The New York Times features a piece about Eric Schlosser, author of 2001's "Fast Food Nation" (which has just bee turned into a movie) and co-author of the new "Chew on This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food," which is aimed at adolescents – and which some feel could even have greater impact than the first book.
The timing certainly was good because the first book came out the same year that the US Surgeon General declared obesity to be an epidemic.
"Fast Food Nation" has sold more than 1.4 million copies. "In the five years since 'Fast Food Nation' was published," the Times writes, America's attention to what it eats has perked up markedly. A movement to overhaul school lunch programs has gained momentum, capped with an announcement last week that soda companies will voluntarily remove sugary drinks from school vending machines. Terms like trans fat, mad cow disease and sustainable agriculture are part of the shopper's lexicon. Fast food companies have animal welfare policies and marketing budgets devoted to making salads as popular as burgers."
The timing certainly was good because the first book came out the same year that the US Surgeon General declared obesity to be an epidemic.
"Fast Food Nation" has sold more than 1.4 million copies. "In the five years since 'Fast Food Nation' was published," the Times writes, America's attention to what it eats has perked up markedly. A movement to overhaul school lunch programs has gained momentum, capped with an announcement last week that soda companies will voluntarily remove sugary drinks from school vending machines. Terms like trans fat, mad cow disease and sustainable agriculture are part of the shopper's lexicon. Fast food companies have animal welfare policies and marketing budgets devoted to making salads as popular as burgers."
- KC's View:
- Supermarkets ought to embrace this campaign, not run away from it. They are, after all, the logical alternative to fast food…and this is a great opportunity to make themselves the accessible alternative in the hearts and minds of young people.
