BLOG ENTERY 5

­­Deterioration of Young Minds

Fast Food industry began as simple and cheap food business in California during 1950’s and 1960’s after World War II. The fast food industry gained unforeseen success and quickly propagated all around the world and contributed in making America, a super power. McDonald’s is the most famous American fast food chain and its sign is recognized by people worldwide. It has become a culture on its own, a part of our society which is now unavoidable.  Success makes man hungry for more, likewise success of these industries made their owner’s ruthless entrepreneurs. And Eric Schlosser reveals the darkness and evil motives of these industries in his book titled “Fast Food Nation.” One of the issues brought forth by him is about child customers. Children and teenagers are soft targets of fast food industry both as consumers and workers. All advertisements are made keeping children in mind. The adversity of fast food nation has prominent effect in young minds of our nation.

Until 1980’s, American companies did not invested huge sum of money on advertisement. However this changed after 1980’s. Since then every major fast food and retail companies directs marketing at children. Children are the number one customers. Modernizations lead to parents spending less and less time with their young children as both parents started going out for work. These parents feeling guilty provided their kids everything, from toys to fast food to make them happy. The consumer demand increased and the companies started investing huge sum in researching and developing new business scheme. Both Ray Kroc and Walt Disney realized the significance of child customer and that a “brand loyalty” can start from early age of two. “Hoping that nostalgic childhood memory of a lead to lifetime of purchase, companies now plan “cradle to grave” advertising strategies.”(43)  We all have childhood memories of consuming certain branded food and have sentimental attachment. And to stop consuming that would mean to forget a part of your childhood.

These companies take advantage of our weaknesses. Today all most everywhere we turn our head; we see advertisement, from billboards to television, street walls, school, taxis and buses. It has become unavoidable and children, who have no sense of right or wrong, trust whatever they see or hear. Each and every companies weather food, clothing, and gadgets, automobile and toys all target child customers.  The children are described as “surrogate salesmen” by Sociologist Vance Packard as they nag their parents in all the possible way to make them buy branded products. (43) The children use all sorts of tactics like crying, throwing tantrums, emotional blackmailing, disobeying or creating scene’s in front of people in order to get toys.  However efforts were made by FTC’s and other organization to eradicate such advertisement but were unsuccessful. “Typical American child now spends about twenty-one hours watching television.” (46) And I totally agree with this fact as my own cousin who is six years older than me watches television all day long. Being the only child his parents always fulfill all his demand. However the impact can be seen now, he is socially awkward, always quiet and does not play any sports. Parents also play role in exploiting their child.

Fast Food companies like McDonald’s also invest on research to understand child psychology. Young mind of kids can be easily manipulated and these companies take advantage of it.  These kids often cannot make difference between advertisement and program. And trust everything they see on the television. Ray Kroc soon found out the way to attract young kids was toys, so MacDonald’s made playgrounds and gave free giveaway toys with meals. Companies made huge profit and realized the importance of child customer. As a kid I also collected all the McDonald’s toys and Disney toys. To have a Disney toy was the coolest thing in school. I remember nagging my parents to take me to Disney land as a kid. So the consumer demand also play role in letting these companies exploit the innocence of children. These companies also exploit young teenager who for little money work in these companies. Teenagers are lucrative for such companies and easily hired for cheap labor. These companies provide no health insurance, job security and give minimum wage to young people.

Fast food has exploited the resource of this country in every possible way. We now cannot perceive world without McDonalds and Disney land. They have become a part of our culture and identity. These “Trusted Friend” are slowing taking us to grave. (50) Even I have been consuming fast food since I was a kid. Ray Kroc and Walt Disney are the two epitomes of greatness and success. Both Ray Kroc and Walt Disney are idols and inspiration of many Americans. And people blindly trust these companies. These companies have dark secrets and vicious business plans. The adverse effect on children is evident. Not only on their minds but health too. Child obesity is a huge issue in America today. Thus these companies benefit by advertising, indirectly destroying our future generation.

 

 

BLOG ENTERY 4: SUMMARIZING CHP: 2 TRUSTED FRIEND

 

In the second chapter titled "Trusted Friend," Eric Schlosser points out the concealed truth behind the sale motives of the giant food and beverages companies. He also mentions briefly about the competition and similarities between the founder of Macdonald’s Ray Kroc and Walt Disney, the founder of Disney land.  Both Ray and Walt were “excellent salesman” and had conservative ideology. Both of them had dropped out from school and both had “optimistic faith in technology and conservative view on politics.” The growth of these companies during 1980’s gave rise to new marketing scheme that targeted kid customers. The giant companies like Disney and Macdonald have adapted relentless and vicious marketing schemes. In fact “one marketing expert called the era of 1980’s, the decade of the child consumers.” It is also mentioned that Madison Avenue, which had ignored child consumers for years, “scrutinized” and “pursed” this methods. These companies researched on child psychology and took full advantage of the innocence and irrational minds of the kids. Ultimately the scheme was to drain money from parents of young kids as the kids would nag, throw tantrums, cry and make their parents feel bad in order to get the branded merchandise. Thus these companies invested huge sums of money in advertisements. The success made these companies to take advertisement to next level. The companies used mass media and billboards. But also started indirect sale of their products in schools and took full advantage. For example the schools in District 11 in Colorado started "nationwide trend" of taking business deals from these companies to generate revenues for the low funded schools. Not caring about the young minds and their health. Children are targeted from early ages of 2 and 3.  Though these companies guarantee to be “trusted friends” but their main aim is to make profit. This chapter reveals the dark side behind motives of these multinational companies.

