Notes

Although we did a great deal of firsthand reporting and research for this book, we also benefited from the hard work of others. In these notes we’ve tried to give credit to the many people whose writing and research helped ours. The notes may also be useful to readers who’d like to know where we found a particular fact or who’d like to read more about a particular subject. By providing these sources, we hope to make our work transparent and reveal how Chew on This was put together. Perhaps someday the fast-food chains will be more open about how they assemble their food.

 

INTRODUCTION

 

McDonald’s played a leading role in the creation of the fast-food industry, and several books about the company discuss its impact on the world. Ray Kroc’s memoir with Robert Anderson, Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald’s (New York: St. Martin’s, 1987), gives a strong sense of the man who turned the chain into a household name. John F. Love’s McDonald’s: Behind the Arches (New York: Bantam, 1995) is a history of McDonald’s that was approved by the company. Nevertheless, it is fascinating, thoughtful, sometimes critical, and extremely well researched. Big Mac: The Unauthorized Story of McDonald’s (New York: Dutton, 1976), by Max Boas and Steve Chain, looks behind the cheerful image of McDonald’s and finds behavior that is often unpleasant. John Vidal’s McLibel: Burger Culture on Trial (New York: New Press, 1997) uses the story of a British court case to look at the international consequences of McDonald’s. We found a great deal of little-known information in restaurant industry publications like Restaurant Business, Restaurant & Institutions, Nation’s Restaurant News, and ID: The Voice of Foodservice. For years some of the best reporting on the fast-food industry has appeared in the Wall Street Journal.

[>] Every day about one out of fourteen Americans: The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the U.S. population was approximately 295,734,134 in July 2005. During the previous year, the McDonald’s Corporation said that its restaurants in the United States served more than 21,800,000 customers every day. Using those statistics, our calculations found that every day about one out of every 13.57 Americans eats at a McDonald’s.

[>] Every month about nine out of ten American children visit one: Cited in Rod Taylor, “The Beanie Factor,” Brandweek, June 16, 1997.

[>] In 1968 there were about 1,000 McDonald’s restaurants. . . . Now there are more than 31,000: In 1968 the one thousandth McDonald’s restaurant opened in Des Plaines, Ill. See “McDonald’s Timeline,” McDonald’s Corporation, 2005. The latest figure comes from “FAQ’s,” McDonald’s Canada, October 2005.

[>] McDonald’s buys more processed beef, chicken, pork, apples, and potatoes: See Love, Behind the Arches, pp. 4–5. Amount of beef purchasing cited by the president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association in “NCBA, McDonald’s Form Hamburger Task Force: Improving Value of U.S. Beef Products by Exporting Trimmings,” Food & Drink Weekly, Apr. 29, 2002. For potato purchasing, see “Quality McFacts,” McDonald’s Corporation, 2005. For apple purchasing, see Gary Younge, “McDonald’s Grabs a Piece of the Apple Pie,” Guardian (UK), April 7, 2005.

[>] It spends more money on advertising and marketing: According to Advertising Age, in 2004 McDonald’s spent $1.4 billion on advertising in the United States. McDonald’s was the third most widely advertised brand, surpassed only by Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless. See “Superbrands: A Special Report,” Brandweek, June 20, 2005, p. 52, “Info McNuggets,” Advertising Age, July 25, 2005.

[>] America’s most famous food brand: See “Best Global Brands 2005,” Business Week, July 2005.

[>] The Golden Arches: A survey by a marketing firm called Sponsorship Research International—conducted among 7,000 people in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, India, and Japan—found that 88 percent could identify the Golden Arches and 54 percent could identify the Christian cross. See “Golden Arches More Familiar than the Cross,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Aug. 26, 1995.

[>] Most fast-food visits are impulsive: See Joyce A. Young, “Food Service Franchisors and Their Co-branding Methods,” Journal of Product and Brand Management, 2001.

[>] Chicken McNuggets since 1983: See “McDonald’s Expands Chicken McNuggets Line,” PR Newswire, Aug. 9, 1983.

[>] In 1970, Americans spent about $6 billion . . . In 2006, they spent about $142 billion: These figures were provided by the National Restaurant Association.

[>] Americans now spend more money on fast food than on college education: According to the National Restaurant Association, in 2003 Americans spent $121 billion on fast food. That same year they spent $110 billion on higher education, $98 billion on new cars, and $46.5 billion on computer equipment and software. See National Income and Product Accounts Table, Table 2.5.5., “Personal Consumption Expenditures by Type of Expenditure,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 2003.

[>] They spend more on fast food than on movies: In 2003 Americans spent $9.9 billion on movie tickets, $39 billion on books and maps, $11.9 billion on recorded music, and $35.9 billion on magazines, newspapers, and sheet music. That adds up to $96.7 billion, which is much less than the $121 billion Americans spent on fast food. See “Personal Consumption Expenditures by Type of Expenditure” and “2003 Year-end Statistics,” Recording Industry Association of America.

 

THE PIONEERS

 

A number of good books explore the southern California culture that produced the fast-food industry. Among them are Southern California Country (New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1946), by Carey McWilliams; The Dream Endures: California Enters the 1940s (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), by Kevin Starr; Crabgrass Frontier (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985), by Kenneth T. Jackson; and The American Drive-In: History and Folklore of the Drive-In Restaurant in American Car Culture (Osceloa, Wis.: Motorbooks International, 1994), by Michael Karl Witzel. Many of the founders of the fast-food industry have written books describing its early days. Taken together, these accounts are a fine collection of American success stories. Ray Kroc’s Grinding It Out reveals the challenges and struggles of building the McDonald’s Corporation. For the history of Burger King, read The Burger King: Jim McLamore and the Building of an Empire (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1998), by James W. McLamore. For the origins of Domino’s, there’s Pizza Tiger (New York: Random House, 1986), by Tom Monaghan with Robert Anderson. For the origins of KFC and some entertaining tales of the South, pick up a copy of Life As I Have Known It Has Been “Finger Lickin’ Good” (Carol Stream, Ill.: Creation House, 1974), by Colonel Harland Sanders. Never Stop Dreaming: 50 Years of Making It Happen (San Marcos, Calif.: Robert Erdmann, 1991), by Carl Karcher with B. Carolyn Knight, tells the story of Carl’s Jr., while Dave’s Way: A New Approach to Old-Fashioned Success (New York: Putnam’s, 1991), by R. David Thomas, tells the story of Wendy’s.

Richard J. McDonald, one of the founding brothers of McDonald’s, wrote the foreword to Ronald J. McDonald’s fascinating book, The Complete Hamburger: The History of America’s Favorite Sandwich (New York: Birch Lane, 1997). We learned a great deal of hamburger history from Hamburger Heaven: The Illustrated History of the Hamburger (New York: Hyperion, 1993), by Jeffrey Tennyson. David Gerard Hogan’s history of the White Castle chain, Selling ’em by the Sack (New York: New York University Press, 1997), has an excellent section on the terrible public image the hamburger had for many years.

 

[>] Charlie was going: For the disputed history of America’s first hamburger, see Hogan, Selling ’em by the Sack, pp. 21–23, and McDonald, The Complete Hamburger, pp. 3–10. We learned much about Hamburger Charlie from Bill Collar, a resident of Outagamie County who plays him during the hamburger festival every year. The description of Seymour, Wisconsin, in the late nineteenth century and details of its county fair were found in a newspaper article, “Seymour’s First Annual Fair an Unprecedented Triumph,” Appleton Post, Appleton, Wis., Oct. 15, 1885.

[>] “a food for the poor” and “The hamburger habit is just about as safe”: Quoted in Hogan, Selling ’em by the Sack, pp. 22, 32.

[>] In 1910, Alexander J. Moody: See “Poison in Steak Killed Rich Baker: Chicago Chemist Finds Arsenic in Remnants of Meal and in Organs of Alexander J. Moody,” New York Times, Mar. 29, 1910. See also “Pie Maker Was Poisoned,” New York Times, Apr. 23, 1910. For public concern about arsenic poisoning and the general safety of hamburgers, see a letter to the editor by John E. Wooland, New York Times, May 9, 1935, as well as “The Restaurant Enjoys a Revival,” New York Times, July 29, 1934.

[>] Death by hamburger, April 1904: This is a headline from a New York Times article published on Apr. 25, 1904.

[>] frustration among butchers: See “Steaks Head Sales List: Meat Council Shows How Cheaper Cuts Can Be Made Popular,” New York Times, July 27, 1923.

[>] hamburger ranked nineteenth: See “Beef and Cabbage Our Favorite Dish: Poll of New York Restaurants for 3 Weeks Gives Victory to Humble Fare,” New York Times, June 15, 1925.

[>] Between 1920 and 1940: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of southern California in 1920 was 1,347,050—and in 1940 it was 3,572,263. That means the number of people in southern California was 2.7 times larger in 1940 than it was in 1920. See Carey McWilliams, California: The Great Exception (1949; reprint, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), p. 14.

[>] By 1940 there were about a million cars: Cited in McWilliams, California, p. 236.

