I am convinced of the genre’s merits and determined to persuade other readers of the benefits and joy of reading it. Students need to be exposed to factual information presented in an engaging manner that compels them to read further or to take action or to investigate a topic independently. They need to master the structure of non-fiction texts, to learn to flow from anecdotes to the data that explain them, to make connections between the material they read and the content of the news they hear and watch, and to learn to distinguish between reporting and editorializing. These skills are useful later in life, but more importantly, they exercise the brain differently than other types of reading do, contributing to the sort of “cognitive elasticity” that allows for complex problem solving.

Fast Food Nation was also selected because it exemplifies the American tradition of using journalism to reveal wrongdoing and stimulate remediation. Schlosser’s steady, powerful method of exposing facts and using anecdotes to make his point without hysteria or emotion make this work a particularly important one to share with teen readers.  Schlosser describes the working conditions for fast food restaurant and slaughterhouse employees without sensationalizing the problems; his objective, levelheaded presentation of the information offers an excellent model of persuasive writing to teen readers.

You Are What You Read

As my class read Fast Food Nation, I noticed a marked change in my students’ attitudes about the material. They were resistant to Schlosser’s ideas at first—he was, after all, attacking a staple of their diets and of teen culture—but the more they read, the harder it became for them to argue with his ideas and the anecdotes about people harmed by the industry. They were most affected by chapters detailing the realities of the slaughterhouse, and the often unsanitary conditions of beef production—including grisly particulars that rival those in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle.

            “Since I’ve read this,” said eleventh-grader Larissa, “I no longer want to eat fast food.  I just can’t eat meat when I know about the insects, urine, and vomit that have passed inspection.”  Her classmates concurred.  Said Breanna, “The information in Fast Food Nation appalled me. My eating habits have already changed.” In the book, Schlosser details the threat posed to humans by the E. Coli bacteria, which can contaminate meat and sicken—even kill—those who ingest it.  After reading Schlosser’s expose on E. Coli, several students said they would not to eat meat in restaurants again. “I’m not willing to risk my health for a burger,” said Mary Caitlin, “It doesn’t seem worth it!” 

More than Just Buns and Beef

Fast Food Nation lent itself to a myriad of tangential explorations that made using it with a class especially rewarding.  Schlosser writes about how chains use advertising to influence children, so we studied advertising strategies. Students compiled a list of specific techniques (bandwagon, appeal to patriotism, celebrity endorsement, etc.) and examined the messages sent by various ads. We watched a compilation of parody ads from Saturday Night Live to practice identifying the advertising strategies, and then students worked in groups to find examples in magazines and analyze them. Students also made parody ads of their own to advertise messages from Fast Food Nation, using examples from Adbusters magazine as examples. By the time we finished, students had a greater appreciation for the marketing gimmicks that Schlosser exposes; teenagers may like to be in style, but they were unforgiving about companies that manipulate them with advertising.

The health issues Schlosser raises—e.coli infection, BSE contamination, and the consequences of poor nutritional choices—gave us an opportunity for some cross-curricular health education. The book allowed us an opportunity to talk about science, health, habits, and personal choices. We watched a Frontline episode entitled “Modern Meat,” read excerpts from Greg Critser’s Fatland: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World, and brainstormed changes we could make in our school and community. 

            Students had more to say and write about Fast Food Nation than any book I’ve ever taught—with the exception of the books they hated and complained about incessantly. They were angered by the information about how restaurant and slaughterhouse workers are sometimes treated, and they were disgusted by revelations about food sanitation. As a teacher and library media specialist, it was exciting to watch as students became energized by information and ideas.

The Teachers Read Along

            Because only one group of students was reading the book and we’d purchased over 100 copies, I was able to distribute extras to interested staff members, who were eager to read the book they’d students talking about. I set up an email distribution list which allowed us to discuss the book as we read it, and sent questions out each week to generate dialogue. Two months later, we gathered for a vegetarian potluck that included a video clip, an excerpt of Schlosser reading his work aloud, and a guest speaker from the local hospital—a dietician who talked about how teachers could help teens pursue better nutrition. Teachers who attended the meeting were able to earn clock hours—a state requirement for periodic professional certification renewal.

Unlike the students, who were most affected by the disgusting details of beef production, the adults who read along were more affected by the economic realities Schlosser presents, particularly those that are likely to affect students. Assistant Principal Mike Christman was troubled by descriptions of working conditions in fast food restaurants and slaughterhouses. “It’s disturbing that big chains can abuse employees without being held accountable, all in pursuit of the almighty dollar,” he said, adding, “I think this book would be great to share with 9^th and 10^th graders to show them what some of their future job opportunities are about.”  Laural Ringler was equally disturbed by Schlosser’s revelations about the fast food industry.  “As a high school counselor,” she said, “It scares me to think that a McJob prepares students for a McLife.  If your first job training includes learning to bounce from one short-term low-wage job to another, checking your rights at the door, you’re not well-prepared for a career.”

 Staff members were affected by the unethical business practices described in the book, and talked about the importance of sharing examples such as these with students and talking about doing the right thing, as opposed to the lucrative thing. Roger Kinney, who teaches business and marketing and supervises the student-run school store, said that his curriculum changed after reading the book. Students are required to write business plans in his classes, and he added the category of “social responsibility” to the list of things students need to consider when planning a business venture. Examples of business people—slaughterhouse owners, corporate executives, and franchise managers—convinced Kinney that students need to be taught to think about ethics, since they aren’t getting much education from the examples set by corporate America.

Secretary Joey Wasson said the book made her realize that her family needed to reconsider their food choices. “After our meeting, I went home and challenged my husband to stay home and eat every day this month,” she said. “We’ll see how it goes.” Vice Principal Christman agreed, saying, “When I began reading this book, I told myself it would not change my eating habits. I love McDonald’s fries and the McDonald’s Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese!  I haven’t eaten at McDonald’s since finishing the book.”

            Our staff discussion of Fast Food Nation included a presentation by Alice Opryzek, a registered nurse/clinical dietician at a local hospital. I asked her to attend our meeting because I thought at least part of our purpose in reading the book as a staff should be to talk about how we could use the information in the book to help our students.  Among her suggestions:

The Next Step

            Fast Food Nation was a powerful tool for getting students and teachers to think about nutrition, employment, advertising, and the effects of globalization. The topic, both timely and relevant, engaged teenage and adult readers, although not necessarily for the same reasons. Sharing the book with different groups offered me a chance to experience a work of literature from different perspectives, but more importantly, I felt successful in my endeavor to share important ideas with people I care about who might be able to use those ideas as a springboard for changing their lives—and possibly the lives of others—for the better.

            In future whole-school reads I’d like to encourage more discussion among the different readers—perhaps a series of meetings or casual forums where those reading the book can gather in the library to discuss the book as they progress through it.  I’d also like to tackle additional timely and relevant topics, such as the effects of media (especially television) on thinking and learning, the impact of globalization, and the issue of bullying and teasing in high schools. I’m working with colleagues and students now to evaluate books for future purchase and use with small student-faculty groups and possible adoption for whole-class reads. Ultimately, we’d like to establish an “everybody reads” program in which we all benefit from the selection and shared appreciated of a common book.

Works Cited

Critser, Greg. Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World.

 Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 2003. ISBN 0618164723.

“Modern Meat.” Frontline. Public Broadcasting System. 1999

Roe, Andrew. “Mack, Jack, Carl and the Colonel Get Fried With the Facts: A journalist

            examines the real cost of fast food.” San Francisco Chronicle. 28 January 2001.

Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal.  New York:

            Houghton Mifflin. 2001. ISBN 0-395-97789-4.