Chew On This: Everything You Don’t Want To Know About Fast Food

Maverick entrepreneur Ray Kroc was the main reason behind McDonald’s success. “For years Kroc struggled to find the product that would earn him a fortune,” and  went through unsuccessful ventures that included powdered instant drinks and square ice cream scoops (19). Kroc thought that he had found the product that would make him a success when he encountered the McDonald brothers’ methods of fast food production. While the brothers were content to stay with their single and already successful San Bernardino restaurant, Kroc was the one who envisioned the McDonald's empire and set out to build the franchise.

As well as seeking to earn as much money as he could, Kroc was genuinely passionate about the McDonald's values of child-friendliness, standardization and french fries of ‘“sacrosanct’” perfection (69). He took Walt Disney, whom Kroc served beside during World War I, as a role model, and even shared his quirky penchant for cleanliness, to the extent that he would scrub the holes in his mop wringer with a toothbrush.

However, Kroc also had a ruthless side; irked that the McDonald's brothers were relaxing in San Bernardino while he was performing all the hard work, he bought them out and even set up a McDonald's opposite their own restaurant, forcing them to change their name and eventually putting them out of business. Kroc is the prototypical example of the unbridled optimism and ruthless entrepreneurial quality of people in the fast food business. Kroc barged ahead with the changes that he thought would make him rich, without thinking of the ripple effect of the many, many people who were influenced by his actions.

A figure of comparison and inspiration in Schlosser and Wilson’s book, Walt Disney, creator of ‘“the happiest place on earth,’” was a role model for Ray Kroc (29). He had a knack for turning children’s entertainment “‘into a machine for the manufacture of entertainment’” and for attaching merchandise to the films his company made (28). Schlosser and Wilson show how Disney’s idea of synergy, “to link many products together in the mind of a consumer and secretly advertise them all at once” was a big influence on Kroc, who wanted to do something similar with McDonald's (30).

Disney was excited by the possibilities of modern science and believed that the new ways were always better than the old. He created a Tomorrowland section in Disneyland Park that contained everything from the kitchen of the future, to products from General Dynamics, to a company that built nuclear reactors, spreading the message that such reactors were safe. Disney’s love of science was wholly uncritical, and “there was never a hint that some new products—and the scientific thinking behind them—could be harmful” (29). 

However, behind his cheery, wide-eyed self-image, Disney was controlling. While he called his studios a “‘fun factory,’” he deployed assembly-line work methods that placed efficiency ahead of job satisfaction (28). He was also tyrannical about smaller things, such as not allowing his employees to open windows in the studios so that the temperature inside would remain stable.  

By revealing Disney’s sinister side and showing how he was a role model for the fast food industry, Schlosser and Wilson demonstrate how these associated All-American, child-targeted industries need to be viewed critically, rather than being passively accepted.

Known as Idaho’s “great potato baron,” school drop-out J.R. Simplot pioneered the idea of the frozen potato fry, hoping that busy 1950s housewives would enjoy them due to the frozen fries’ longevity. He even charged a team of chemists with creating a fry that would retain its crunch and taste when frozen. The American Russet Burbank potato, with its large size and high starch content, proved to be his saving grace. When supermarket sales for his frozen fry were poor, Simplot targeted fast food chains, who already had fryers and a team of staff in their kitchens. When Simplot met Ray Kroc, the meeting went well, as Simplot’s idea would save on the time it took to peel and wash potatoes. The results turned out well for Simplot, who became one of the richest men in the United States and was influential in owning land that collectively was three times the size of Luxembourg. When Schlosser and Wilson compare Simplot to the potato formers in Idaho who “haven’t done nearly as well,” they use Simplot as an example of the concentrated wealth resulting from the fast food industry (73).

As a child, West-Virginia-born Danielle Brent loved to eat at McDonald’s. At age 16, when she needed a job, a friend suggested that she should work with them. However, the reality of working at McDonald’s was tougher than Danielle expected, given the inconvenient hours and rude customers. Danielle is an example of the many American high-schoolers who work in a fast food restaurant, to the point that the workforce is “dominated by teens” (54). Teens like Danielle are most likely to be hired by McDonald's, which “instead of relying upon a small, stable, well-paid and well-trained workforce […] seeks out part-time, unskilled workers who are willing to accept low pay” (54). Danielle is a cog in the fast-food industry’s wheel, an example of someone being paid minimally so that those at the top of the corporation can make money.

Emily Hanna grew up on a cattle ranch in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Her family dedicated their lives to rearing and caring for their cattle and even as a baby, Emily accompanied her father on his chores as he carried her in a little sheepskin pouch. Living in such a rural, rugged place, Emily and her sister Maggie were taught “to work hard, to be fearless and independent” (117). When their father died, Emily and Maggie learned to drive a four-wheeler, throw a lasso, sort cattle in the corral, and take care of abandoned calves. The Hanna family are representative of the ranchers and cowboys who have made up the mythology of the American West and live in harmony with nature. They respect their cattle and as a result, those cattle lead good lives. However, the Hannas are relevant to Schlosser and Wilson’s fast food critique because thanks to McDonald's being the largest purchaser of beef, an industrial scale of standardized cattle production is required. Thus “the great symbols of American freedom are being driven out of business by a market that no longer seems free” (123). The values and lifestyle that Emily has grown up with are now massively threatened by the industrial demands of the fast food industry and consumer dependency on this system. 

Sam Fabrikant is a morbidly obese 16-year-old from Illinois who has to make the tough decision about whether he should have a life-threatening gastric bypass operation. Once a skinny kid, with the nickname “‘string bean,’” Sam started to become overweight around the age of 10, after a routine of large meals at home and three or four fast food meals a week (156). Sam’s school, typical of many American high schools, is across the street from a McDonald's, and in the vicinity of many other fast food chains, all of which make it easy for him to pile on the pounds. Sam is the third person in his family to have a gastric bypass, an operation that has become common among America’s obese and is often necessary to save their lives, while at the same time causing health problems on its own. Sam is therefore an example of the irreversible effects of fast food on a minor’s health.