[>] “People with cars are so lazy”: Quoted in Witzel, American Drive-In, p. 24.

[>] “Imagine—No Car Hops”: The ad is reprinted in Tennyson, Hamburger Heaven, p. 62.

[>] “Working-class families could finally afford”: Love, Behind the Arches, p. 41.

[>] “Our food was exactly the same”: George Clark, one of the founders of Burger Queen, made this admission. Quoted in Stan Luxenberg, Roadside Empires: How the Chains Franchised America (New York: Viking, 1985), p. 76.

[>] Carl Karcher: Author interview with Carl Karcher. See also B. Carolyn Knight, Making It Happen: The Story of Carl Karcher Enterprises (Anaheim, Calif.: Carl Karcher Enterprises, 1981), and Karcher with Knight, Never Stop Dreaming.

[>] Glen W. Bell, Jr.: For the story of Taco Bell, see Love, Behind the Arches, pp. 26–27, and John A. Jakle and Keith A. Sculle, Fast Food: Roadside Restaurants in the Automobile Age (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999), pp. 257–58.

[>] William Rosenberg: For the story of Dunkin’ Donuts, see Luxenberg, Roadside Empires, pp. 18–20.

[>] Thomas S. Monaghan: For the story of Domino’s, see Tom Monaghan, Pizza Tiger (New York: Random House, 1986).

[>] Frederick DeLuca: For the history of Subway, see Fred DeLuca and John P. Hayes, Start Small, Finish Big (New York: Warner Business Books, 1991).

[>] “That was where I learned”: Kroc, Grinding It Out, p. 17.

[>] “If you believe in it”: Transcribed from voice recording at Ray A. Kroc Museum, Oak Brook, Ill.

[>] “We have found out”: Quoted in Love, Behind the Arches, p. 117.

[>] “This is rat eat rat”: Quoted in Boas and Chain, Big Mac, pp. 15–16.

[>] “grinding it out”: Kroc, Grinding It Out, p. 123.

[>] In 1961, Kroc borrowed money: See Love, Behind the Arches, pp. 187–201.

[>] more than $180 million a year: In 1961 the McDonald brothers gave up their 1 percent share of the McDonald’s Corporation’s annual sales. In 1998, the year that Richard McDonald died, that company had sales of about $18.1 billion. A 1 percent share of McDonald’s sales that year would have brought Richard McDonald an income of $181 million.

[>] “Eventually I opened a McDonald’s”: Kroc, Grinding It Out, p. 123.

[>] increased from 200 to almost 3,000: The McDonald’s Corporation opened its two hundredth restaurant on April 15, 1960. The three thousandth McDonald’s opened in Woolwich, England, in 1974. See “McDonald’s Timeline,” McDonald’s Corporation, 2005.

[>] Altogether, Americans now eat: This figure is a 2003 estimate by NPD FoodWorld CREST Research.

[>] If you put all those burgers in a straight line: This is our own estimate. The average fast-food hamburger is about 4 inches wide, so if you could somehow put 13 billion hamburgers next to one another, they would stretch for approximately 52 billion inches. That’s about 820,707 miles. The circumference of the earth at the equator is 24,901.55 miles. And if you divide 820,707 by 24,901.55, you wind up with 32.96.

 

THE YOUNGSTER BUSINESS

 

Steven Watts’s The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997) is perhaps the best biography of Walt Disney, drawing on material from the Disney archive and interviews with Disney associates. Although some of Watts’s conclusions are debatable, his research is impressive. The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art, and Commerce of Walt Disney (New York: Avon Books, 1968), by Richard Schickel, offers a more complex and much less flattering view of the man. Amid the growing literature on marketing to children, three books are particularly revealing: What Kids Buy and Why: The Psychology of Marketing to Kids (New York: Free Press, 1997), by Dan S. Acuff with Robert H. Reiher; Creating Ever-Cool: A Marketer’s Guide to a Kid’s Heart (Gretna, La.: Pelican, 1998), by Gene Del Vecchio; and Kids as Customers: A Handbook of Marketing to Children (New York: Lexington Books, 1992), by James U. McNeal. Susan Linn’s Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood (New York: New Press, 2004) and Juliet B. Schor’s Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture (New York: Scribner, 2004) take a more critical view of marketing to kids.

A number of useful reports examine the issue. “Captive Kids: A Report on the Commercial Pressures on Kids at School” was issued by the Consumers Union in 1998. That same year, “Sponsored Schools and Commercialized Classrooms: Schoolhouse Commercializing Trends in the 1990s,” by Alex Molnar, was released by the Center for the Analysis of Commercialism in Education, at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Some studies look at the subject from a global perspective. “Broadcasting Bad Health: Why Food Marketing to Children Needs to Be Controlled” was prepared by the International Association of Consumer Food Organizations and published by the World Health Organization in July 2003. Corinna Hawkes has written eye-opening papers for the World Health Organization, including “Marketing Activities of Global Soft Drink and Fast Food Companies in Emerging Markets: A Review,” in Globalization, Diets, and Noncommunicable Diseases (Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization, 2002).

 

[>] “Give me a Y!”: One of us attended the conference in Singapore.

[>] Today companies selling all kinds of products: Cited in speech by Paul Kurnit, “Youth Minded: Decoding the Youth Psyche and Implications for Your Brands,” Youth Marketing Forum 2004, Singapore.

[>] in the United States children are responsible: Paul Kurnit of KidShop and Kurnit Communications has estimated that the youth market is actually worth more than $1 trillion: $200 billion in personal spending by children; $300 billion in spending by parents and other adults directly influenced by children; and $500 billion in spending by adults indirectly influenced by children (on such items as family vacations, the family car, and the family home). The $500 billion estimate for the U.S. market comes from “Packaged Facts,” The Kid’s Market (New York: Marketresearch.com), Mar. 2000.

[>] “Hundreds of young people were being trained and fitted”: Quoted in Watts, The Magic Kingdom, p. 170.

[>] the number of children in the United States had increased: See “Baby Boom Brought Biggest Increases Among People 45-to-54 Years Old,” U.S. Department of Commerce News, October 3, 2001.

[>] “Dear Walt”: Quoted in Leslie Doolittle, “McDonald’s Plan Cooked Up Decades Ago,” Orlando Sentinel, Jan. 8, 1988.

[>] “A child who loves our TV commercials”: Kroc, Grinding It Out, p. 114.

[>] “world’s newest, silliest, and hamburger-eatingest clown!”: The first Ronald McDonald television ad can be found on “The Multimedia Mixer: An Interactive Look at Ray Kroc and the Founding of McDonald’s Corporation: Millennium Edition,” a CD-ROM issued by the McDonald’s Corporation in 1999. Other early commercials featuring Willard Scott as Ronald McDonald can be viewed at McDonald’s Hamburger University in Oak Brook, Ill.

[>] Willard Scott was fired: For the story of Willard Scott and Ronald McDonald, see Love, Behind the Arches, pp. 218–22, 244–45. Additional information about the flying hamburger ads can be found in Philip H. Dougherty, “Advertising: A Network Drive for Drive-Ins,” New York Times, Apr. 5, 1967.

[>] more than nine out of ten American kids: Cited in “Welcome to McDonald’s,” McDonald’s Corporation, 1996.

[>] “brand loyalty” may begin: Cited in “Brand Aware,” Children’s Business, June 2000.

[>] recognize a company logo: See “Brand Consciousness,” IFF on Kids: Kid Focus, No. 3, and James McNeal and Chyon-Hwa Yeh, “Born to Shop,” American Demographics, June 1993, pp. 34–39.

[>] “It’s not just getting kids to whine”: Quoted in “Market Research: The Old Nagging Game Can Pay Off for Marketers,” Selling to Kids, Apr. 15, 1998.

[>] “but kids tend to stick”: For a list of the different kinds of nags, see James U. McNeal, Kids as Customers: A Handbook of Marketing to Children (New York: Lexington Books, 1992), pp. 72–75.

[>] The idea of creating: See Schor, Born to Buy, p. 117.

[>] “Marketing messages sent through a club”: McNeal, Kids as Customers, p. 175.

[>] increased sales of Burger King Kids Meals: Cited in Karen Benezra, “Keeping Burger King on a Roll,” Brandweek, Jan. 15, 1996.

[>] “Children are important”: Quoted in Kim Foltz, “‘Kids Club’ Helps to Lift Burger King,” New York Times, July 27, 1990.

[>] A government investigation: Cited in “Children’s Online Privacy Proposed Rule Issued by FTC,” press release, Federal Trade Commission, Apr. 20, 1999.

[>] twenty-five hours a week watching television: Cited in D. A. Gentile and D. A. Walsh, “A Normative Study of Family Media Habits,” Applied Developmental Psychology 23 (Jan. 28, 2002): 157–178.

[>] more time watching television: Cited in “Policy Statement: Children, Adolescents and Television,” American Academy of Pediatrics, Oct. 1995.

[>] more than 40,000 TV commercials: Cited in “Report of the APA Task Force on Advertising and Children,” American Psychological Association, 2004.

