In the food educational book called Fast Food Nation talks about the history of how fast food got his name. The author, Eric Schlosser, tells the story of how fast food originated and evolved into what it is now. Fast food originated from small stands on the street that sold hot dogs and stuff. It went through many changes and had been impacted by many different cooperation. There were lots of rivaling fast food restaurants that were competing on the cheapest, tasteful, and convenient food.
1. What was the author's purpose(s) in writing this book, and how can you tell? How well was this purpose achieved?
Eric Schlosser's purpose of writing this book is to inform others about the history of fast food itself. Many of the new generation of kids never questioned fat food restaurants and thought they were always here to begin with. When in reality, it took years for the fast food restaurants to assemble the prefect process on how they cook the food.
Most kids now a days know that fast food is bad but do they really know why it is bad? Most of them don't. On top of that kids don't really care about their health until they are older because when you are young you can burn the food at a faster rate. But if eating fast food becomes a habit, when they get older they will suffer the consequence.
Eric also wanted the public to know all of the bad things that fast food companies do just to get their money. The company mangers manges the company and yet they are the ones deciding what should go on what type of food. They are not cooks and they are making food for the public according to the price range they want. He also wanted people to know about the history of fast food because most of the people don't really know about it. He wants to let them know how fast food changed into what it is now and how it has caused a dramatic change into society even though its just restaurants.
I think that this books' job was achieved. He wanted to let everyone know about all the dangerous things that an happen. He also wanted everyone to know the real truth and secrets behind fast food. In fact a movie was made solely based on this book itself. The movie was shown to many people and Eric fulfilled his duties to shed some light to the younger kids that don't know much about fast food.
2. For what audience(s) is this book intended, and how can you tell? (In other words, for whom would you recommend this book?)
I think that this book is mostly towards younger readers and some adults because most of the adults know and the harmful things that can come with fast food. I think that is was towards teens because they are the ones that don't know anything about fast food and yet they eat it the most too. Before I read this book the only things I knew from fast food is that it is unhealthy and it is fat for you. That is basically all the adults told me. However none of these things mattered to me because I would usually burn of the energy really quick.
I can tell that the book is towards the teenage group because it is full of fun facts that relates to things we see everyday such as McDonald, Burger King, and Walt Disney Pictures. The teenage group knows all if not most of these fast food companies. Walt Disney is not a fast food company but it has worked and made contracts with McDonald before. I think the teenage group would most definitely like it because it is an eye opener to things that were never questioned.
I also learned many facts and things that happened during the age when fast food was evolving and competing with one another. The blueprint for making such a successful cooking system was also turned into to be made for factories. I think that the things that fast food affected during this age was very interesting and I think that other teens like me would enjoy it too.
4. How would you describe the author's style of writing? What's your opinion of the style?
I think that the author's writing style is very clear. When he talks about the history of fast food and you really relate to how things were back then. He also paints a picture in your head about things like "What Ifs". He does a really good job condensing the job and still make the literature flow as you read it. Even though most of the was information he still has short stories to go along with it. I thought that was a good thing to put in his book because if he were to just cramp us all with just information the book would be very boring. He also keeps the readers interested with what happened after this event and such and such.
I also thought that his writing style is great for long termed stories because in the beginning of the story he traced it all the way back to the first fast food restaurant and in the end he talks about the fast food nation now. He displays a good sense of time in his book. He also relates other outside problems into his book. He talks about WW2, Walt Disney, and other companies who used the blue print for using employees to the best way possible. Eric also uses real life stories to his story so it makes the reader feel like the problems are real and can happen to anyone. I also like how he talks about other things that is sort of relating towards fast food things. He talks about other things like food somethings. Not fast food but regular food. He also tells about employee's harsh working conditions and how many people are dying or have lost body parts while doing this certain job like the slaughter house for any example.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Fast Food Nation Reading Part Two
Fries is a main part of the fast food culture. But not many people actually know about it. To me fries do not taste that good. However back in the 1960s fries were greatly appreciated. It was only benefiting the fast food companies because the French fries that they were selling were frozen. These French fries were made by a man named John Richard Simplot. What he developed was the same exact flavor for French fries except it was frozen making it able to be sold at different places. Fast food companies saved a lot of money selling these cheaper fries that taste relatively the same. All the fast food companies started competing on which has to cheapest and best tasting fries after that. Now McDonald is not the only one serving frozen fries.
