Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Fast Food Nation Chapter 1

so who is Carl N. karcher anyways? well I recently learned that is one of the major pioneers for our fast food industry today. It's amazing how starting simply in southern California it was able to spread around the world at such a fast rate. Carl was just a typical high school drop out, who was offered the luck to move out west to work in Anaheim, California. Back then this area was entirely ranches and farms. Carl moved out there and worked selling chickens, cattle, and hogs, for literally 26 hours a week. Which compared to today is nothing according to hours at work! Briefly after moving west he moved back to Ohio with his wife Margret and started a hot dog stand. His new no boss, independent business was working out quite well, till the point during wwII he had enough money to buy two hot dog stands. Later doubling to four, as well as owning his drive-in Barbeque place.

Another pioneer for the fast food nation, and definitely had, and still has the biggest impact on our fast food is Richard and Maurice McDonald. Who at the start of the great depression left New Hampshire for Southern California, hoping ot find jobs, not in food, but in Hollywood. Strange as that sounds, it didn't work out, and neither did there movie theater, but they soon hit a struck of luck. They decided to open a restaurant in pasadena, called the "McDonald Brothers Burger Bar Drive-in." Not only did the McDonald's brothers introduce us to the what everyone in the world knows as McDonald's, but they also introduced us to a new method that" increased speed, lower prices and raised the volume of sale." This method was the "guiding principles of factory assembly line," where everyone had one specific job, and did that job repeat.

QUESTIONS:

1) What restaurant chain did Carl Karcher start?
A: Carl's drive-in Barbeque

2) What were some of the Characteristics of the men who started the food industry?
A: Risk takers, determination, intuition, and imagination.

3) What were some of the other fast food restaurants that were inspired by McDonald's approach to food service?
A: Wendy's, Domino's, Kentucky fried chicken etc :)
so who is Carl N. karcher anyways? well I recently learned that is one of the major pioneers for our fast food industry today. It's amazing how starting simply in southern California it was able to spread around the world at such a fast rate. Carl was just a typical high school drop out, who was offered the luck to move out west to work in Anaheim, California. Back then this area was entirely ranches and farms. Carl moved out there and worked selling chickens, cattle, and hogs, for literally 26 hours a week. Which compared to today is nothing according to hours at work! Briefly after moving west he moved back to Ohio with his wife Margret and started a hot dog stand. His new no boss, independent business was working out quite well, till the point during wwII he had enough money to buy two hot dog stands. Later doubling to four, as well as owning his drive-in Barbeque place.

Another pioneer for the fast food nation, and definitely had, and still has the biggest impact on our fast food is Richard and Maurice McDonald. Who at the start of the great depression left New Hampshire for Southern California, hoping ot find jobs, not in food, but in Hollywood. Strange as that sounds, it didn't work out, and neither did there movie theater, but they soon hit a struck of luck. They decided to open a restaurant in pasadena, called the "McDonald Brothers Burger Bar Drive-in." Not only did the McDonald's brothers introduce us to the what everyone in the world knows as McDonald's, but they also introduced us to a new method that" increased speed, lower prices and raised the volume of sale." This method was the "guiding principles of factory assembly line," where everyone had one specific job, and did that job repeat.

QUESTIONS:

1) What restaurant chain did Carl Karcher start?
A: Carl's drive-in Barbeque

2) What were some of the Characteristics of the men who started the food industry?
A: Risk takers, determination, intuition, and imagination.

3) What were some of the other fast food restaurants that were inspired by McDonald's approach to food service?
A: Wendy's, Domino's, Kentucky fried chicken etc :)

Fast Food Nation Chapter 10

mhhmm...."McWord?" Sounds pretty terrifying to me! A world cluttered with a restaurant that creates genetically modified food, mistreats their livestock, and has a history of causing food-borne illnesses. In my mind this is a world I definitely don't want to live in! It's scary that literally a decade ago that McDonald's had about three thousand restaurants inside the United States; today it has about seventeen thousand in more than 120 foreign countries! What a humongous increase of restaurants in such a unexpectedly period of time. This fast fact definitely blew my mind away; that Coca cola has been around since 1886 now 124 years old, and McDonald's since 1956 now 54 years, and McDonald's is more widely recognized than Coca Cola, which beats McDonald's about 70 years! This really proved to me the statement in the book on page 229 that "The fast food chain has become totems of western economic development."