[>] About 20,000 of those ads: Food advertisements represent more than half of all ads on children’s programming. Cited in Mary Story and Simone French, “Food Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents in the U.S.,” International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, Feb. 10, 2004.

[>] fast-food chains now spend more than $3 billion: Interview with Lynn Fava, Competitive Media Reporting.

[>] McDonald’s has opened more than eight thousand: Cited in “Fast Food and Playgrounds: A Natural Combination,” promotional material, Playlandservices, Inc.

[>] “Playlands bring in children”: Ibid.

[>] “The key to attracting kids”: Sam Bradley and Betsey Spethmann, “Subway’s Kid Pack: The Ties That Sell,” Brandweek, Oct. 10, 1994.

[>] “McDonald’s is in some ways”: Interview with a retired senior fast-food executive, who prefers not to be named.

[>] more than 1.5 billion toys: Cited in Julian E. Barnes, “Fast-Food Giveaway Toys Face Rising Recalls,” New York Times, Aug. 16, 2001.

[>] Almost one out of every three new toys: Ibid.

[>] In 2000 a reporter for the South China Morning Post : For details of the working conditions at factories that make toys for McDonald’s, see Martin Wong, “Childhood Lost to Hard Labour: Lax Age Checks Open Door to Underage Workers At Shenzhen Factory Producing Toys for Fast-Food Chain,” South China Morning Post, Aug. 27, 2000; Mike Carlson, “U.S. Customs Joins McDonald’s Probe,” South China Morning Post, Aug. 31, 2000; and “McDonald’s Toys: Do They Manufacture Fun or Mere Exploitation?” (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee), 2000. We are grateful to Monina Wong, a researcher for the Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee, for speaking to us in the summer of 2005 about what is currently happening to workers at Chinese toy factories.

[>] less than twenty cents an hour: In late August 2000, one American dollar was worth roughly 8.28 Chinese yuan renminbi. Children at the City Toys factory were reportedly being paid about 24 yuan for a sixteen-hour workday. That means they were earning less than $3 per day—and only 18 cents per hour. The U.S. minimum wage is $5.15 per hour.

[>] paid less than ten cents an hour: Cited in Martin Wong and Antoine So, “McDonald’s Investigates Claims of Labour Abuse,” South China Morning Post, Dec. 10, 2000. Workers at the Chit Tat Industrial Co. Ltd. were being paid as little as 11 yuan (or $1.33) for seventeen-hour days. That is a wage of about 8 cents per hour.

[>] about 10 million Happy Meals: The story of McDonald’s Teenie Beanie Baby promotion can be found in Rod Taylor, “The Beanie Factor,” Brandweek, June 16, 1997.

[>] “We believe that the McDonald’s brand”: Quoted in Marc Graser, “Did Somebody Sing McDonald’s?: ‘Adversongs’ Urge Fast Food into Hip-Hop Lyrics,” Crain’s Chicago Business, Apr. 4, 2005.

 

MCJOBS

 

Two fine books tell the story of how the automobile transformed the American countryside: The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America’s Man-Made Landscape (New York: Touchstone, 1994), by James Howard Kunstler; and Once There Were Greenfields: How Urban Sprawl Is Undermining America’s Environment, Economy, and Social Fabric (Washington, D.C.: National Resources Defense Council, 1999), by F. Caid Benfield, Matthew D. Raimi, and Donald D. T. Chen. For the details of Martinsburg’s early history, we consulted William T. Doherty’s Berkeley County, U.S.A.: A Bi-Centennial History of a Virginia and West Virginia County, 1772–1972 (Parsons, W. Va.: McClain, 1972), and The Architectural and Pictorial History of Berkeley County (Martinsburg, W. Va.: Berkeley County Historical Society, 1992). Miriam J. Williams Wilson and members of the Berkeley County Clerk and Assessor’s Office helped us find information about the strip along Interstate 81. Mona Kissel, at Air Photographics, Inc., tracked down the aerial photographs that show how the land surrounding I-81 has changed over the years. We are grateful to Betsy Morgan, a guidance counselor at Martinsburg High, who introduced us to students there—and to the many young fast-food workers who took the time to share their stories. Robin Leidner and Ester Reiter are sociologists who worked at chain restaurants in order to write about fast-food jobs. Reiter’s Making Fast Food: From the Frying Pan into the Fryer (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1991) focuses on Burger King, while Leidner’s Fast Food, Fast Talk: Service Work and the Routinization of Everyday Life (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993) looks at McDonald’s. The benefits and harms of teenage employment are addressed at length in a study conducted by the Institute of Medicine, Protecting Youth at Work: Health, Safety and Development of Working Children and Adolescents in the United States (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1998).

 

[>] At J. C. McCrory Co.: We found infomation about these old stores in Martinsburg’s 1913–1914 Polk City Directory and The Architectural and Pictorial History of Berkeley County.

[>] The number of people living in the area: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of Berkeley County, West Virginia, in 1970 was 36,356. In 2000, it was 75,905.

[>] Martinsburg now sits: See “Population Estimates for the 100 Fastest Growing U.S. Counties with 10,000 or More Population in 2004: April 1, 2000, to July 1, 2004,” U.S. Census Bureau, 2005.

[>] In 1942 there were about 3 million: For the number of fruit trees in 1942, see Martinsburg’s Polk City Directory, 1942, p. 12. For the current number, see “2004 West Virginia Orchard & Vineyard Survey,” West Virginia University, Kearneysville Tree Fruit Research and Education Center, 2005.

[>] During the 1980s the land was sold: The information about Martinsburg land sales came from records in the Berkeley County Clerk and Assessor’s Office. A farm owned by Sarah Miller was originally bought for $149,000; it later sold for $25,097,379. A farm owned by Norma Grant was originally bought for $200,000. It was later subdivided, and the parcels sold at prices ranging between $450,000 and $1.2 million. The land is now occupied by fast-food restaurants, a mall, and strip malls.

[>] “They paved paradise”: The line comes from a wonderful Joni Mitchell song, “Big Yellow Taxi.”

[>] In 1970, Martinsburg had six: The 1970 Polk City Directory listed six fast-food restaurants in Martinsburg, while the 2004 edition listed forty-five.

[>] “When you’re up a thousand feet”: Quoted in “The Multimedia Mixer,” McDonald’s Corporation, 1999.

[>] one of the world’s largest purchasers: Author interview with Elliott Olson, chairman of Dakota Worldwide Corporation, which distributes software that many businesses use to select new locations.

[>] Danielle Brent is a seventeen-year-old: Interview with Danielle Brent.

[>] “Everything’s ‘add water’ ”: Interview with a Taco Bell worker.

[>] In 1958, Turner wrote a training manual: Cited in Love, Behind the Arches, p. 140.

[>] “Smile with a greeting”: Quoted in Ester Reiter, Making Fast Food: From the Frying Pan into the Fryer (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1991), p. 85.

[>] the largest group of low-income workers: Interview with Alan B. Krueger, author with David Card of Myth and Measurement: The New Economics of the Minimum Wage (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1995).

[>] the rate at which fast-food workers quit: The annual turnover rate, or the rate at which an employee quits or is fired in any given year, varies by restaurant but can often be 250 percent or higher in the fast-food business. (See Carolyn Walkup, “Safe and Sound: Security of Food Supply, Keeping Workers Motivated Top Confab’s Agenda; Special Report: Coex Wrap-Up,” Nation’s Restaurant News, Mar. 17, 2003.) By comparison, the annual average turnover rate for all occupations is about 20 percent. (See U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employee Turnover Rates, Annual U.S. Voluntary Turnover by Industry,” Nov. 9, 2004.) Denise Fugo, treasurer of the National Restaurant Association, suggested that the annual turnover rate in the fast-food business may be as high as 400 percent. (See Lornet Turnbull, “Restaurants Feeding Off Fit Economy,” Columbus Dispatch [Ohio], Feb. 23, 1999.) The National Restaurant Association publicly claims that the annual turnover rate is much lower—perhaps 80 percent. (See Todd Henneman, “Jack in the Box Going Upmarket in Benefits as Well as Its Eateries,” Workforce Management, Mar. 1, 2005.)

[>] Between 1968 and 1990: See Aaron Bernstein, “A Perfect Time to Raise the Minimum Wage,” Business Week, May 17, 1999.

[>] nine out of every ten fast-food workers: Of the roughly fifty to sixty employees at a typical McDonald’s, only four or five are full-time, salaried managers. See Leidner, Fast Food, Fast Talk.

[>] They tend to earn about $25,000: In May 2005, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that the average annual income of “First-line supervisors/managers of food preparation and serving workers” was $25,070. That same year the typical full-time worker earned $37,870 a year. See Occupational Outlook Handbook.

[>] a McJob is a job: Merriam-Webster defines McJob as a “low-paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement.” The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as “an unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects, esp. one created by the expansion of the service sector.” The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as “a job, usually in the retail or service sector, that is low paying, often temporary, and offers minimal or no benefits or opportunity for promotion.” These three major dictionaries seem to agree that a McJob is a lousy job.