Meat in the fast food companies were also very bad. An example is the McDonald McNugget. It is the breaded chicken breast. These were VERY bad for you because it was cooked in beef oil and the chicken that produced those breast were genetically enhanced. What they did to the chicken was enhance them with chemicals that made them lay more eggs. After being to old to lay anymore eggs the enhance their breast and then use them for McNuggets.
Slaughter houses were also created for efficiency of killing cows and extracting the meat from it. However that is a dangerous job. Killing the cows was just not bad enough and now the working conditions are even worse. They have to work in freezing temperature to keep the meat as fresh as possible. All of the employees were also not getting enough health care and treatment. When they injury or lose a body part they receive money and that's it. It is also relatively not that much at that time too. Their hourly wage is also one third the average amount a normal employee. Many of the slaughter house workers had a family to support and if they get injured they would still have to go to work. The doctors at the factory does not care and all they would say is "it is a pulled muscle". When in fact it is something much worse.
Some things frighten me even more that is know that you don't know what is exactly in your meat patties or whatever you are eating. There are many cases where someone got sick of eating meat and to later find out that it was infected with some kind of disease.
Meat in the fast food companies were also very bad. An example is the McDonald McNugget. It is the breaded chicken breast. These were VERY bad for you because it was cooked in beef oil and the chicken that produced those breast were genetically enhanced. What they did to the chicken was enhance them with chemicals that made them lay more eggs. After being to old to lay anymore eggs the enhance their breast and then use them for McNuggets.
Slaughter houses were also created for efficiency of killing cows and extracting the meat from it. However that is a dangerous job. Killing the cows was just not bad enough and now the working conditions are even worse. They have to work in freezing temperature to keep the meat as fresh as possible. All of the employees were also not getting enough health care and treatment. When they injury or lose a body part they receive money and that's it. It is also relatively not that much at that time too. Their hourly wage is also one third the average amount a normal employee. Many of the slaughter house workers had a family to support and if they get injured they would still have to go to work. The doctors at the factory does not care and all they would say is "it is a pulled muscle". When in fact it is something much worse.
Some things frighten me even more that is know that you don't know what is exactly in your meat patties or whatever you are eating. There are many cases where someone got sick of eating meat and to later find out that it was infected with some kind of disease.
Monday, April 19, 2010
School And Sports
So this is kind of late and I don't know if I still get credit but it still do this anyways.
So I have been going to track for about one and half months already. I have been getting really sore from it. But I really do like running. It is just that rarely anyone runs it with me now. What I'm trying to say is everything is falling apart in the track team. If you look at other schools their track team is so committed. But in our school most of the people go once a week now. It really pisses me off when I see people like that on the track team. In fact, my friend is rarely going now because he complains that it is boring. Well if nobody goes it gets boring. Last year was really fun when everyone would go everyday just talk, run, and hang out. Now it is just run and go home. There's no fun time in between.
On top of that our coach has also become more light on track members. He used to make us do nearly impossible work outs and no it is a piece of cake. I think it is because of the fact that most of them are freshmens and they aren't as good as the seniors last year. We also don't have that much seniors and juniors this year too. There is about 60 people left on the sprint team and around 30 thru 35 show up for practice on average and 20 of them are freshmens. I have to admit it is really boring with out the upper classmens. Last year on the track team everyone was in one huge group and now its all in separate smaller groups. Sometimes I wished I joined a different sport like badminton or something. That sounds really fun to play. But I can't really do that now because I'm already in varsity and I have to be in the 4 by 4 next year. I really hope more people would join track and everyone just mingle so that everyone would know each other more.