                                         
 BLOG ENTRY 3: SUMMARIZING ARGUMENT  

CHAPTER1: The founding father

 In the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, the author talks about the history and trend of fast food in America. In the beginning he talks about fast food revolutionizing American lives. He also talks about its effect on both consumers and workers. The chapter starts with the life story of Carl N. Karcher, the founder of Carl’s Jr and his struggle to success. Karcher was a poor farm boy who became a successful business man. The author also talks about California being the focal point for rise of fast food restaurants. Social, economical, interstate roads, and war‘s all contributed to boom of fast food industry. And new consumers, demands and cheap food lead to the success of fast food industry.  In the end he talks about the owner’s of fast food enterprises being so madly driven by success and profit that they have failed to recognize the severe impact of fast food in America and the whole world.

                                           BLOG ENTERY 2: FOOD AND CULTURE

 

Meals are very important to my family because we are concerned about our health. Food is the only source of energy and nutrition necessary for functioning of our body. Every part of our body from microscopic cells to skin (largest organ) needs energy. Food provides us with lipids (fat), protein and carbohydrate (glucose); which is the main source of energy. My mother makes sure that we start our day with nutritional and hearty breakfast. As it is an important meal of the day. And most of us eat our lunch out at work or at school, five days of the week. Dinner is very important meal in my family because we all prepare it together and share. Diner time is more relaxed and we share our day’s activity with each other. My family strongly believes that health is wealth. Beyond nourishment, food is also important emotionally and culturally.

 

What we eat and with whom we eat can inspire and strengthen the bond between individuals. Every night    we cook and share with each other. We care for each other’s well being and cook food for each other. I love to cook food and feed my loved ones. But most of the cooking at home is done by my mother and all of us help her.  But everyone does the shopping for grocery.  I eat my breakfast and dinner with my family but lunch, I eat alone. And on most weekends and holidays we have our cousins and friends over at our house or we visit them. Food is influenced by the culture, history, tradition and also religion. I was born in India but I am half Nepali and Tibetan, so I grew up in mixed culture and diverse society. So there are varieties of foods my family enjoys. Our diet mainly consists of healthy home cooked food. However rice is the staple food in my culture. And we eat rice two to three times a week mostly with lentil soup and green vegetables. And on other days we eat Tibetan and Indian, most often and then Italian, Chinese and Greek cuisines. The food we eat is of course is highly influenced by Indian cuisine and also other Asian cuisine. Apart from rice we eat varieties of noodles just like varieties of pasta. And dumpling is everyone’s favorite. Food is very important in my culture; the season of harvesting of crops (usually during month of September) is a big festival in my culture. This festival takes place for a week so every day we cook and celebrate with friends and family. Food in my culture is also given as a gift to families, friends and neighbors. We celebrate thanksgiving and Christmas and each of my cousins make special items on such occasions and share with all my family. And some foods like rice deserts are made only during special occasions.

 

Food surrounds us in every possible way. We celebrate life’s happiest moments with food, such as marriage, success, graduation, picnics, etc. Also we socialize with food like going out for meal with friends and family, parties and celebrations. Also food is related with memories. We remember our grandmothers, aunts and uncles who pass down their special recipes. And we always have some great cooks in our families like my aunt who makes delicious. Food in most countries is important culturally. We can learn so much about a culture from food. For example Italian’s use tomatoes in almost everything, which means tomatoes, grow in abundant in Italy. And we know that Italians love to cook food and celebrate. This tells us that food is very important for an Italians. Food is a part of my memory, as when I was in high school, me and my friends used to bring food from home sometimes and share with each other. And we still talk about the things we used to eat in school. Also my parents always talk about the food they use to eat and share with us their childhood memories.

 

Also we can get inspired and inspire someone over food. We share our thoughts while eating, big business deals take place during lunch. Cooking food and feeding spreads love and happiness. We appreciate and thank someone we love by making them food that they love. Cooking has proved to be good learning tool for kids to teach them to appreciate food and its importance. Food brings communities together and living in New York, we get to eat so many different foods of different cultures. And learn so much about each other’s culture through food. Also the food that we eat is passed down from one generation to other tradition. For example like Koreans have kimchi’s we also have special fermented green leaves and soy beans that are passed down by our ancestors.

We can explore the culture though food. Each nation is famous for its special foods. Like Japan is world famous for its sushi’s, Belgium for chocolates and Italy for pizza and pasta. Food is important culturally but its main function is it provides us with nutrition. We show love and affection through foods. Like most people, I enjoy cooking and would like to try food of every country. Every day I am able to work and learn due to the energy I get from eating healthy food. Eating is considered as one of the most important parts of our everyday living. Thus food plays a very important role in my family traditionally, culturally and individually.  Food brings me and my family close.