[>] Other kids are eager: Interview with fast-food workers at Martinsburg High School, May 2004.

[>] Sadi Lambert, a friend: Interview with Sadi Lambert.

[>] Pascal McDuff sent job applications: We are grateful to Pascal McDuff for the time he spent describing the battle with McDonald’s in Montreal. A good documentary film about the union struggle, Maxime, McDuff & McDo, directed by Magnus Isacsson, is available from Films en Vue in Montreal, Canada. The picture of Pascal and Maxime used in Chew on This is a publicity shot created for the documentary. See also Konrad Yakabuski, “Arch Enemy,” Report on Business Magazine, November 2001.

[>] In 1960 about one out of every three American workers: For the 2004 proportion, see “Union Members Survey,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, Jan. 27, 2005; 12.5 percent of U.S. wage and salary workers were union members in 2004. For the 1960 proportion, see “Figure 2, U.S. Union Density, 1930–2001,” in Ian Graham, “It Pays to Be Union, U.S. Figures Show,” Labour Education, International Labour Organization, 2002/2003, no. 128.

[>] The odds against a McDonald’s restaurant in Canada: Roughly three McDonald’s closed per year in Canada during the early 1990s, while about eighty new ones annually opened. See Mike King, “McDonald’s to Go,” Montreal Gazette, Feb. 15, 1998.

[>] “Did somebody say McUnion?”: Bill Tieleman, “Did Somebody Say McUnion?” National Post, Mar. 29, 1999.

 

THE SECRET OF THE FRIES

 

Food: A Culinary History (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), edited by Jean-Louis Flandrin and Missimo Montanari, traces the changes in how food is prepared from prehistoric campfires all the way to the kitchens at McDonald’s. A good account of the history of American food processing can be found in John M. Connor and William A. Schiek, Food Processing: An Industrial Powerhouse in Transition (New York: Wiley, 1997). The reference books on flavor technology are a pleasure to read. They are like medieval texts on black magic, full of strange, unfamiliar words. Some of the most interesting ones are Giovanni Fenaroli and George A. Burdock, Fenaroli’s Handbook of Flavor Ingredients, vol. 2 (Ann Arbor, Mich.: CRC Press, 1995); Henry B. Heath, Source Book of Flavors (Westport, Conn.: Avi, 1981); Carl W. Hall, A. W. Farrall, and A. L. Rippen, Encyclopedia of Food Engineering (Westport, Conn.: Avi, 1986); and Flavor Science: Sensible Principles and Techniques, edited by Terry E. Acree and Roy Teranishi (Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society, 1993).

Julie Mennella, a biopsychologist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, spoke to us about how children develop their sense of taste. Terry E. Acree, a professor of food science technology at Cornell University, was a wonderful resource on the subjects of smell, taste, flavor, and the flavor industry. Bob Bauer, executive director of the National Association of Fruits, Flavors, and Syrups, outlined when and where the flavor industry settled in New Jersey. We are grateful to Carol Brys, Brian Grainger, Diane Mora, and Marianne Swaney-Stueve at International Flavors & Fragrances. They not only answered our questions patiently but allowed us a glimpse of how flavors are manufactured and tested. A number of flavorists whom we interviewed asked that their names and the names of their companies not appear in this book. While respecting their privacy, we’d like to thank them for their help.

 

[>] “The French fry [was]”: Kroc, Grinding It Out, p. 10.

[>] J. R. Simplot: Interview with J. R. Simplot.

[>] Although Thomas Jefferson had brought: See “The French Fries,” a chapter in Elizabeth Rozin’s The Primal Cheeseburger (New York: Penguin, 1994), pp. 133–52.

[>] At the time McDonald’s bought fresh potatoes: Cited in Love, Behind the Arches, p. 329.

[>] McDonald’s had about 725 restaurants: See “McDonald’s Timeline,” McDonald’s Corporation, 2005. By the end of 1964, McDonald’s had 657 restaurants. Its thousandth store opened in 1968, and its three thousandth store opened in 1974.

[>] In 1960 the typical American: See Bling-Hwan Lin, Gary Lucier, Jane Allshouse, and Linda Scott Kantor, “Fast Food Growth Boosts Frozen Potato Consumption,” Food Review, Jan.–Apr. 2001, and Economic Research Service/USDA, “French Fries Driving Globalization of Frozen Potato Industry,” Agricultural Outlook, Oct. 2002.

[>] Close to 90 percent: Cited in “Fast Food Growth Boosts Frozen Potato Consumption,” p. 42.

[>] A study recently found: “Feeding Infants & Toddlers Study by Gerber Products Co.,” Mathematica Policy Research Inc. Cited in “Junk Food Starts Early,” Time, Nov. 10, 2003.

[>] “I’ve been a land hog”: Simplot interview.

[>] Altogether, J. R. Simplot controls: Delaware has about 1.6 million acres of land.

[>] three companies control about 80 percent: Cited in Timothy J. Richard, Paul M. Patterson, and Ram N. Acharya, “Price Behavior in a Dynamic Oligopsony: Washington Processing Potatoes,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, May 1, 2001.

[>] Out of every dollar-fifty: A large order of fries weighs about one quarter of a pound. It takes about a half pound of fresh potatoes to make a quarter pound of fries. A typical farm price for fresh processing potatoes is four to five dollars per hundredweight—or four to five cents a pound.

[>] Idaho has lost about half Interview with Bert Moulton of the Potato Growers of Idaho.

[>] more saturated beef fat: A small McDonald’s hamburger weighed 102 grams and had 3.6 grams of saturated fat; a small order of fries weighed 68 grams and had 5.05 grams of saturated fat. See “Where’s the Fat,” USA Today, Apr. 5, 1990; Marian Burros, “The Slimming of Fat Fast Food,” New York Times, July 25, 1990.

[>] Americans now spend more than $1 trillion: “Personal Consumption Expenditures by Major Type of Product and Expenditure,” Bureau of Economic Analysis, Mar. 19, 2004.

[>] The aroma of a food can be responsible: Cited in Ruth Sambrook, “Do You Smell What I Smell? The Science of Smell and Taste,” Institute of Food Research, Mar. 1999.

[>] Babies like sweet tastes: See Julie A. Mennella and Gary K. Beauchamp, “Early Flavor Experiences: Where Do They Start?” Nutrition Today, Sept. 1994.

[>] “It’s during childhood”: Interview with Julie Mennella.

[>] an experiment on how tastes are formed: See Julie A. Mennella, Coren P Jagnow, and Gary K. Beauchamp, “Prenatal and Postnatal Flavor Learning by Human Infants,” Pediatrics 107, no. 6 (June 2001).

[>] In another experiment, Mennella proved: See Julie A. Mennella, Cara E. Griffin, and Gary K. Beauchamp, “Flavor Programming During Infancy,” Pediatrics 113, no. 4 (Apr. 2004): 840–45.

[>] The flavor in a twelve-ounce can of Coke: An industry source told us the cost of the flavor in a six-pack of Coke, and we did the math.

[>] And what does that artificial strawberry flavor contain?: This tasty recipe comes from Fenaroli and Burdock, Fenaroli’s Handbook of Flavor Ingredients, vol. 2, p. 831.

[>] Universal TA.XT2 Texture Analyzer: For a description of such contraptions, see Ray Marsili, “Texture and Mouthfeel: Making Rheology Real,” Food Product Design, Aug. 1993.

[>] “Children’s expectation of a strawberry”: Interview with Brian Grainger, the director of flavor creation for North America at IFF.

[>] “We could do it very easily”: Ibid.

[>] Boys are more likely than girls: Interview with Marianne Swaney-Stueve, a senior sensory and consumer researcher, and Brian Grainger at IFF.

[>] Small children have tried to drink: See Anastasia Ustinova, “Labels on Toxic Items Often Entice Children,” Augusta Chronicle, Mar. 19, 2004.

[>] Carmine can cause allergic reactions: See James L. Baldwin, Alice H. Chou, and William R. Solomon, “Popsicle-Induced Anaphylaxis Due to Carmine Dye Allergy,” Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 79 (Nov. 1997): 415–19.

[>] Tartrazine, a yellow food coloring: See “Effect of Artificial Food Colors on Childhood Behavior,” Archives of Disease in Childhood 65 (1990): 74–77; “Tartrazine Sensitivity,” American Family Physician 42 (1990): 1347–50.

[>] A study conducted in 2004: Cited in “Something Fishy: Could This Spell the End of E Numbers?” Independent (London), July 6, 2004.

[>] “We assume that because these things do not make us drop dead”: Interview with Dr. Vyvyan Howard.

[>] “Eating a cow for a Hindu”: Quoted in Laurie Goodstein, “For Hindus and Vegetarians, Surprise in McDonald’s Fries,” New York Times, May 20, 2001.

[>] “If you visit McDonald’s anywhere”: Quoted in “Healthy Eating,” McDonald’s Corporation, Australian Web site, www.McDonalds.com.au, 2001.