In fact, it has been one and a half months and I still don't know some people names. This is really sad because last year every body knew each other. This year for track wasn't as great but I'm still satisfied that I am getting a lot faster. However, I have more problems like sores and what not. Track consumes a lot of my time too. Since I'm in varsity I have to run the late practice which from 5 to 7 or so. Leaving me very little time to do anything else. I always tell myself I would do it from the time between I get off of school and start practice which is a good 2 hours or so but I never do it. This leaves me with very little time and makes me stay up very late. I don't mind it but my parents say that I don't get enough sleep. I sleep around 12 or 1 everyday so that's around a little over 6 hours of sleep every night. I think the average person SHOULD get is 10 right? So I'm ONLY 4 hours off. Sarcasm.
School has also been a pain in the ass. It's that time of year again. Near the end. All there is left is testing, testing, and testing. What am I doing tomorrow? Testing. The day after that? Testing. It really sucks. I'm not a junior or a senior so there's no special party for us. The year is almost over. I can't believe it. I also still have to find a summer school to go to. Panic mode is turned on. I really want to go to a summer school that I can actually learn from and I also want to find a part time job to have my own spending money. My family is really Asian and they don't believe in allowances. So what I get is what I can spend EXCEPT the first pay check because apparently it HAS to go to my parents. I don't know why and I don't want to question them because they will give me a long list of money used on me. Right now it is 1:45 AM and it is a Sunday so that means I have school tomorrow. I should really get some sleep. Chow!
So I have been going to track for about one and half months already. I have been getting really sore from it. But I really do like running. It is just that rarely anyone runs it with me now. What I'm trying to say is everything is falling apart in the track team. If you look at other schools their track team is so committed. But in our school most of the people go once a week now. It really pisses me off when I see people like that on the track team. In fact, my friend is rarely going now because he complains that it is boring. Well if nobody goes it gets boring. Last year was really fun when everyone would go everyday just talk, run, and hang out. Now it is just run and go home. There's no fun time in between.
On top of that our coach has also become more light on track members. He used to make us do nearly impossible work outs and no it is a piece of cake. I think it is because of the fact that most of them are freshmens and they aren't as good as the seniors last year. We also don't have that much seniors and juniors this year too. There is about 60 people left on the sprint team and around 30 thru 35 show up for practice on average and 20 of them are freshmens. I have to admit it is really boring with out the upper classmens. Last year on the track team everyone was in one huge group and now its all in separate smaller groups. Sometimes I wished I joined a different sport like badminton or something. That sounds really fun to play. But I can't really do that now because I'm already in varsity and I have to be in the 4 by 4 next year. I really hope more people would join track and everyone just mingle so that everyone would know each other more.
In fact, it has been one and a half months and I still don't know some people names. This is really sad because last year every body knew each other. This year for track wasn't as great but I'm still satisfied that I am getting a lot faster. However, I have more problems like sores and what not. Track consumes a lot of my time too. Since I'm in varsity I have to run the late practice which from 5 to 7 or so. Leaving me very little time to do anything else. I always tell myself I would do it from the time between I get off of school and start practice which is a good 2 hours or so but I never do it. This leaves me with very little time and makes me stay up very late. I don't mind it but my parents say that I don't get enough sleep. I sleep around 12 or 1 everyday so that's around a little over 6 hours of sleep every night. I think the average person SHOULD get is 10 right? So I'm ONLY 4 hours off. Sarcasm.
