Lea, I agree that Fast Food Nation is solid, well-researched journalism. I didn't find it manipulative at all.

The way that livestock are grown is far more factory-like than most people would ever imagine. And Eric Schlosser doesn't advocate abandoning fast food, but rather he's instead simply encouraging people to purchase real food products made by companies who adhere to some moral principles. McDonalds & the PepsiCo chains treat their employees reprehensibly and offer products that are not real food, but chemically-complex and far less healthy variants of real food that a "mom n' pop" fast food restaurant would serve.

I agree totally with Schlosser's stance that there needs to be much more focus brought to bear on the way the big fast food and beverage companies target children. The way Coke & Pepsi have wormed their way into school systems is predatory and downright insidious. Sure, you can pass on your nutritional values to your children in the hopes that they'll avoid some of the junk, but what about the hours of the day that they're in school?

Rob, good point—most people do not, in fact, realize to what extent our meats and produce are factory-produced. I learned a lot from an opportunity to interview and profile Bill Niman, founder of the Niman Ranch Cooperative (read the result here).

Niman told me, for instance, that most dairy cows do not see light of day—that our notion of cows lolling around in fields, eating grass, going into the barn twice a day for milking generally does not happen anymore. I love milk, and after that I changed my buying habits. Now I try to buy milk from Organic Vally for us and Baby A.

I don't think, however, that blanket statements about employee treatment can hold. In my career, I've met more than a handful of franchisees who work hard to provide better pay and even benefits like child care (or simply flexible scheduling for parents of young children). It does happen, under all kinds of brands. I am tired, though, of big companies trumpeting about providing access to health care insurance, then not paying enough to allow employees to pay the premiums. But that's a different post.

I'm just saying, let's think more on a case-by-case basis.

It is true, though, that the economics of the quick-serve sector at large do not encourage higher pay or better benefits. It takes a brave company (Starbucks, for instance, or Chick-fil-A) or an enterprising, caring franchisee (and they ARE out there) to raise the bar.

(Hmmm, both of those companies have remained private. Going public makes a company less nimble, less able to tweak its economic structure.)

My thought: Let's patronize the places whose decisions we like. For some readers, that might be a local McDonald's or KFC franchisee (really! I've met them!), or a Starbucks or Chick-fil-A.

Thanks again for your comments! Anyone else?

- L