 

STOP THE POP

 

The harmful impact of fast food in rural Alaska is a good example of how this industry is changing traditional cultures and remote societies throughout the world. The mayor of Bethel opened the town’s first Subway restaurant in 2000, and Yupik Eskimo teens now work there behind the counter. Several books examine the history and culture of the Yupik people. Minuk: Ashes in the Pathway (Middleton, Wis.: Pleasant Company, 2002), a novel by Kirkpatrick Hill, tells the story of a Yupik girl’s first contact with outsiders a century ago. Mary Lenz and James H. Barker have written a thorough history of the area, Bethel: The First Hundred Years (Bethel: A City of Bethel Centennial History Project, 1985). Ann Fienup-Riordan’s book, The Living Tradition of Yupik Masks (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1996), includes photographs of the masks and explains their meaning. Always Getting Ready, Upterrlainarluta: Yupik Eskimo Subsistence in Southwest Alaska (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1993), by James H. Barker, combines beautiful photographs with a graceful text. Barker’s respect for the Yupik is evident on every page.

We are grateful to Mary Kapsner for all her help. She is an honest, idealistic, hard-working state legislator, and we look forward to her becoming the governor of Alaska someday. Jonathan Kapsner was a gracious host, willing to drive around Bethel at a moment’s notice. Meera Ramesh, the juvenile diabetes coordinator at the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation, was generous with her time, as were Paulette Pasco, Dr. Stan Shulman, and Dr. Edwin Allgair, who have seen the rise in tooth decay among children in the region. Among the many people who helped with research in Alaska, we’d like to thank Teresa Altenburg, Carol Ballew, Carol Cozzen, Felecia Griffith-Kleven, Dana Hall, Chris Ho, Michael Johnson, Allen M. Joseph, Don Kashevaroff, Jodie Malus, David Matthews, and Julian Naylor. Michael Jacobson’s report “Liquid Candy: How Soft Drinks Are Harming Americans’ Health” (Center for Science in the Public Interest, Oct. 1998) examines the increase in soda consumption in the United States over the past thirty years and its effect on the health of young people.

 

[>] A child caught speaking Yupik: See Rhonda Barton, “Nets & Paddles: Fish and Canoes Carry Meaningful Lessons,” Northwest Education Magazine, Spring 2004.

[>] “upterrlainarluta”: See Barker, Always Getting Ready.

[>] About half of the village’s adults are unemployed: According to 2000 U.S. Census data, 53.55 percent of the adults in Kasigluk were not employed. Cited in Alaska Community Information Summaries.

[>] “We don’t know if there will or won’t”: Quoted in Rona Cherry, “McDonald’s Goes to School in Arkansas,” New York Times, Sept. 30, 1976.

[>] Thirty years later, about 19,000: This is our own estimate, based on the following data. In 2000 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 20.2 percent of American public schools offer brand-name fast food to students. According to the Department of Education, there are about 94,000 public schools. See “School Health Policies and Programs Study,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2000, and “Overview of Public Elementary and Secondary Schools and Districts: School Year 2001–2002,” U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2003.

[>] “We want to be more like”: Quoted in Janet Bigham, “Corporate Curriculum: And Now a Word, Lesson, Lunch, from a Sponsor,” Denver Post, Feb. 22, 1998.

[>] “I don’t think it’s healthy”: Quoted in “Battle of the Bulge: Fast Food Is King at Arroyo High,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 29, 2003.

[>] a group of students protested with signs: See Elizabeth Weil, “Heavy Questions,” New York Times, Jan. 2, 2005.

[>] Half of the boys and one third of the girls: Ibid.

[>] “an absolute waste”: Quoted in Gordon W. Gunderson, The National School Lunch Program: Background and Development (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1971).

[>] “whereby the pupils may obtain”: Ibid.

[>] By 1946 the national school lunch program: Ibid.

[>] The National Soft Drink Association: For a history of the case, see the report of the Democratic Staff of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, “Food Choices at School: Risks to Child Nutrition and Health Call for Action,” May 18, 2004. The case was National Soft Drink Ass’n v. Block, 721 F2d 1348 (1983).

[>] 43 percent of elementary schools: Cited in U.S. General Accounting Office, “School Lunch Program: Efforts Needed to Improve Nutrition and Encourage Healthy Eating” (Washington, D.C.: U.S. General Accounting Office, May 2003), p. 17.

[>] Jade Alexander is a thirteen-year-old: Interview with Jade Alexander.

[>] More than 40 percent of the children: See Loma E. Thorpe et al., “Childhood Obesity in New York City Elementary School Students,” American Journal of Public Health 94, no. 9 (Sept. 2004).

[>] “Go ahead and enjoy them!”: Cited in a report by the Consumers Union, “Captive Kids: A Report on Commercial Pressures on Kids at School,” 1998.

[>] The Pizza Hut “Book It!” program: See press release, “Pizza Hut BOOK IT! Beginners program for preschoolers features Little Critter: Enrollment for 2005 BOOK IT! Beginners Program Starts November,” Pizza Hut, Inc., Oct. 20, 2004.

[>] “Influencing elementary school students”: Quoted in Kent Steinriede, “Sponsorship Scorecard 1999,” Beverage Industry, Jan. 1, 1999.

[>] “We at McDonald’s are thankful”: Quoted in Ernest Holsendorph, “Keeping McDonald’s Out in Front: ‘Gas’ Is No Problem; Chicken May Be Served,” New York Times, Dec. 30, 1973.

[>] The fast-food chains buy Coca-Cola syrup: According to Business Week, Burger King pays Coke $170 million for 40 million gallons of syrup. That works out to a cost of about $4.25 a gallon—or 3.3 cents an ounce. It is safe to assume that McDonald’s, an even larger customer, buys its syrup at a price that is equivalent, if not lower. See Dean Foust, “Man on the Spot: Nowadays Things Go Tougher at Coke,” Business Week, May 3, 1999.

[>] In 1975 the typical American drank: This figure comes from the Beverage Marketing Corporation. Cited in Marc Kaufman, “Pop Culture: Health Advocates Sound Alarm as Schools Strike Deals with Coke and Pepsi,” Washington Post, Mar. 23, 1999.

[>] Today the typical American drinks: This figure comes from the Beverage Marketing Corporation. Cited in John Rodwan, Jr., “Seeking Growth: Convenience Store Volume Increases to 12 Percent: Convenience Consumer, Carbonated Soft Drinks,” National Petroleum News, May 1, 2005.

[>] In 1978 the typical teenage boy: This figure comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Nationwide Food Consumption Survey, 1977–78, and is cited in Michael F. Jacobson, “Liquid Candy: How Soft Drinks Are Harming Americans’ Health,” Center for Science in the Public Interest, Second Edition, June 2005.

[>] today the typical teenage boy drinks: Ibid.

[>] The amount of soda that teenage girls drink: Ibid.

[>] Thirty years ago, teenage boys: For figures from 1977–1978 that show milk consumption double that of soda, see National Food Consumption Survey cited in Jacobson, “Liquid Candy.” According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, in 2002, teen per capita consumption was 53.8 gallons of soda and 23.5 gallons of milk.

[>] About 20 percent of American children: Cited in Jacobson, “Liquid Candy.”

[>] “Location, location, location”: For the story of District 11’s shortfall, see Cara DeGette, “The Real Thing: Corporate Welfare Comes to the Classroom,” Colorado Springs Independent, Nov. 25 to Dec. 1, 1998.

[>] Kristina Clark of Glennallen: Interview with Kristina Clark. The authors appreciate the assistance of Kristina’s mother, Carol Cozzen.

[>] “but no sign of tooth decay”: See Vilhjalmur Stefansson, “Adventures in Diet,” Harper’s Monthly, Jan. 1936.

[>] “Young people in the small villages”: Quoted in press release, “Books & Hoops in Alaska,” Coca-Cola Corporation, June 7, 2002.

[>] Edwin Allgair, a dentist: Interview with Edwin Allgair.

[>] “baby bottle syndrome”: Interview with Stan Shulman, D.D.S., who first alerted us to the frequency of baby bottle syndrome in western Alaska.

[>] In 2003, Mary Kapsner: Interview with Mary Kapsner.

[>] “Many factors contribute to the formation”: Grocery Manufacturers of America letter to the Honorable Tom Anderson, chair, House Committee on Labor and Commerce, Mar. 3, 2003.

[>] “Why are you singling us out?”: Kapsner interview.

 

MEAT

 

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle (1906; reprint, New York: Bantam, 1981) remains the essential starting point for an understanding of America’s meatpacking industry today. A century after its publication, many of the book’s descriptive passages still ring true. Jimmy K. Skagg’s Prime Cut: Livestock Raising and Meatpacking in the United States, 1607–1983 (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1986) is a good history of the subject. The best book on today’s meatpacking industry is Slaughterhouse Blues: The Meat and Poultry Industry in America (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 2003), by Donald D. Stull and Michael J. Broadway. From Columbus to ConAgra: The Globalization of Agriculture and Food, edited by Alessandro Bonanno, Lawrence Busch, William F. Friedland, Lourdes Gouveia, and Enzo Mingione (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1994), contains a fine essay, “Global Strategies and Local Linkages: The Case of the U.S. Meatpacking Industry.” Carol Andreas’s Meatpackers and Beef Barons: Company Town in a Global Economy (Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1994) looks at the changes through the prism of a local community, Greeley, Colorado. Broken Heartland: The Rise of America’s Rural Ghetto (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1996), by Osha Gray Davidson, explains the causes of the rising poverty in American meatpacking towns. In January 2005, Human Rights Watch issued a scathing report on the ways in which the industry violates international human rights laws, “Blood, Sweat, and Fears: Workers’ Rights in U.S. Meat and Poultry Plants.”

