"Fast Food Nation"

Before I even opened Eric Schlosser's book, I was struck by the book's subtitle: "The Dark Side of the All-American Meal."

Isn't that pathetic? Our country is so young compared to others. The USA is totally a baby, with its.. what? 233 years? Not only does our nation have a short history, but I think some aspects of our culture have really suffered because of it. For example, our "All-American Meal." The food symbolic of our nation and our nationalistic pride is a friggen cheeseburger and fries. That's what we have to show as our country's culinary talent?

France has artisan cheeses, developed from ancient recipes using milk from domesticated mountain goats. Italy has wine from heirloom grape varieties indigenous to different regions of their country. Each of these countries also traditions celebrating the sitting down and lengthy enjoying of meals with others, as well. Let's see, what else... even the Jewish religion has celebrated food items that are symbolic of their people's struggles and what they've overcome.

What does America have? A meal made out of unhealthy, crappy ingredients which is made to be consumed on the go, on a whim, or gobbled up behind the wheel of a car. Our national meal symbolizes waning health, obesity, the rise of industrial agriculture and big box companies, the triumph of efficiency over quality, the forgotten tradition of enjoying meals at a table with others, the buried talents of cooking and providing for oneself and one's family, and basically, the destructive powers of our culture.

And we export this. There are McDonalds in 119 countries. Remember in France, when a new McDonalds opened up in some little village and some proud Frenchmen took a bulldozer to it? What a guy. No one would ever do that here. Fast food is too American. A person who did what that French guy did would be called a terrorist, or something here.

Like I said, pathetic.