Fast Food Nation

I agree with Eric Schlosser’s argument that people only eat food based on taste to some extent. Although the amount of people purchasing food based purely on taste, such as fast food, is higher than the percentage of Americans who purchase food based on health reasons, the amount of people that eat based solely on taste is much greater. Even though many people buy fast food because it is “easy”, I believe that if people were first exposed to the ingredients that the food was composed of rather than free samples and carefully photo-shopped pictures, they would not waste their time with fast food. As America continues to be exposed to the truths about our meat production, factory conditions, and origin of food ingredients, more and more people are turning to organic and all-natural foods.

Eric Schlosser describes the issue of buying fast food in his book, Fast Food Nation. He says that people purchase fast food because it is much less expensive than healthy, organic food. What most people fail to do is question how the methods of producing fast food is different from the methods used to produce more expensive and organic food.

Because people preferred fast food to organic, healthy food, fast food restaurants have become much more popular. It is rare to go to a moderately populated town and not find yourself near at least one fast food restaurant. As a result of there being so many restaurants, the constant supply of this food makes it more popular and available, thus increasing the demand and production.

Many people today are suffering from major health problems that result from fast food. These health problems include conditions like high cholesterol and obesity. Perhaps the most severe epidemic is type II diabetes. This has become much more prominent in not only adults but also children. The ramifications of fast food greatly outweigh the benefits. If people would stop focusing on the monetary aspects of food and instead focused on their health and well-being these problems would greatly decrease.

Fortunately many of the effects of fast food on our country have been identified and broadcasted through the media. As a result people are at the very least aware of the problems that are being caused by fast food. Hopefully within the next couple of years people will be much more conscious of what they put into their bodies, and the consumption of fast food will greatly diminish.

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