Gail A. Eisnitz’s Slaughterhouse: The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect, and Inhumane Treatment Inside the U.S. Meat Industry (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus, 1997) suggests that many cattle are needlessly brutalized prior to slaughter. Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson’s Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior (New York: Scribner, 2005) describes how cruelty and poor breeding practices became commonplace in the poultry and meat industry. Nicols Fox has written two excellent books about the hidden dangers of what we eat, Spoiled: The Dangerous Truth About a Food Chain Gone Haywire (New York: Basic Books, 1997) and It Was Probably Something You Ate: A Practical Guide to Avoiding and Surviving Foodborne Illness (New York: Penguin, 1999).

 

[>] Emily Hanna grew up: Interviews with Emily, Maggie, and Ann Hanna.

[>] Today McDonald’s is America’s largest purchaser of beef: See Love, Behind the Arches, pp. 4–5. Also cited by the president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association in “NCBA, McDonald’s Form Hamburger Task Force: Improving Value of U.S. Beef Products by Exporting Trimmings,” Food & Drink Weekly, Apr. 29, 2002.

[>] In 1968, McDonald’s bought fresh ground beef: For the consolidation of the chain’s beef purchasing, see Love, Behind the Arches, pp. 130, 333–38.

[>] In 1917, at the height of the beef trust: Cited in Competition and the Livestock Market, Report of a Task Force Commissioned by the Center for Rural Affairs (Walt Hill, Neb., Apr. 1990), p. 31.

[>] In 1970 the four largest meatpacking companies: Ibid.

[>] Today the top four meatpacking companies: See Mary Hendrickson and William Heffernan, “Concentration of Agricultural Markets,” National Farmers Union, Feb. 2005.

[>] Twenty-five years ago, ranchers: See figures provided by Chuck Lambert, chief economist for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, in Wes Ishmael, “Reality Gap,” Beef, Aug. 1, 2002.

[>] A typical steer will eat: Interview with Mike Callicrate, Kansas feedlot operator.

[>] Each steer deposits about 50 pounds: This figure was determined by researchers at Colorado State University. Cited in Mark Obmascik, “As Greeley Ponders Tax, Cows Keep on Doing Their Thing,” Denver Post, July 29, 1995.

[>] In 1991 one billion fish were killed: Cited in Susan Zakin, “Nonpoint Pollution: The Quiet Killer,” Field & Stream, Aug. 1999, p. 86.

[>] The two big feedlots outside Greeley: According to O. W. Charles, of the Extension Poultry Science Department of the University of Georgia, one head of cattle generates the same amount of waste as 16.4 people. Cited in Eric R. Haapapuro, Neal D. Barnardd, and Michele Simon, “Animal Waste Used as Livestock Feed: Dangers to Human Health,” Preventive Medicine, Sept./Oct. 1997. Using that ratio, the roughly 200,000 cattle in those two Weld County feedlots produce an amount of waste equal to that of about 3.2 million people. The combined population of Denver (555,000), Boston (600,000), Atlanta (425,000), and St. Louis (350,000) produce much less excrement than Greeley’s cattle.

[>] Some studies suggest that breathing air polluted: See K. H. Kilburn, “Evaluating Health Effects from Exposure to Hydrogen Sulfide: Central Nervous System Dysfunction,” Environmental Epidemiology and Toxicology (1999), 1: 207–216.

[>] a pile of manure at a large feedlot in Milford: See “Burning Manure Pile in Nebraska Goes Out,” Associated Press, Feb. 23, 2005, and Kevin O’Hanlon, “Massive Manure Fire Burns into Third Month,” Associated Press, Jan. 28, 2005.

[>] Four chicken companies now control: Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s Pride, Gold Kist, and Perdue now control about 56 percent of the broiler chickens sold in this country. Cited in Hendrickson and Heffernan, “Concentration of Agricultural Markets.”

[>] “I have an idea”: Quoted in Monci Jo Williams, “McDonald’s Refuses to Plateau,” Fortune, Nov. 12, 1984.

[>] Named Mr. McDonald, the new breed: See Love, Behind the Arches, p. 342.

[>] Chicken McNuggets were introduced in 1983: Cited in Williams, “McDonald’s Refuses.”

[>] When a researcher at Harvard Medical School: The researcher was Dr. Frank Sacks, assistant professor of medicine at the Harvard University Medical School, and he utilized gas chromatography to analyze McNuggets for Science Digest. See “Study Raises Beef over Fast-Food Frying,” Chicago Tribune, Mar. 11, 1986, and Irvin Molotsky, “Risk Seen in Saturated Fats Used in Fast Foods,” New York Times, Nov. 15, 1985.

[>] “The impact of McNuggets was so huge”: Quoted in Timothy K. Smith, “Changing Tastes: By End of the Year Poultry Will Surpass Beef in the U.S. Diet,” Wall Street Journal, Sept. 17, 1987.

[>] Twenty-five years ago, most chicken was sold whole: See statistics from the U.S. Egg and Poultry Series, 1960–1990, cited in Michael Ollinger, “Poultry Plants Lowering Production Costs and Increasing Variety—Statistical Data Included,” Food Review, May-August 2000. In 1982, 51.9 percent of chickens were sold whole; in 1997, only 13.1 percent were sold whole.

[>] Tyson now manufactures about half: Cited in Sheila Edmundson, “Real Home of the McNugget Is Tyson,” Memphis Business Journal, July 9, 1999.

[>] A Tyson chicken farmer: Interview with Larry Holder, executive director of the National Contract Poultry Growers Association.

[>] A typical chicken farmer has been raising: See “Assessing the Impact of Integrator Practices on Contract Poultry Growers,” Farmers’ Legal Action Group, Inc., Sept. 2001.

[>] About half the nation’s chicken growers: Cited in Sheri Venena, “Growing Pains,” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Oct. 18, 1998.

[>] Norah Smith raises chickens: Author interview. At the request of this chicken farmer, we have not used her real name. She is a real person and not a combination of people.

[>] Sometimes the leftover waste: The information about chickens being in the chicken feed was confirmed by an interview with Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson. The information about beef in the chicken feed came through conversations with growers; there is no federal rule blocking beef in chicken feed. See also “Mad Cow Cases Met with Shrug Instead of Safeguards,” USA Today, July 31, 2005.

[>] In 1994, Japanese scientists discovered: See “Which Came First? This Chicken,” New York Times, Dec. 20, 1994; Steve Connor, “Chickens’ Ancestry Traced to Thailand,” The Independent (UK), Dec. 20, 1994.

[>] In 1965 chickens gained roughly: Figures for weight and growing times cited in Chris Hill, “Chicken Industry Adapts for Future,” Poultry Times, Apr. 13, 2005.

[>] If a child gained weight: Cited in Michael McCarthy, “Animal Welfare: The Growing Pains of a Selectively Bred Chicken,” Independent (London), Dec. 10, 2001. A section near the end of the article explains how researchers arrived at this figure. The researchers suggested that if current trends continue, the typical broiler chicken will soon be the equivalent of a 330-pound six-year-old.

[>] In 2006, about 9 billion chickens: In 2004, 8.74 billion broiler chickens were slaughtered in the United States. The number should exceed 9 billion in 2006. See U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, “Poultry—Production and Value, 2004 Summary,” Apr. 2005.

[>] When chickens arrive: The description of the Pilgrim’s Pride slaughterhouse was based on a visit to Moorefield, interviews with local chicken growers with knowledge of the plant, reports by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and an interview with PETAs director of vegan outreach, Bruce Friedrich. A 2004 PETA report, “The Case for Controlled-Atmosphere Killing of Poultry in Transport Containers Prior to Shackling as a Means for More Humane Slaughter Rather than Electrical Stunning,” outlines the different steps of the electrical slaughter process—and what can go wrong. See also Dick Hughes, “Pilgrim’s Pride Moves Quickly to Ensure Humane Processing,” Moorefield Examiner, July 28, 2004; press conference comments by KFC president Gregg Dedrick, July 21, 2004; and statement from O. B. Goolsby, president and chief operating officer, Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation, July 20, 2004. When we contacted Ray Atkinson, a spokesman for the Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation, he declined to comment on the PETA video and other allegations of abuse.

[>] Several years ago McDonald’s admitted: Dr. Gomez Gonzales, McDonald’s first manager of meat products, made this admission in testimony during a libel suit in England, later known as the “McLibel trial.” See verdict of Chief Justice Robert Bell, McDonald’s Restaurants v. Morris & Steel, Section 8: The Rearing and Slaughter of Animals, 19 June 1997.