School has also been a pain in the ass. It's that time of year again. Near the end. All there is left is testing, testing, and testing. What am I doing tomorrow? Testing. The day after that? Testing. It really sucks. I'm not a junior or a senior so there's no special party for us. The year is almost over. I can't believe it. I also still have to find a summer school to go to. Panic mode is turned on. I really want to go to a summer school that I can actually learn from and I also want to find a part time job to have my own spending money. My family is really Asian and they don't believe in allowances. So what I get is what I can spend EXCEPT the first pay check because apparently it HAS to go to my parents. I don't know why and I don't want to question them because they will give me a long list of money used on me. Right now it is 1:45 AM and it is a Sunday so that means I have school tomorrow. I should really get some sleep. Chow!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Fast Food Nation Reading Part One ( Arghhh Way To Much Information )
Fast Food Nation a book written by Eric Schlosser tells the true story about fast food, from where it originated to what's in the food. The book tells about how fast food originated. Fast food came from street stands that were selling hot dogs, hamburgers and soda. The trend started in Los Angeles. Those stands started expanding and started to buys lands for restaurants. However it did not stop there. Restaurants back then had to be sat down using fork and knives. So the restaurants made a even quicker service having carhop where the people would just order and eat in their cars. They also invited the Drive- Thru speeding it even more. However McDonald found the most efficient way to serve burgers and that was to change the system that would not require Waitress, Dishes, Bus Boys, and Car Hops. They also wiped out the fork and the knife making everything into burgers. To add onto the speed they changed their equipment so that it only requires one person to do one task making the food much faster like a factory. Fast food restaurants were not the only ones who used this system through building things such as a burger. Many other company followed this method for the efficiency. Soon after that more and more branches went to other states and countries making it into a large corporations.
Not long after that Walt Disney made their first appearance. Disney made many movies and films that attracted kids and they were going to make a Disneyland. McDonald and Disney combined together to make Disneyland a place for kids. Kids could enjoy bring on the happiest place on Earth with the "happy meal" from McDonald too. This also made Disney company bloom quickly. To make more people eat at a fast food chain the food cost was decreased and during the time after the World War II it left a depression so cheap food was liked. Most fast food has practically made kids their only targets for their food because they get attracted the most. After many companies started noticing this other companies tried to copy it such as cigarette companies. They have gone so far to practically bribe kids to get good grades to get fast food. McDonald also made a playground just for kids.
There are also something Fast Food Chains aren't telling their customers like how they make their food. Everything is pre-made and gets shipped to the restaurant and from there they just heat it up. Everything is frozen and all the drinks come in a syrup. Taco Bell is even worse all they do is just add hot water to everything and put it all together. Teenagers are also working at these places for around 7 hours being over worked. Everything is made from the lowest amount of price making the food not as healthy. Fast food mangers that manage the money are not cooks so they do not know the price of food and in their eyes is the money instead of the final product itself. Teenagers are also getting hurt more than adult employees.
Not to mention the fact that fast food is becoming unhealthier and unhealthier. The creators of new burgers are making them solely through its price range instead of how it taste. For an example KFC released a new product the other day called the Double Down. It consist of a chicken patty, cheese, bacon, cheese again, and then another chicken patty. No buns at all. It sounds really good but when I tried it, it tasted horrible. No mention how bad it is for you. This is why makers of fast food products are business men and NOT COOKS.
Not long after that Walt Disney made their first appearance. Disney made many movies and films that attracted kids and they were going to make a Disneyland. McDonald and Disney combined together to make Disneyland a place for kids. Kids could enjoy bring on the happiest place on Earth with the "happy meal" from McDonald too. This also made Disney company bloom quickly. To make more people eat at a fast food chain the food cost was decreased and during the time after the World War II it left a depression so cheap food was liked. Most fast food has practically made kids their only targets for their food because they get attracted the most. After many companies started noticing this other companies tried to copy it such as cigarette companies. They have gone so far to practically bribe kids to get good grades to get fast food. McDonald also made a playground just for kids.
There are also something Fast Food Chains aren't telling their customers like how they make their food. Everything is pre-made and gets shipped to the restaurant and from there they just heat it up. Everything is frozen and all the drinks come in a syrup. Taco Bell is even worse all they do is just add hot water to everything and put it all together. Teenagers are also working at these places for around 7 hours being over worked. Everything is made from the lowest amount of price making the food not as healthy. Fast food mangers that manage the money are not cooks so they do not know the price of food and in their eyes is the money instead of the final product itself. Teenagers are also getting hurt more than adult employees.
