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E-mail Story'Fast Food Nation' author talks agriculture, french fries before visit
| Tuesday, Feb 5 2008 11:19 AM
Last Updated: Thursday, Feb 7 2008 9:55 AM
Eric Schlosser says he’s not out to dictate what you eat for dinner.
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Thursday: 7 p.m., “Fast Food Nation” author Eric Schlosser will talk about writing, discuss the book and do a signing, Cal State Bakersfield’s Doré Theater, 9001 Stockdale Highway. 868-0712 or 654-2555.
Friday: 7 a.m., breakfast and Q&A with Schlosser, Beale Memorial Library Auditorium, 701 Truxtun Ave. 868-0712. A healthy breakfast will be provided by Trader Joe’s. Free admission but limited to 150 people.
Friday: 7 p.m., film screening of “Supersize Me,” Beale Memorial Library Auditorium, 701 Truxtun Ave., 868-0745. Free admission, and film discussion will be led by Spotlight Theatre’s Managing Director Hal Friedman.
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Eric Schlosser, co-author of "Chew on This."
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The “Fast Food Nation” author and muckraking journalist isn’t even trying to get you to stop eating fast food. Heck, his favorite meal is a cheeseburger, fries and chocolate shake.
But he is hoping you’ll think about what you put in your mouth, where it comes from and why you feel compelled to put it there.
“I’m not saying there’s only one way to do it,” said the man who has been compared to “The Jungle” author Upton Sinclair. “But to not think about it at all, I think, is to invite trouble.”
Schlosser will be in Bakersfield Thursday and Friday as part of One Book, One Bakersfield...One Kern, which chose “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal” and “Chew on This: Everything You Don’t Want to Know About Fast Food,” Schlosser’s fast-food exposé aimed at children, as its 10th community read.
Schlosser talked via phone to The Californian about agriculture, immigration and the seven years since publishing the book.
What do you hope people get out your books and talk?
I hope they think about what they’re eating and what their families are eating and what it’s doing to them and what it’s doing to the world around them. ... The goal of my work as an investigative journalist is really to get people thinking.
And I think it’s kind of amazing to have something you’ve written suggested reading for a whole town. It’s a wonderful thing.
As you know, Kern County is heavily agricultural. You talk quite a bit about agriculture in your book. What kind of reception do you think you’ll get?
I have no idea. I’m a huge, huge supporter of California agriculture and California farmers. The sorts of things that California specializes in — we’re the nation’s leading producer of fruits and vegetables and nuts — are exactly the kinds of foods that people need to be eating more of.
What role does the agriculture industry have in the explosion of fast food?
If you talk about independent farmers and ranchers, I think they’ve really been the victims. ... The percentage of farm income that’s actually going to the farmer has steadily been declining. So I’m a believer in agricultural markets that are really competitive that allow farmers and ranchers to get a fair price for what they’re producing. And the fast-food industry has really pushed in the opposite direction.
Does the fast-food industry have any redeeming value?
Yes. Absolutely. They prepare meals that are affordable for ordinary people. They give jobs to a lot of people who no one else would employ. The food tastes good. I’m just trying to encourage them to do all those things ... but to just do it in a way that isn’t so destructive.
My aim in writing the book is just to make things better.
There has been some discussion over the role of fast food in the obesity epidemic on The Californian’s obesity blog, Weighed Down. How much is the fast-food industry responsible for obesity?
There’s not one cause, but do I think fast food and soda consumption are some of the leading causes of obesity? Absolutely.
And I totally believe in personal responsibility, and I totally believe in parental responsibility. That’s why I wrote the book, so people can have access to information, make up their minds and live in a way that’s healthy and sustainable. But I also believe in corporate responsibility. And if you’re selling a product that potentially has bad health effects, you have a real obligation that that health impact is not felt by children ... by the poor.
You targeted kids with your book, “Chew on This.” And you write about how the fast-food industry targets kids with advertising. So are you using the same tactics the fast-food industry uses against them?
I tried to write “Chew on This” in a way that wasn’t lecturing kids and wasn’t telling them what to eat but was just trying to tell them what you don’t learn in the fast-food ads, which is where the food comes from, how it’s made and what it can do to your body if you eat too much of it.
Immigration, which you write a lot about in your book, is a hot topic in the presidential election. What do you think stricter immigration laws would do to fast food?
We’ve got pretty strict laws, and they’re building a fence, but what’s interesting is that all these industries are able to hire these same workers. The meatpacking industry is almost entirely recent immigrants and illegal immigrants, and the farm workers in California are almost all recent immigrants or illegal immigrants.
If we insisted that these companies had a decent wage, we wouldn’t have these same sort of immigration problems.
What’s the most surprising thing you’ve experienced since “Fast Food Nation” was published?
That there were other people who cared about these things too. This was my first book, and I had no idea if anyone would want to read it. The big New York publishers weren’t interested in publishing it, and it was a smaller, independent publishing house in Boston that published it. ... The book came out seven years ago, and it’s kind of amazing that you’re calling me up and want to talk to me about it. Or that a whole town is suggesting it as recommended reading.
What has changed in the seven years since writing the book?
So many of the issues that I thought were important that no one was talking about seven years ago are part of a real public debate, whether it’s the obesity epidemic or marketing to children in schools, food safety and even the immigration issue. ... Too many decisions have been made without most people knowing about it, and now people have an opportunity to think about it and make some real choices.
Eric Schlosser’s favorite things
Favorite book?
“I like so many of them ... I guess I’m going to have to say ‘Huck Finn.’”
Favorite author?
“Arthur Miller, the playwright.”
Favorite meal?
“Favorite meal is easy: cheeseburger, french fries, chocolate shake.”
Favorite fast-food chain to get those from?
“I’m not a paid spokesman for them, but the one fast-food chain that I do go to — well, there are a couple of them — In-N-Out Burger.”