Schlosser hit the nail on the head, in Fast Food Nation, when he claimed that people don’t think too much about what they eat as long as it tastes good. The majority of the population seemingly has no problems stuffing their faces without thinking “Hmmm… this is full of trans-fat, sodium, artificial flavorings, and dye Red #40”. We thoughtlessly pop that piece of artificial flavor covered, Synder’s Hot Buffalo Wing, and sugar coated Sour Patch kids into our mouths without thinking twice about the consequences.
Eric Schlosser writes that “purchases are determined mainly by its taste” (684). Although many people don’t think about what they are eating because they have the “who cares it tastes good” mentality; there are loads of health conscious people out there that do pay attention to what they put into their bodies. Not everyone cares about the taste of something. Those who diet or care about their health take the time to read the labels on the products in the grocery store before they purchase them and scarf down its contents. But it’s safe to say that like myself, my peers just ignore those long unpronounceable words on the labels, the calories and any other unknown content and send the items straight to our hungry bellies. However, as tasty as they are, these careless actions may not be in our best interest. Schlosser believes that there are ramifications for the “innocuous choices we make three times a day” and his assertions, though disheartening, are true.
We may try to ignore it as much as we’d like, but the truth is that our oblivious eating habits may costs us more pain than the five minutes it takes to read the labels and decide whether to eat ourselves death. Robert Kenner’s, Food Inc (2008), exposes the ugly reality behind our finger liking good foods. The amazing taste of meat in its many forms has become surprisingly nasty after seeing that the meat may have been one of the very animals who were mistreated and locked in dark rooms, forced to eat corn and sit in their own feces. It also came from the labor of mistreated workers and it feeds into the greed and corruption of the huge companies that have taken over the food industry. The ramifications are more life threatening than getting fat from a burger or a milkshake at McDonald’s. The delicious fries sold at McDonald’s are “7 percent cottonseed oil and 93 percent beef tallow” and contain “more saturated fat per ounce than a McDonald’s hamburger” (683). You may think that those fries tastes great now, but will it taste as good after you blow up like a whale from the oil, fat and salt, or when you have gotten high-cholesterol, high-blood pressure, diabetes or some other life threatening condition. We fail to see how those great tasting foods may cause us more harm than joy. We have to figure out whether we value the taste of food more than we do its adverse effects and the toll it takes on our health. I surely would not enjoy having a condition with a name that’s as long and unpronounceable as the ingredients on the label of that chocolate bar, soda bottle, or noodle. But I must say, sometimes the taste of that McDonald’s cholesterol filled fries and the liquid diabetes disguised as a delicious milkshake is just worth it.
Sources:
O’Neill, Molly. American Food Writing: An Anthology with Classic Recipes. New York: Library of America, 2007. Print.
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