Journal Entry 1 by Sorgin from Pamplona, Navarra/Nafarroa Spain on Saturday, January 31, 2004

Do you really know what you're eating when you tuck into that juicy burger?

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

From Amazon.com:
"On any given day, one out of four Americans opts for a quick and cheap meal at a fast-food restaurant, without giving either its speed or its thriftiness a second thought. Fast food is so ubiquitous that it now seems as American, and harmless, as apple pie. But the industry's drive for consolidation, homogenization, and speed has radically transformed America's diet, landscape, economy, and workforce, often in insidiously destructive ways. Eric Schlosser, an award-winning journalist, opens his ambitious and ultimately devastating exposé with an introduction to the iconoclasts and high school dropouts, such as Harlan Sanders and the McDonald brothers, who first applied the principles of a factory assembly line to a commercial kitchen. Quickly, however, he moves behind the counter with the overworked and underpaid teenage workers, onto the factory farms where the potatoes and beef are grown, and into the slaughterhouses run by giant meatpacking corporations. Schlosser wants you to know why those French fries taste so good (with a visit to the world's largest flavor company) and "what really lurks between those sesame-seed buns." Eater beware: forget your concerns about cholesterol, there is--literally--feces in your meat.

Schlosser's investigation reaches its frightening peak in the meatpacking plants as he reveals the almost complete lack of federal oversight of a seemingly lawless industry. His searing portrayal of the industry is disturbingly similar to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, written in 1906: nightmare working conditions, union busting, and unsanitary practices that introduce E. coli and other pathogens into restaurants, public schools, and homes. Almost as disturbing is his description of how the industry "both feeds and feeds off the young," insinuating itself into all aspects of children's lives, even the pages of their school books, while leaving them prone to obesity and disease. Fortunately, Schlosser offers some eminently practical remedies. "Eating in the United States should no longer be a form of high-risk behavior," he writes. Where to begin? Ask yourself, is the true cost of having it "your way" really worth it?" 

Journal Entry 2 by Sorgin from Pamplona, Navarra/Nafarroa Spain on Friday, March 19, 2004

I thought this would be a fantastic book to organize a BRing, so I chose this book for my first one ever. This is the final shipping list:

1- Amaradevinmom(Germany)
2- Sherria (CT, US)
3- Megi53 (VA, US)
4- Jenndiggy (WV, US)
5- Moondancer11 (TX, US)
6- Saoirse (TX, US)
7- Mysteryfan03 (MO, US)
8- Abs (CA, US)
9- Sibelle (SC, US)
10- Ukbrat (Canada)
11- Rarsberry (New Zeland)
12- Kislany (Cyprus)
13- Portegag2 (Spain)
14- Back home :)

I'm sure you all know about BRings, but nevertheless I'm writing some "things to do" you surely know about:
- Please make a journal entry as soon as you get the book and PM the next one on the list so that by the time you finish it you'll have everything ready to send it and will make it much quicker.
- Enjoy your reading; I won't be the one telling you to finish it before such date. Just think there's people waiting for it ;)
- When you have finished please make another journal entry telling us about the book (or just to let us know it's on the way to the next bookcrosser)
- I'll be keeping an eye on the BRing, so please let me know if there's any problem.


Thanks in advance for your participation, and I hope you'll all enjoy it.
 

Journal Entry 3 by Sorgin from Pamplona, Navarra/Nafarroa Spain on Tuesday, March 23, 2004

Bookring started!!

It's finally on the way to Germany to Amaradevinmom, I hope you'll like it! :) 

Journal Entry 4 by amaradevinmom on Friday, March 26, 2004

Okay I got it read. While this book was interesting I did not find anything in it shocking. It did not make me want to stop eating hamburgers or going to fast food resturants. I think you would have to be living under a rock for this book to be new information to you. Will be sending it on Monday. 

Journal Entry 5 by Sherria from Stamford, Connecticut USA on Tuesday, April 13, 2004

Arrived today. I have one to finish, then I plan to dive into this book. Thanks for sharing it! 

Journal Entry 6 by Sherria from Stamford, Connecticut USA on Sunday, May 09, 2004

Sorry it took me so long to finish this one, but I found it a very slow read.

I was disappointed in this book; I guess I expected information that I didn't already know, and there was very little of that. While I agree with the author that the state of the nation's food supply is frightening, I don't know that I agree that it should all be blamed on McDonalds, et.al. People need to take responsibility for what they put into their bodies and what they feed their families. No one makes us eat fast food, despite what the author seems to suggest. We all know it's bad for us, unless someone has been living under a rock for the last decade or two. I found the suggestions for change to be mostly "pie in the sky" idealism and not very realistic at all.

Still, this book has special meaning for me. Fast Food Nation is the reason I found bookcrossing - someone on one of my vegetarian mailing lists mentioned the book and that she had read it via a bookring on bookcrossing. I had to check it out, and I've been hooked ever since.

Thanks for sharing this book Sorgin. I hope that others enjoy it, and gain some knowledge (if they didn't already know a lot of this stuff). It will be heading out to the next participant this week. 

Journal Entry 7 by Megi53 from Danville, Virginia USA on Monday, May 17, 2004

This looks like it'll be great fun to read! Especially so, since my daughter works at McDonald's. 