[>] Yet a 2004 videotape: You can see the videotape online at www.peta.org/feat/moorefield/. It’s hard to watch.

[>] “I like to hear the popping sound”: Cited in “What the Investigator Saw: Eyewitness Testimony from PETAs Investigation into a Pilgrim’s Pride Chicken Slaughterhouse,” July 2004.

[>] A study of controlled atmosphere stunning: See “Report of the Corporate Responsibility Committee of the Board of Directors of McDonald’s Corporation: Regarding the Feasibility of Implementing Controlled Atmosphere Stunning for Broilers,” McDonald’s Corporation, June 29, 2005.

[>] “cogs in the great packing machine”: Upton Sinclair, The Jungle, p. 78.

[>] “This is no fairy story and no joke”: Ibid, p. 135.

[>] “I aimed for the public’s heart”: Quoted in Skaggs, Prime Cut, p. 118.

[>] meatpacking workers were soon among the highest-paid: See Shelton Stromquist and Marvin Bergman, Unionizing the Jungles: Labor and Community in the Twentieth-Century Meatpacking Industry (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1997), pp. 25–33.

[>] lowering wages by as much as 50 percent: While the meatpacking companies Swift and Armour were paying $17 to $18 an hour, IBP was paying just $8. See Winston Williams, “An Upheaval in Meatpacking,” New York Times, June 20, 1983.

[>] Today meatpacking workers are among the lowest-paid: In 1970 meatpacking wages were 19 percent higher than the average wages in American manufacturing; by 2002 meatpacking wages were 24 percent lower than the national average. Cited in Human Rights Watch, “Blood, Sweat, and Fears.”

[>] And they have one of the most dangerous jobs: See Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Table SNR01: Highest Incidence Rates of Total Nonfatal Occupational Injury and Illness Cases, Private Industry,” 2003.

[>] the typical meatpacking worker now quits: Cited in General Accounting Office, “Workplace Safety and Health: Safety in the Meat and Poultry Industry, While Improving, Could Be Further Strengthened,” U.S. Government Accountability Office, Jan. 2005, pp. 31 and 56. This GAO report mentions that a turnover rate of 100 percent is not uncommon at meatpacking plants. At one plant visited by GAO investigators the turnover rate was nearly 200 percent, which means that the typical worker left after only six months.

[>] Employee Severely Burned After Fuel from His Saw Is Ignited: These are the titles of Accident Investigation Summaries, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

[>] The maximum fine that OSHA can impose: See David Barstow and Lowell Bergman, “Deaths on the Job, Slaps on the Wrist,” New York Times, Jan. 10, 2003. The article points out that during the more than thirty years since OSHA was created, the maximum penalty has only increased once, from $10,000 to $70,000 in 1990.

[>] keep in mind that Tyson: See “Q2 2005 Tyson Foods Earnings Conference Call—Final,” Fair Disclosure Wire, May 2, 2005. John Tyson is quoted as projecting 2005 revenues to be between $26 and $27 billion, “down slightly from our previous financial outlook.”

[>] A meatpacking executive who deliberately violates: See David Barstow, “U.S. Rarely Seeks Charges for Deaths in Workplace,” New York Times, Dec. 22, 2003.

[>] more than seven hundred people: See “Update: Multistate Outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 Infections from Hamburgers—Western United States, 1992–1993,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Apr. 16, 1993, and Fox, Spoiled, pp. 246–68.

[>] Lauren Beth Rudolph: See Anita Manning, “A Simple Meal Can Shatter a Family,” USA Today, May 13, 1997.

[>] In 1982 dozens of children were sickened: Nicols Fox offers the best account of this outbreak. See Fox, Spoiled, pp. 220–29.

[>] “the possibility of a statistical association”: Quoted in ibid, p. 227.

[>] roughly 200,000 people are sickened: Estimate based on figures in Paul S. Mead et al., “Food-Related Illness and Death in the United States,” Emerging Infectious Diseases 5, no. 5 (Sept.–Oct. 1999).

[>] More than one quarter of the American population: Ibid.

[>] there is strong evidence: See Robert V. Tauxe, “Emerging Foodborne Diseases: An Evolving Public Health Challenge,” Emerging Infectious Diseases 3, no. 4 (Oct.–Dec. 1997). Also see World Health Organization, Fact Sheet: Foodborne Diseases, Emerging, Jan. 2002.

[>] Today thirteen large slaughterhouses: Cited in James M. MacDonald and Michael Ollinger, “U.S. Meat Slaughter Consolidating Rapidly,” USDA Food Review, May 1, 1997.

[>] “We can fine circuses”: Quoted in Carol Smith, “Overhaul in Meat Inspection No Small Potatoes, Official Says,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Jan. 29, 1998.

[>] “There is no limit”: Quoted in Mary Yeager, Competition and Regulation: The Development of Oligopoly in the Meat Packing Industry (Greenwich, Conn.: Jai, 1981), p. 205.

[>] “You shouldn’t eat dirty food”: Interview with a government health official who prefers not to be named.

[>] A single animal infected with E. coli : Cited in Gregory L. Armstrong, Jill Holingsworth, and J. Glenn Morris, Jr., “Emerging Foodborne Pathogens: Escherichia coli O157:H7 as a Model of Entry of a New Pathogen into the Food Supply of the Developed World,” Epidemiologic Reviews 18, no. 1 (1996).

[>] A single fast-food hamburger: Interview with Dr. Robert Tauxe, chief of foodborne and diarrheal diseases at the Centers for Disease Control, “Modern Meat,” Frontline, 2002.

[>] at the V& G Newman slaughterhouse: For the story of the Tamworth Two, see “Pig Tales of the Tamworth Two,” Daily Mail (London), Oct. 29, 1998; Michael Hornsby, “Tamworth Two Fled Unhygienic Abattoir,” Times (London), Jan. 30, 1998; Gabrielle Fagan, “Tamworth Two Spark Bills to Help Pigs,” Press Association, Jan. 20, 1998; and Helen Reid, “Why We All Cheer the Great Escape,” Bristol United Press, Jan. 19, 1998.

[>] an American dairy cow named Emily: The story of Emily is based on an interview with Lewis Randa of the Peace Abbey and the following articles: “A Cow Who Took Matters into Her Own Hooves,” AWI Quarterly 45, no. 1 (Winter 1996): 12; Maureen Sullivan, “Peace Abbey Welcomes Bronze Beloved Bovine,” MetroWest Daily News, Apr. 26, 2005; and “Holy Cow! She’s a Holstein Hero,” People, Dec. 26, 1996. James Agee wrote a wonderful short story called “A Mother’s Tale” that imagines the emotional experience of a cow as it heads to slaughter. It can be found in The Collected Short Prose of James Agee (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1968).

 

BIG

 

Greg Critser’s Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003) offers a provocative look at the nation’s expanding waistlines. In 2004 the National Academy of Sciences issued a fine report, Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance (Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2004). It provides the most recent scientific findings about the causes and effects of childhood obesity. It also suggests potential solutions.

Charlie and Sam Fabrikant were generous with their time and endured two author visits to Chicago, a day of shadowing at school, and lengthy telephone interviews. Wendy Fabrikant was very helpful in obtaining photographs, answering questions, and setting up a visit to Buffalo Grove High School. We are grateful to Patrice Johannes, the school’s principal, for her tour of the school. Dr. Chris Salvino took time out of his busy schedule to explain the history of the WISH Center.

The authors wish to thank Alex Sternberg of the SUNY Downstate Medical Center for arranging interviews with young people at the Downstate Weight Loss Clinic in Brooklyn, New York. Dr. Sternberg runs a youth weight-loss program that could serve as a model for others throughout the country. We’d also like to thank Heidi Guy and David Candy of the New Leaf program at St. Richard’s Hospital in Chichester, England; Dr. Vyvyan Howard of the University of Liverpool; Jeanette Orrey, formerly of St. Peter’s Church of England Primary School in East Bridgford, Nottinghamshire; and Mary Rudolf of the Watch It clinic in Leeds. Unfortunately, the small number of youth health and weight-loss clinics in Great Britain cannot keep up with the demand for such services.

 

[>] Sam Fabrikant sat on the edge: Interviews with Sam, Charlie, and Wendy Fabrikant.

[>] Today almost two thirds of the adults: For information about the number of adults who are obese or overweight, see Katherine M. Flegal et al., “Prevalence and Trends in Obesity Among U.S. Adults, 1999–2000,” Journal of the American Medical Association 288 (2002): 1723–27. For children, see C. L. Ogden, K. M. Flegal, M. D. Carroll, and C. L. Johnson, “Prevalence and Trends in Overweight Among U.S. Children and Adolescents, 1999–2000,” Journal of the American Medical Association 288 (2002): 1728–32.

[>] Almost 50 million Americans are now obese: Cited in A. H. Mokdad et al., “Prevalence of Obesity, Diabetes, and Obesity Related Health Risk Factors, 2001,” Journal of the American Medical Association 289 (2003): 76–79.