"By eating like Americans, people are all over the world are beginning to look like Americans." This quote is so very true. When i first went Brazil i found only 3 McDonald's out of the six states i went to, about 4 years later, McDonald's was found what seemed like every street. Basically what you see everyday in typical America. Not only was I astounded by that observation, but the people as well look a little more gargantuan then I had last recalled. It was very rare when i first went to Brazil that I found someone that looked overweight, but now a days you'll find them everywhere. Extremely disappointing through my eyes, that a country could be influenced so fast, by the "McWorld."


QUESTIONS:

1) In foreign countries, what group does most fast food advertising target?
A: definitely children:)

2) Why did the author visit Plauen, Germany?
A: He visited Plauen because for decades Plauen has been on the margins of history. Many historical events had occurred, and started in Plauen, Germany. Ex: Nazis formation

3) Why is obesity a problem for American society as a whole?
A: obesity is a problem for Americans as a whole because obesity causes major internal dysfunctions, diseases, and also decreases the life expectancy. As a whole this could cause our economy to drop, for we don't have enough healthy or simply enough workers to do the jobs we need for our country to stay afloat.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Fast Food Nation Chapter 8

"Every day in the United States, roughly 200,000 people are sickened by foodborne disease, 900 are hospitalized, and fourteen die." Statistics like these definitely makes me want to go organic. It's hard to believe that factories that we bestow our trust on, can turn their backs against us, and cause such foodborne outbreaks, like E.coli. It's scary to know that foodborne diseases can cause heart disease, inflammatory bowel disease, neurological problems, autoimmune disorders, and kidney damage. It's the fact that if our factories slip once, make a tiny mistake, it can cause some drastic effects on us Americans. I was shocked to hear that when cattle get E.coli won't show many signs indicating they have an illness. Leaving our farmers to believe everything is okay, ship our meat, and terrorize the immune system of people across the U.S.


Hamburgers, food of the poor? Yes, it's cheap, but that's what makes is so popular across the globe. Thank gosh for White Castle who took a stand and that started a company that attracted customers, had a connotations of purity as its name, and for the test they did to prove that hamburgers were not as bad as their reputations had lead on. With White Castles drive thrus it took the hamburgers from being a slow non-popular dish to our national dish of choice. Another smart executive would be Ray Kroc's, who promoted McDonald's as a place for families. With this promotion people began to see that Hamburgers were loved by children, convenient, inexpensive, and easily manageable food product.


Question:
1) Compared with several decades ago, how common are food-related illnesses today?
A: A generation ago the typical outbreak of food poisoning involved, church supper, family picnic, and a wedding reception. Today Literally 200,000 people become sick each day due to illnesses.

2) What was the first national hamburger chain and what did it do to try to change the image of the hamburgers.
A: The first was white castle. White Castle claimed meat was delivered twice a day, they created a connotation of purity for their business, and even sponsored and experiment to prove that their meat was not bad. This experiment proved that someone could live off their food and water for thirteen weeks and not get sick.

3) What are the effects of E.coli 0157:H7 on the human body.
A: E.coli 0157:H7 causes Shiga toxins to enter the bloodstream, hemolytic uremic syndrome(HUS), kidney failure, anemia, internal bleeding, and destruction of vital organs.

