Description

Junk food has hastened the malling of our landscape, widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled American cultural imperialism abroad. That is clearly a long listing of charges, but Eric Schlosser makes them stay with an artful mixture of first rate reportage, wry wit, and careful thought. Schlosser's myth-shattering survey stretches from California's subdivisions, where the company was created, to the industrial corridor across the Nj Turnpike, where a lot of junk food's flavors are concocted. On the way, he unearths a trove of fascinating, unsettling truths -- from the unholy alliance between fast food and Hollywood to the seismic changes the has wrought in food production, popular culture, and even property.