Eating Animals

For something that is so essential to human life and that we should have such a big say in, very little is known about the American food system to most citizens. Most people can't tell you anything about where their food came from or how it was produced. It seems that in some cases measures are taken to deceive or numb the consumer's conscience. In "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer, the author words this excellently when he says "Language is never fully trustworthy, but when it comes to eating animals, words are as often used to misdirect and camouflage as they are to communicate" (Foer, 45). A perfect example of this that Foer refers to himself in the text is the word "veal". Veal is a term that is used when referring to the meat of a calf. Veal calves are tied to a post for the entirety of their life to keep their muscles tender and are slaughtered while they are still very young. While people who eat veal may already know this, it is much easier to avoid guilt if one says "veal" instead of "dead baby cow". In fact, I remember an episode of the TV show South Park where the main characters managed to get the name of  veal changed in their town to "dead baby cow" and people began refusing to eat it.

Instinct vs. Willpower

Recently I've began reading "The end of overeating" by David A. Kessler. The book took an approach at explaining the phenomenon of human obesity that suggests that we are not rationally in control of what we eat in some instances. It turns out that an area of the brain known as the "reward system" has receptors that are stimulated specifically by three main tastes: Salt, Sweet, and Fat. The brain is essentially addicted to these flavors and it has been proven that the severity with which we crave them is almost as bad as that of a person with a cocaine addiction. Based on this logic, it becomes increasingly less of your choice every time you decide that you want to pick up some McDonalds because you're simply enforcing an addiction that chances are you aren't even aware of.

The significance of Morality.

Upon completion of the muckraking literary piece "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser, I noticed that several of the ideas explored while reading can all be tied to one recurring theme, that theme is morality. The book exposes the fast food and farming corporations lack of compassion and respect for the lives and rights of their clients and workers placing profit above all else. From the actual fast food kitchens, to chicken "growing fields", to processing plants and worst of all the meatpacking plants for heavier bovine animals such as pork and beef which in my opinion has some of the most horrifying testimonies in the book, It is evident that the industry's sole motive is profit at any cost. Most of the corporations that farmers and ranchers look to to purchase their crops and animals have been consolidated so that the farmers and ranchers only have two or three options on who to sell to. To make matters worse, these companies cooperate to set prices for cattle, potatoes, and the like. This is  a great inconvenience to the farmers who end up having to undersell their product, eventually forcing them to take out loans to maintain their land and ultimately they have the options of either delcaring bankruptcy and giving up everything they own, working for the corporations and following their rules in order to keep their property, or commiting suicide. Although the last option may seem a bit drastic, it happens much more often than one would like to believe. The corporations are completely aware of this and could care less as long as whatever is happening right now continues generating profit. It seems that the food industry has completely los it's sense of morality.

Throughput

"Throughput" is essentially the rate at which a factory can produce a product, including how quickly and efficiently the workers and equipment are doing their jobs, as well as how much product is being made in sheer volume. This is especially important to industries that create cheap, low quality products such as the fast food industry. In "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser, the author refers to historian Alfred D. Chandler's argument that throughput was the most important aspect of mass production systems such as the fast food industry to illustrate his position on  fast food production and distribution. The position Schlosser takes is a logical one seeing as how all fast food chains adhere to a theme of uniformity, and because there are so many branches throughput must be prioritized to a degree to ensure customer satisfaction. Chandler's argument, supported by the assembly line philosophy used in McDonald's kitchens that was later adopted by so many other fast food chains, seems to encourage the idea that the priority with all of these restaurants is getting the product sold as quickly and as in the largest quantities that they can. However, the cost of eating this food may end up being much more than what comes from the customer's pocket.