Fast Food Nation Chapter 8

"About five thousand heads of cattle enter it every day, single file, and leave in a different form," I must say that this sentence is pretty grueling, and eerie, making me have pity for the numerous cheese burgers i have comsumed in my 15 years of life. It's good to know that the mangers of these slaughter houses do care about their workers. It was reasuring to read that they wear chain mail's designed th protect workers from cutting themselves and for cutting their coworkers. Sadly that isn't enough, it has been documented that every year more than 1/4 of the meatpacking workers roughly forty thousand men and women suffer injuries or illness beyond first aid. The most common injury in the slaughter house ins Laceration which is when you get stabbed by hoursleve your somone working near by. After these types of injuries it was said that many of the workers develope trauma. Thye also may develope back problems, shoulder, and carpal tunnel syndrome. All these illness, and problems are turn offs for me in ever working in this business. knowing all this information I wonder why so many poeple continue to apply for there jobs, where you life is in risk everyday? Also when they hear it's the most dangerous factory job in the U.S you would think that the people who apply would turn there backs on it, but everyone is desperate for money. Many of the wokers though do not know of these conditions, for many of them are illegal immigrants. Most of them being Latino.

Working in a slaughter house would be too difficult for me. The jobs that these workers do to me aren't moral. slicing their heads off while still alive, ripping kidneys, staying in knee high blood. That is definetly a nightmare. After reading this section of chapter 7, i definetly turned my back on meat for a couple of days. Image you being sliced up into peices with with butcher knifes meant to kill? I felt terrible when I read the sentence on the living conditions of these cows! They live side by side, so close to the point where moving is impossible. The rooms are hot and humid, with a mixture of manure definetly makes the place reek. The cows face unberable temperatures of 101 degrees, till the end of their lives, with a knife to their throat.


Now cutting the meat for a living is probably a terrible job, but at the strick of midnight sanitation wokers are said to have the worste and most dangerous jobs! There hourly wage is horrendous! It's about 1/3 lower than those of regular production employees. You would think that the workers that have to clean the blood, manuer, fat, grease, and left over meat of 15,000 cows a day would be paid with a treasurable salerly.


Questions:
1) How does the injury rate in meat packing compare with the injury rate in other occupations?
A: The injury rate in a slaughter house is about three times higher that the rate in a typical American factory. Every year more then one-quarter of the meatpacking workers suffer injury or illness beyond first aid

2) What kinds of injuries do workers in meatpacking planst typically suffer?
A:Laceration are the most common injuries suffered by meatpackers, who often stab themselves or stab someon working near by. Also back, shoulder problems, and Carpal tunnel syndrome, which is when a finger beomces frozen in a curled position.

3) What is the impact on wokres of speeding up the line in meatpacking plants?
A: The impact would be more injuries with accidental stabbing. Probably fainting or trauma from pressure to not cut themselves or going to slow in comparison to the actual speed of the conveyer belt.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Fast Food Nation Chapter 7

This chapter started off talking about Greeley, Colorado, and first of all, I would despise to live there. I couldn't image having to inhale the veil smell of dead/alive animals, and manure on a daily basis. When it's to the point where it is causing your fellow Greeley neighbors to have headaches, nausea, and sleep deprivation it think that alone is a sign for help.

To me it seems like the meat industry is a crazy business, filled with greedy executives. For the amount of work the workers have to endure is way to much to only have a minimum wage of 9.25 which is more than a third lower then FORTY years ago when the company started. That to me is insane. These workers endure harsh smells, possible risks of amputations, and catching disease from these animals and there wage is pathetic. you would think as time passes on the wages would increase, and health problems would decrease. We can thank A.D. Anderson definitely for numerous health issues. So many health issues in the slaughter houses are occur to unskilled workers that don't know how to properly manage the machines or simply a knife. Due to this lack of knowledge many of the workers become injured and are uninsured. Many of these unskilled workers come from Mexico, Central America, and southeast Asia, and many of them are illegal. In my opinion the workers definitely had a legit reason to go on strike in 1969, for if I lived during that time, and was in their situation, I would be outraged with unfairness. Yes the strikers did have a right to state their opinion for the first amendment states the freedom of speech, but I do think that they went a little too far. There was no need for Them to bare arms, and begin to shoot at the office window, and actually killing someone. Also the bombing of the IBP's general counsel in my opinion is ridiculous. After the long and burtal fight they did get their five-cent commission. I think that the corporations learned that "Going West," was not so much of a good idea!!