Not to mention the fact that fast food is becoming unhealthier and unhealthier. The creators of new burgers are making them solely through its price range instead of how it taste. For an example KFC released a new product the other day called the Double Down. It consist of a chicken patty, cheese, bacon, cheese again, and then another chicken patty. No buns at all. It sounds really good but when I tried it, it tasted horrible. No mention how bad it is for you. This is why makers of fast food products are business men and NOT COOKS.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Fourth Quarter Goals
I have seventy-five cents and almost to a dollar. The last quarter is always the funnest and the hardest. It has almost been a full school year. Looking back at it, it seem like I didn't accomplish as much as I would have wanted. But then again you don't notice what you have learned as time passes. Sophomore year has gone by really quickly and there are a few things I really want to improve on. One thing I would love to improve on is my writing. All my life my writing has not been my strong point and I don't think it will ever be. But I can actually feel myself becoming better.
Blogging has truly changed my life. I also use tumblr now so I just blog about random things that go on in my life and I usually end up writing three hundred or so words each time. When I first started blogging I wanted to only stick to one topic but now I like to free write and express what happens in my current life. My current life sometimes gets boring but blogging can save all those memories of what happen whether it is good or bad. What I want to do is keep blogging until the end of high school and just look back at all the things I have written and reminisce my high school life. I definitely will continue blogging but on tumblr because it seems a lot more organized. ( No offense Blogger ).
It seems like I am addicted to blogging now. Even if I do have a lot of homework and it seems like I don't have enough time I always take a break and just blog about my day. Something this simple can add on. Blogging 300 or so words a day seems like a big jump because in the beginning of the school year, my thoughts on blogging every week was just homework homework homework. Blogging is actually fun if you get use to it. It's sort of a routine and habit now to blog. One thing I would love to do but never do is reread them after I write them. I usually just write the blog and post it until a few months later I read all of them and discover all of the grammatical errors.
Next year I will be taking all these hard class such as AP calculus and APES and it WILL require a lot of time. Making it harder for me to blog about random things. There's also one really important thing I want to do. FINISH my blog before a Friday instead of leaving it to the last minute.( Like right now. ) This has a been a really bad habit for me because in tumblr no one really cares when I post another article so I do it whenever I have spare time. So my goal until the end of the year is to post my posts before Friday. I would also make my post seem like I'm actually talking to the readers because some of my post seems like I'm writing it for a teacher even though I really am. Lets see how those goals will works out!
Blogging has truly changed my life. I also use tumblr now so I just blog about random things that go on in my life and I usually end up writing three hundred or so words each time. When I first started blogging I wanted to only stick to one topic but now I like to free write and express what happens in my current life. My current life sometimes gets boring but blogging can save all those memories of what happen whether it is good or bad. What I want to do is keep blogging until the end of high school and just look back at all the things I have written and reminisce my high school life. I definitely will continue blogging but on tumblr because it seems a lot more organized. ( No offense Blogger ).
It seems like I am addicted to blogging now. Even if I do have a lot of homework and it seems like I don't have enough time I always take a break and just blog about my day. Something this simple can add on. Blogging 300 or so words a day seems like a big jump because in the beginning of the school year, my thoughts on blogging every week was just homework homework homework. Blogging is actually fun if you get use to it. It's sort of a routine and habit now to blog. One thing I would love to do but never do is reread them after I write them. I usually just write the blog and post it until a few months later I read all of them and discover all of the grammatical errors.
Next year I will be taking all these hard class such as AP calculus and APES and it WILL require a lot of time. Making it harder for me to blog about random things. There's also one really important thing I want to do. FINISH my blog before a Friday instead of leaving it to the last minute.( Like right now. ) This has a been a really bad habit for me because in tumblr no one really cares when I post another article so I do it whenever I have spare time. So my goal until the end of the year is to post my posts before Friday. I would also make my post seem like I'm actually talking to the readers because some of my post seems like I'm writing it for a teacher even though I really am. Lets see how those goals will works out!
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