Rob Walker writes a critical review of Eric Schlosser’s book Fast Food Nation for The New York Times. The book, with its suggestive title, talks about America’s fast-food culture. It became controversial because it describes incriminating facts about fast-food chains in general, and McDonald’s in particular. While the book may appear to be flippant, its content is anything -but. Schlosser takes a jab at the fast-food process, from the meat to its marketing based on facts and observations. However, the veracity of some of his claims have been questioned and criticized by some, as was pointed out by Walker. Schlosser’s claim about the hundreds of people that have died due to E.coli strain that is found in fast-food burger was an exaggerated claim without any clear proof. Schlosser also threw into this discussion the case of a man who contracted E.coli even though the burger pattie he consumed was bought at a grocery store, which is in effect a contradiction to his claim of the danger of E.coli in fast-food burger.
Despite some assertions that appear to be vague and unfounded, the book in general was a success due to Schlosser’s effective use of narrative, research, life-histories, and his own observations. He uses his research and observation as a basis for his claim, while his narratives and reference to history were mostly to highlight a point in his argument. For instance, in the chapter “Wrong, wrong, wrong,” he goes back to the administration of then President Clinton and how his family was related to the Tyson family, a cattle farm owner, which accounts for the lack of studies on the health risks of biotech foods. His use of these strategies was aimed at targeting a wider variety of audience using arguments that would provoke a discusion. Although he claims that the book was non-partisan, the assumption of his claim about Clinton’s association with the Tyson and how there was a lack of investigations on the dangers caused by biotech food during his term contradicts his claim about the book being non-political (Schlosser 282). As a reader of his book, I tried to keep up with his claims and ideas, but kept an open mind so I could analyze and criticize his claims.
Works Cited
Schlosser, Eric. The Fast Food Nation. New York: Penguin Books. Print.
Walker, Rob. “No Accounting for Mouthfeel.” The New York Times. 21 Jan 2001.
Web. 23 Apr 2016.