Journal Entry 8 by Megi53 from Danville, Virginia USA on Tuesday, June 01, 2004

Tons of economic and scientific details kept me bogged down in reading this book.

The bright spots were the individuals Schlosser interviewed such as Carl Karcher, J.R. Simplot ("Australia -- a great little country. And there's nobody there", he said, upon buying 3 million acres of it), and Dale "Nature is smart as hell" Lasater.

The book finished up with almost 100 pages of notes. Reading between the lines, it would appear McDonald's meat is now safer than the meat you can buy for your own kitchen. 

Journal Entry 9 by jenndiggy from Terra Alta, West Virginia USA on Friday, June 04, 2004

Finished in two days. Very disturbing book about the food industry in the United States. I often feel sick after eatting fast food, and I probably have reason to!!!

Mailed to Moondancer11 today! 

Journal Entry 10 by MoonDancer11 from Irving, Texas USA on Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Rcvd last week.. My apologies for the delaying in journaling. Looking forward to this read. Thanks! 

Journal Entry 11 by MoonDancer11 from Irving, Texas USA on Tuesday, September 21, 2004

On its way via Media Mail to saroise with Delivery Confirmation: 0300 1290 0002 8182 4444 

Journal Entry 12 by saoirse from Farmers Branch, Texas USA on Monday, September 27, 2004

Received, thanks! I have about a hundred pages to finish another book, then I will read this one and send it on. Probably within a week. 

Journal Entry 13 by saoirse from Farmers Branch, Texas USA on Sunday, October 03, 2004

Wow, did we read the same book? I was more than halfway through before I came to the chapter containing information I already knew: fat content of fast food and obesity rate in fast food nations. This book covered way more than fat content and obesity. I learned a lot about marketing strategies that ensure fast food corporations will continue to dominate our children's eating habits throughout their lifetimes. I learned about deplorable corporate measures to cut costs and take advantage of the young, immigrants and under-privileged in our country. I learned about health risks I knew very little about, such as E.coli and mad cow disease. I was fascinated by the stories of how various fast food empires came into being. I was angered by the corporate muscle strategies that deny fast food workers union representation and manipulate the laws and agencies of this country. I learned something about what's really in the food.

Thanks for sharing, this was really enlightening. Nobody loves fast food more than I do, but this book makes me wish I could swear off fast food forever. Maybe I can at least remember what I've learned and let it affect my choices and those I make for my children. 

Journal Entry 14 by saoirse at postal release in Mobely, Missouri -- Controlled Releases on Monday, October 04, 2004

Released 7 yrs ago (10/4/2004 UTC) at postal release in Mobely, Missouri -- Controlled Releases

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

mailed to next in line for bookring 

Journal Entry 15 by mysteryfan03 from Moberly, Missouri USA on Saturday, October 09, 2004

Got this in the mail yesterday! Thanks! I have some rings in front of it. 

Journal Entry 16 by mysteryfan03 from Moberly, Missouri USA on Friday, November 19, 2004

I was expecting a little more about the food specifically, but this book was more about corporate greed and followed along with the books about Wal-Mart and Disney. Lots of info and background for those interested in fast food. I knew most of the stuff about cattle. (One of the worst places I have ever been is a dairy farm, yuck, those animals do NOT stand in fields as the commercials say, they are in nasty little wooden pens all the time, but thats another story)
I think that we all know that processing plants are nasty places, especially meat processing! And that is in the US, Now much of our beef comes from South America (especially in fast food) and who knows how it is slaughtered! Even places with no butchers, like Wal-Mart process their beef in Utah, (who knows where it comes from) and shoot it up with dyes and preservatives to ship around the country! I always buy meat from a grocer with a real butcher on site. This book reminds us that if we eat fast food, the meat could have been prepared anywhere by most any means.

Thanks so much for sharing this book!

Note. Abs is not responding to PMs or forum annoucements. Will try next in line 

Journal Entry 17 by sibelle from Mount Kisco, New York USA on Thursday, December 30, 2004

I received this book today. It's next on the tbr pile. 

Journal Entry 18 by sibelle from Mount Kisco, New York USA on Thursday, January 20, 2005

I have finished reading this book and PM'd Ukbrat. As soon as I get the address, I'll be passing it on. 

Journal Entry 19 by ukbrat from St. Catharines, Ontario Canada on Wednesday, February 09, 2005

I'm looking forward to reading this book. Food foibles and the sociopolitics of food is an interest of mine. 

Journal Entry 20 by ukbrat from St. Catharines, Ontario Canada on Thursday, February 17, 2005

Wow, this book was an amazing read. I don't think I will ever be able to eat any fast food guilt-free again.
While it is important to realize that what we are putting into our bodies could hurt us ("You are what you eat"), it is also important to realize that there are some very important political ties that help to make fast food a very dangerous industry for everyone involved. I was not shocked to find out that fast food chains take advantage of indiginous peoples and adolescents, but I didn't realise the extent to which they were abused.
While this book was obviously biased, it was a bias that I happen to agree with. I think that Schlosser was correct in reminding people that it is our reactions to the fast food industry that will change and shape it. By boycotting different products, it will help not only individual's health that are consumers, but the numerous people that have a part in getting the food to that cardboard container.