To me the natural way of growing cattle no matter how much more expensive it may be, your making a good product for us the American people. Warren Monfort totally lost that mentality and decided to experiment with feeding the cows with grain, instead of native grasses, or hay. yes, he made it out with more money in his pocket, but created an unnatural, and un healthy product that would end up in mouths around the country. To sum it up, i think that the excutive board of IBP made a tremendous amount of mistakes during it's time, and were extremly devious with it's workers, and the American people.

Questions:

1) What changes did IBP bring to the meat packaging industry?
A:They brought the idea of unskilled workers, and lower wages to the workers.

2)How do wages in meat packing plants today compare with wages in the early 1900s, after the workers became unionized?
A: The wages are now $9.25, Which is one third lower then it was when the company first started 40 years ago.

3)Where do meat packing companies go to recruit new employees? What is the “new industrial migrant?”
A: many of the new employees come form Mexico, Central America, and Southeast Asia. A "new industrial migrant," is a migrant that came to American to work in the slaughterhouses.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Fast Food Nation Chapter 6

The cattle industry seems more like a gamble or a game now a days. someone's always trying to cheat the system. An example from the book is "They can also obtain cattle through confidential agreements with wealthy ranchers, never revealing the true price being paid!" To me this is very sneaking and taking the good name of cattle ranching away. I know that statistic say that over the last twenty years American ranchers have been disappearing, but that is no excuse to try to corrupt the system, everyone is struggling a little bit. I thought the example of what the independent ranchers now face was excellent. "imagine how the New York stock exchange would function if large investors could keep the terms of all their stock trades a secret." This was a good example because now in the year 2010 we are dealing with problems in the stock market and it's been effecting us for 10 years now, and I do see and feel the difference in my house ever since the stock market corrupted.

Pure genius when keystone foods, ordered a group of technicians to get working on a the chicken fingers. Chicken used to be something many families had only on holidays, and for someone to come up with a bit size version in a box, definitely shocked the nation. It's also amazing that Tyson now manufactures about ninety of the one hundred largest restaurant chains in the country. Even though this invention is brilliant i do believe it is gross that chikcne nuggets have twice as much fat per ounce as a HAMBUGER! Burgers are twice the size of a chicken nugget and hard to believe a meal the size of your thumb has more fat then a meal the size of your entire hand. sadly for the farmers a 1995 survey from louisiana Tech University foudn that the farmers says in deep debt and only makes about 12,ooo dollars a year. To me that doesn't make sense how could they be so successful with this struck of genius, but still be in life long debt, with a terribly low salary?

These farmers that supply us our food, and have nurture our stomachs have reached an all time high of three times the national average for suicide. They have so much to worry about, and few thank you's for their hard, monotonous work that they do for us. Hank, is one of the men who was a typical American rancher, who committed suicide a week before Christmas because of all the worries he had to deal with was just to over whelming, and he had reached his boiling point. So I say thank you for your hard work Hank, and RIP.

Questions:


1)What are some of the problems facing cattle ranchers?
A: The monopoly power in the meatpacking industry, the depressed prices in the cattle market, the economic forces bankrupting independent ranchers, the tax laws that favor wealthy ranchers, and the unrelenting push of Colorado's real estate developers.

2) What are "captive supplies" of cattle?
A: Cattle that are either maintained in company-owned feedlots or purchased in advance through forward contracts.

3)How does the nutritional value of a McNugget compare with that of a hamburger?
A: The chicken nugget has twice as much fat per ounce as the hamburger.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Fast Food Nation Chapter 5

Today A 15 year old middle school drop-out already has "troubled kid, not going anywhere in life," written all over it. For J.R. Simplot case that was not the outcome. Starting with the status of a 15 year old drop-out he is now a billionaire, because of his brilliant ideas with potatoes. It astounds me how he started with a simple business of selling horse hides for $2 each saved up his money for a year and started a potato farm. Today I don't think that kids at such a young age are a mature, or have the same determination that J.R. Simplot. I can remember my brother at that age, and he complained over the insignificant bit of homework he had to do, because he wanted to play video games. One of the quotes i enjoyed from this chapter was "The only thing I did smart, and just remember this - ninety-nine percent of people would have sold out when they got their first twenty-five or thirty million. I didn't sell out. I just hung on." Truly he was smart to hang on to the franchise of McDonald's. like it said in the intro, McDonald started off with simply one thousand restaurants, and today about thirty thousand restaurants worldwide. If he didn't "hang on" who knows if J.R. Simplot name would be as famous as it is today, or he would be as wealthy as he is.