 

 

 

 

 

                                    BLOG ENTRY 1 -Unsafe Food Supply is Killing Us

Over the last century the food that we humans consume has undergone unprecedented change.

Food was once cultivated using only organic and natural substance. But nowadays food is artificially grown using chemical substances. In addition all food made available to consumers are processed food made in factories. We consumers have no idea under what conditions, the food are manufactured. We have no other choice than to consume these manufactured food legalized by the government.  Food has a direct impact on our body. And consumption of contaminated food can cause diseases and can be fatal to our lives. However, the Government of America does take initiatives to make the food safe for consumption. But these initiatives are not enough to make food safer. Food, which is our basic need, is becoming the cause of our death.

Throughout the world governments of every nation tries to provide clean and safe food to its people. The first paragraph of the passage “Is America’s food supply safe” states that the government of United States provides one of the “safest foods” in the world. But consumption of foods produced by food companies has caused severe health problems and has been fatal to lives of people all across the nation. For example stomach virus like Escherichia coli commonly called “E. coli found in spinach,” causes serious food poisoning.  And bacteria called “salmonella in peanut butter” causes food poisoning and may lead to death. Feeding contaminated food to infants can be fatal and may cause abnormal growth and damage of brain function. Also new kinds of diseases are emerging from consumption of unsafe food.

The second and third paragraph indicates that government of United States has agencies like “The Food and Drug Administered (F.D.A.)”. It has “635 investigators” working throughout the nation “with federal, state and local agencies, private companies and consumer”. The F.D.A. has workers who are dedicated to "inspecting" our food supply and working with food companies to keep food safe. It also investigates the source of the problems and tries to solve it. However these agencies are often low funded and have no right tools or man power to investigate every single thing in detail. Also the foods are produced in large scales in many big factories throughout the country. Thus it is impossible to keep a constant check. With advancement in technologies new methods like canning, preserving, refrigerating are used to protect food. Also new better methods and techniques are being introduced. .Also the F.D.A. uses new better ways to protect food from bacteria, viral, and chemical contamination.  But the government cannot afford to use technologies every time. And harmful chemicals are used in refrigerating, preserving and canning food. Consumption of contaminated canned and preserved food can lead to diabetes, heart failures, obesity, hypertension and also cancer. Since food companies use everything like sugar and sodium in excess to make the food taste good. Food industry is one of the lucrative businesses and the main goal of these multinational companies is to make profit. These companies try to get cheap labor and manufacture food in cheapest possible way. The government also cannot impose strict laws against food industry. Since these companies pay heavy taxes in return. These food companies can form large association with other agro companies and pressurize government to legalize use of certain harmful chemicals.

Much of the food that we consume in America also comes from all over the world. It is mentioned in the fourth paragraph that the F.D.A. has inspectors working at boarders “to prevent unsafe food from entering the country”. It also works closely with “experts” in other countries. Though the government has set some “standards” and quality of food but food borne diseases are still spreading. Each and every other country has own rules and regulation to prevent food contamination. And due to corruption and poverty in some countries, they may not even have any law against food contamination.  There are also agencies like Custom and Boarder Control to check imported and exported products. But total prevention of unsafe food is impossible as everyday millions of people enter United States. Agricultural goods from other countries are strictly band from entering our country. Yet diseases causing food products are still entering our countries without being checked. Just recently a case in China was investigated. The seafood being exported to America from china was cultured in sewage water by local Chinese farmers. Thus government agencies cannot investigate everything in detail.

The F.D.A. also works to “educate consumers” and works closely with them to “ensure food safety”. Advance technology and development has enable consumers to better understand what they eat. People are aware of food borne diseases and effects of consumption of contaminated food. Yet to some extend the consumers are also to be blamed. Increasing demand for fast food has caused food companies to produce food in large scale and quickest way. This leads to increasing demand for raw material. And thus these companies are discouraging small farmers. The family owned farm lands are all converting into giant industrial farms. Also the foods are produced in large scale using chemical. This has caused extinction of conventional methods of farming using organic materials. This can be seen in our day to day life, as there are more giant company food markets like whole foods than farmers market in New York City. America also exports food to other nations. This has stopped farmers and small scale business in other nation from producing organic food. Organic foods demand excess time and manual labor. Just recently two small scale business owners of Long Island were arrested for producing counterfeit baby products and skin products. Thus government agencies do not have time and money to investigate every corner of food companies.

The government works hard to ensure the safety of America’s food. But that is not preventing us consumers from consuming unsafe food. Government agencies are low funded and government cannot regulate laws. Food being exported also causes spreading of diseases in America every year. Food companies aim to make profit.  They do not care about the health effects of consumption of contaminated food. And we consumers are also guilty for encouraging production of unsafe food. Thus the food we consume is contaminated and unsafe for consumption. It is one of the causes of death every year in America.