What We Eat/ The American Way

After reading the Introduction and Ch. 1 (The American Way) I learned so much information about how the multi-billion dollar Fast Food industry got its start. I loved how the book opened up with the discription of the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, a heavily armed, practically indistructable, top-secret military combat center. "...the facility is entered through steel blast doors that are three feet thick and weigh twenty-five tons each..." At first, I didn't know how Schlosser was going to make a connection to this incredibly designed "super base" and fast food, however when they talked about how the employees and soldiers stationed at the base would get sick of cafeteria food and would go out and get Burger King or even more comical, having a Domino's delivery boy pass through the extensive security to bring in some mass-produced pizza as an alternative lunch. The idea that automobiles played a keystone role in the early developmental stages of "fast food," fascinated me and made alot of sense. As soon as people began driving every where, it became an American cultural dependency on never leaving said vehicle. The fact that people would spend more money over their life time on fast food than on car expenses, home repairs and upkeep, or even investments. The idea that you can have consistancy along side convenience seemed to be the foundation of fast food principle. Though, at what cost do American's indulge on their own lazyness. The fact that people have become accustom to the revelation of a "chain restaurant" as mundain or unimpressive trully shows how spoiled the American way of life has become. I'm enjoying getting further insight on how such monopolys as Mc Donalds came to cover ever corner of American culture, essentially making the small buisnesses obselete. The fast food industry is sickening, shamefull and under appreciated all at the same time, exploding on American culture over the past three decades.