Andrew F. Smith - Food Controversies: Fast Food : The Good, the Bad and the Hungry DOC, FB2
9781780235745 1780235747 Fast food is the most pervasive culinary movement of our time. At the heart of the fast-food industry are large multinational chains, which are expanding in almost every corner of the world. Today, an estimated one million outlets that affect hundreds of millions of people every day are providing access to reasonably tasty food with speed, economy and convenience, appealing to customers of different nationalities, ethnicities, religions, ages, genders, classes, financial status and culinary traditions. Andrew F. Smith explores why the industry has been so successful and examines how it has negatively affected the environment, exposed its customers to health risks, degraded the diets of children and underpaid its workers. Critics have published scathing exposés, supported boycotts, engaged in demonstrations and lobbied political leaders to force fast-food corporations to reduce the harm they cause. In response, fast-food chains have made changes-occasionally substantial, but more often token-in their operations. More commonly, the industry has denied responsibility, blamed customers, castigated suppliers, opposed regulations and initiatives, funded sympathetic political candidates and organizations, sued opponents, blocked unionization and launched media blitzes in the face of negative publicity. Fast Food examines the industry's options and those of its customers, and asks what society as a whole can and should do to ameliorate the major problems generated by fast food. Book jacket., The single most influential culinary trend of our time is fast food. It has spawned an industry that has changed eating, the most fundamental of human activities. From the first flipping of burgers in tiny shacks in the western United States to the forging of neon signs that spell out Pizza Hut in Cyrillic or Arabic scripts, the fast food industry has exploded into dominance, becoming one of the leading examples of global corporate success. And with this success it has become one of the largest targets of political criticism, blamed for widespread obesity, cultural erasure, oppressive labor practices, and environmental destruction on massive scales. In this book, expert culinary historian Andrew F. Smith explores why the fast food industry has been so successful and examines the myriad ethical lines it has crossed to become so. As he shows, fast food plain and simple devised a perfect retail model, one that works everywhere, providing highly flavored calories with speed, economy, and convenience. But there is no such thing as a free lunch, they say, and the costs with fast food have been enormous: an assault on proper nutrition, a minimum-wage labor standard, and a powerful pressure on farmers and ranchers to deploy some of the worst agricultural practices in history. As Smith shows, we have long known about these problems, and the fast food industry for nearly all of its existence has been beset with scathing exposes, boycotts, protests, and government interventions, which it has sometimes met with real changes but more often with token gestures, blame-passing, and an unrelenting gauntlet of lawyers and lobbyists. "Fast Food" ultimately looks at food as a business, an examination of the industry s options and those of consumers, and a serious inquiry into what society can do to ameliorate the problems this cheap and tasty product has created."
9781780235745 1780235747 Fast food is the most pervasive culinary movement of our time. At the heart of the fast-food industry are large multinational chains, which are expanding in almost every corner of the world. Today, an estimated one million outlets that affect hundreds of millions of people every day are providing access to reasonably tasty food with speed, economy and convenience, appealing to customers of different nationalities, ethnicities, religions, ages, genders, classes, financial status and culinary traditions. Andrew F. Smith explores why the industry has been so successful and examines how it has negatively affected the environment, exposed its customers to health risks, degraded the diets of children and underpaid its workers. Critics have published scathing exposés, supported boycotts, engaged in demonstrations and lobbied political leaders to force fast-food corporations to reduce the harm they cause. In response, fast-food chains have made changes-occasionally substantial, but more often token-in their operations. More commonly, the industry has denied responsibility, blamed customers, castigated suppliers, opposed regulations and initiatives, funded sympathetic political candidates and organizations, sued opponents, blocked unionization and launched media blitzes in the face of negative publicity. Fast Food examines the industry's options and those of its customers, and asks what society as a whole can and should do to ameliorate the major problems generated by fast food. Book jacket., The single most influential culinary trend of our time is fast food. It has spawned an industry that has changed eating, the most fundamental of human activities. From the first flipping of burgers in tiny shacks in the western United States to the forging of neon signs that spell out Pizza Hut in Cyrillic or Arabic scripts, the fast food industry has exploded into dominance, becoming one of the leading examples of global corporate success. And with this success it has become one of the largest targets of political criticism, blamed for widespread obesity, cultural erasure, oppressive labor practices, and environmental destruction on massive scales. In this book, expert culinary historian Andrew F. Smith explores why the fast food industry has been so successful and examines the myriad ethical lines it has crossed to become so. As he shows, fast food plain and simple devised a perfect retail model, one that works everywhere, providing highly flavored calories with speed, economy, and convenience. But there is no such thing as a free lunch, they say, and the costs with fast food have been enormous: an assault on proper nutrition, a minimum-wage labor standard, and a powerful pressure on farmers and ranchers to deploy some of the worst agricultural practices in history. As Smith shows, we have long known about these problems, and the fast food industry for nearly all of its existence has been beset with scathing exposes, boycotts, protests, and government interventions, which it has sometimes met with real changes but more often with token gestures, blame-passing, and an unrelenting gauntlet of lawyers and lobbyists. "Fast Food" ultimately looks at food as a business, an examination of the industry s options and those of consumers, and a serious inquiry into what society can do to ameliorate the problems this cheap and tasty product has created."