So the question is what makes french fries taste so good? The answer can be be found in the artificial flavoring in food. These artificial flavors are made inside of large factories, with men and women wearing science coats, mixing chemicals day in and day out trying to make the perfect smell to activated your taste buds. To me, that doesn't really make fast food appetizing. You would think that what you see behind the counter is where the smell is coming from, when actually the smell was injected in and shipped thousands of miles. Not only is this disgusting, but i think it puts the wonderful world of culinary to shame. Yes, I must say it is a brilliant idea! It attracts customers in, making them believe what they smell is really what is smells like, but it isn't morally right. Food should be kept natural, cause that's where the true delicious flavors lie!



QUESTIONS:

Who is J.R.Simplot? What connection does J. R.Simplot have to the fast food industry?
A: J.R. Simplot was a man who started a potato business in Idaho. He collaborated with McDonald's and still today they sell his french fries

How have the potato farms in Idaho changed in the last 25 years or so?
A: The potato farms are technically farms anymore, They are more so factories. The potatoes are grown, skinned,sliced, and then frozen, or dehydrated to be shipped. Before they were grown, skinned, sliced, The potato farms weren't introduced the the technology of freezing them and dehydrating them.

What are some of the similarities and some of the differences between "
A: The difference is that "natural Flavors," are made with natural chemicals, as in "Artificial Flavors," are made with synthetic chemicals. The world largest Flavor industry is located in Dayton, New Jersey, The second larges in East Hanover.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Fast Food Nation: Introduction

This quote from the book "Food has changed more in the last forty years then in the last forty thousand years," shocked me the most. The difference between forty and forty thousand is ginormous, and to think that food has evolved quicker in forty years then forty thousand years sickens my stomach and makes me wonder what are they really putting in my fast food meals. In the introduction it said that fast food comes prepackaged frozen, canned, dehydrated, and frozen-dried. The question that arose when I read this sentence is, what do they do to make it taste so enticing? What could they possibly do to our food in a simple kitchen to make costumers come back?

What impressed me the most, is that fast food started in southern California with simple hot dog stands. In 1968 there were 1,000 restaurants world wide, and today there is being added 2,000 each year! Also how in the 1970's 6 billion dollars was spent on fast food, and how in the new millennium 110 billion is spent on fast food. Economically in my opinion fast food is doing better then any other business. It's astounding how in 30 years a business can have and income increase of 104 billion.

health issues is another important factor in the fast food nation. In the book is said that "the average American has 3 hamburgers, and four orders of french fries each week." At first i didn't think that was possible that an average American would eat that much, but then i thought of my own school Lake Howell. Everyday i see at my table, about half the people eat cheeseburgers or hamburgers with fries everyday! The authors statement, with My school reference really proved to me how obese Americans are. Other health issues that people should be concerned about, are of the workers. It is said that many of the injuries that happen in slather houses, etc, go unrecorded and uncompensated.

In the introduction of the book fast food nation I've learned quite bit for just 10 pages. As the weeks go on by I plan to post more about this book, and about fast foods unraveling secrets! :)


Questions:

1. What is the hearth of the fast food industry?
A: Southern California (hot dog stand)

2. How does the amount spent on fast food compare to the amount spent on other things in society?
A: The authors said we spend more on fast food then on books, newspapers,videos, recorded music, and movies combined! Also the author stated that people spend more money on fast food then on higher education, personal computers, computer software, and new cars.

3. What are some of the observations about McDonald's made by the author?
A: McDonald's is responsible for 90% of the country's new jobs. In 1968 there were 1,000 restaurants world wide, and in the 2000's their adding 2,000 new each year. About 1/8 of workers has once worked at McDonald's. McDonald's is the larges toy giver. It is also the larges purchaser of beef, pork, chicken and potatoes.