My kick ass local college radio station plays a broadcast of the Commonwealth Club of California each week. The show usually begins with a first rate lecture on a timely topic, followed by a Q&A session. This week’s show featured Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation and the new kids’ book on the same theme, Chew on This. It was riveting. I had to leave my car, reluctantly, to meet with my future employers, or I would have spent the whole hour in a parking lot. You can listen to the episode here. Fun trivia: Willard Scott was the first Ronald McDonald. He was fired because he was “pudgie”. I haven’t read Fast Food Nation yet, but it will have to go into my “to read” pile.
June 19th, 2006 at 6:34 am
I read Fast Food Nation on a plane to Ohio. I’m not prone to air-sickness in any way but I was fairly green when we landed. We have not touched fast food since that trip a year and a half ago. When we explained our reasons (based on the book) to our seven year old son he agreed with us and has not once asked to go to McDonald’s.
On Saturday we watched a little Spongebob Squarepants as a family (fill your brain with junk - not your belly!) and they did a brilliant spoof of the creation of McDonald’s. Crabby Land is built to lure unsuspecting children into the restaurant for greasy food. Of course, in television the good guy always wins and Crabby Land was a bust.