[>] An additional 6 or 7 million are “morbidly obese”: Ibid. The Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measurement that takes into account a person’s height and weight. People who are morbidly obese have a BMI of 40 or greater. Those who are super-obese have a BMI of 50 or higher.

[>] Since the early 1970s, the rate of obesity: In the 1970–1974 National Health Examination Surveys, 12 percent of the men and 16.7 percent of the women were obese. Cited in “Statistics Related to Overweight and Obesity,” Cleveland Clinic, 2005. The obesity rate among U.S. adults in 2001 was 20.1 percent.

[>] Among preschoolers it has doubled: See Ogden et al., “Prevalence and Trends in Overweight Among U.S. Children and Adolescents.” This work defines obese as those children who rank in the top five percentiles of children of the BMI. Also see National Academy of Sciences, “Preventing Childhood Obesity,” p. 63.

[>] “We’ve got the fattest, least fit generation”: Quoted in Maggie Fox, “U.S.: Obesity Will Be Hard to Treat, Experts Say,” AAP Newsfeed, May 29, 1998.

[>] For most of human history: See Robert William Fogel, The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700–2100: Europe, America, and the Third World (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004).

[>] A typical person has 25 to 35 billion fat cells: Cited in Dana D. Sterner, “Abdominal Obesity: How It’s Different,” RN, Nov. 1, 2004.

[>] They communicate with the brain: See Rob Stein, “Decoding the Surprisingly Active Life of Fat Cells,” Washington Post, July 12, 2004.

[>] An obese person can develop: Cited in Brad Evenson, “Research Shows Fat Is an Organ: Guides New Research, Explains Ruined Diets,” National Post (Canada), Sept. 8, 2003.

[>] If you are obese by the age of thirteen: See S. S. Guo et al., “Predicting Overweight and Obesity in Adulthood From Body Mass Index Values in Childhood and Adolescence,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2002): 655.

[>] Less than 30 percent of high school students: See Centers for Disease Control, “Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2003,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 53 (No. SS-2): 21–24; 28.4 percent of students were enrolled in daily physical education classes in 2003, up from 25 percent in 1995.

[>] 12 percent of students: See National Academy of Sciences, Preventing Childhood Obesity, p. 41.

[>] “personal responsibility”: See John Arlidge, “McDonald’s Says Get Some Exercise, Fatso,” Times (London), Apr. 17, 2005. Jim Skinner, CEO of McDonald’s, told the Times reporter that “it’s time to shift the focus to personal responsibility. . . . It’s not just about our products anymore, it’s about what our customers do.”

[>] the industry earns most of its money: See Bret Begun, “A Really Big Idea: Burger King’s CEO Has Turned Around the Chain with a Radical Notion: Give People What They Want,” Newsweek, May 23, 2005, and Jennifer Ordonez, “Cash Cows: Burger Joints Call Them ‘Heavy Users’—But Not to Their Faces,” Wall Street Journal, January 12, 2001.

[>] According to one former McDonald’s executive: Interview with a retired senior executive at McDonald’s who prefers not to be named.

[>] One of these large Cokes: See “McDonald’s USA Nutrition Facts for Popular Menu Items,” McDonald’s Corporation, 2005. A large Coca-Cola Classic has 310 calories and 86 grams of carbohydrates. A twelve-ounce serving of Coke has the equivalent of ten teaspoons of sugar, so a thirty-two-ounce Coke would have somewhere on the order of twenty-nine teaspoons of sugar.

[>] In 1957 the typical fast-food burger patty: Cited in Amanda Spake, “A Fat Nation: America’s ‘Supersize’ Diet Is Fattier and Sweeter—and Deadlier,” U.S. News & World Report, Aug. 19, 2002.

[>] That one hamburger has 1,410 calories: See Hardee’s Nutritional Information, 2005.

[>] the average person aged nine to thirteen: See Report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, “Part D: Science Base, Section 3: Discretionary Calories,” 2005, p. 8.

[>] At Wendy’s, a Classic Triple hamburger: The sandwich has 970 calories and 59 grams of fat; the fries have 590 calories and 29 grams of fat; and the Biggie cola soft drink has 200 calories and 0 grams of fat. See Wendy’s “Build-A-Meal” at www.wendys.com.

[>] A Burger King Big Kids Double Cheeseburger Meal: The Double Cheeseburger has 530 calories, the Coca-Cola has 140 calories, and the fries have 230 calories. See Burger King, “Nutritional Facts,” at www.bk.com.

[>] Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub: See Sarah E. Lockyer, “The Burger Strikes Back,” Nation’s Restaurant News, June 6, 2005.

[>] Kate Stelnick ordered one of these eleven-pound hamburgers: See “Slender Teen Is First to Gobble 11-Pound Meal,” Ventura County Star (California), Jan. 18, 2005.

[>] They’re frequently teased at school: See Ian Janssen et al., “Associations Between Overweight and Obesity with Bullying Behaviors in School-Aged Children,” Pediatrics 113, no. 5 (May 2004): 1187–94.

[>] They’re far more likely than other kids: See Richard S. Strauss, M.D., “Childhood Obesity and Self Esteem,” Pediatrics 105 (2000).

[>] One study of obese children: See Jeffrey B. Schwimmer, Tasha M. Burwinkle, and James W. Varni, “Health-Related Quality of Life of Severely Obese Children and Adolescents,” Journal of the American Medical Association 289 (Apr. 2003): 1813–19.

[>] Obesity has been linked to health problems: See Aviva Must, Jennifer Spadano, Eugenie H. Coakley, Allison E. Field, Graham Colditz, and William H. Dietz, “The Disease Burden Associated with Overweight and Obesity,” Journal of the American Medical Association 282 (Oct. 27, 1999): 1523–29.

[>] O bese people are two to three times more likely to die young: Cited in Eugenia E. Calle, et al., “Body-Mass Index and Mortality in a Prospective Cohort of U.S. Adults,” New England Journal of Medicine 341 (October 7, 1999): 1097–1105.

[>] Obesity kills more than twice as many Americans: See National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, press release, “2004 Highway Deaths Projected to Reach 42,800; Transportation Secretary Mineta Calls Fatalities a ‘National Epidemic,’” Apr. 21, 2005.

[>] According to one recent estimate: See Katherine M. Flegal et al., “Excess Deaths Associated with Underweight, Overweight, and Obesity,” Journal of the American Medical Association 293 (Apr. 20, 2005): 1861.

[>] It is now the sixth leading cause of death: See “10 Leading Causes of Death, United States, 2002, All Races, Both Sexes,” National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

[>] A study conducted by the federal government: See K. M. Venkat Narayan et al., “Lifetime Risk for Diabetes Mellitus in the United States,” Journal of the American Medical Association 290 (2003): 1884–90.

[>] Among African-American and Latino children: Ibid.

[>] The life of a ten-year-old child: Ibid.

[>] Between 1984 and 1993, the number of fast-food restaurants: Cited in Elizabeth Gleick, “Land of the Fat: It’s Time to Shape Up: Europeans Are Facing an Obesity Crisis That May Only Get Worse,” Time, Oct. 25, 1999.

[>] During the 1980s, the sale of fast food in Japan: The first figure is cited in Mark Hammond and Jacqueline Ruyak, “The Decline of the Japanese Diet: MacArthur to McDonald’s,” East West, Oct. 1990. The change in the obesity rate is cited in “Western Fast Food Is Blamed for Overweight Children,” Food Labeling News, May 13, 1998.

[>] Many Okinawans could expect: See Bryan Walsh, “Asia’s War with Heart Disease,” Time International, May 10, 2004.

[>] The first McDonald’s opened on the island: Ibid.

[>] Today Okinawa has the most hamburger restaurants: Cited in Norimitsu Onishi, “On U.S. Fast Food, More Okinawans Grow Super-sized,” New York Times, Mar. 30, 2004.

[>] Okinawa also has: Ibid.

[>] Dr. Mehmet Oz stands: Interview with Dr. Mehmet Oz. The authors appreciate the help of Amy Grillo, public affairs assistant at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia.

[>] Researchers at Harvard University believe: See Walter C. Willett and Alberto Ascherio, “Trans Fatty Acids: Are the Effects Only Marginal?” American Journal of Public Health 84 (1994): 722–24.

[>] A study of high school kids: See Grace Wyshak, “Teenaged Girls, Carbonated Beverage Consumption, and Bone Fractures,” Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine 154 (2000): 610–13.

[>] Thomas Robertson had severe chest pain: This information came from an interview with Paulette Robertson, Thomas’s mother, and John Pope, “Teenage Wake-Up Call; Bad Habits, Disease Taking Hold Earlier,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, Oct. 13, 2002.

[>] some ten-year-old obese children: The study was conducted at the Chinese University of Hong Kong by Kam S. Woo, M.D. See “Chinese University of Hong Kong: Exercise Is Key to Reversing Obesity-Related Heart Risk in Children,” Cardiovascular Device Liability Week, May 2, 2004; David Derbyshire and Roger Highfield, “One in Five Teenagers Shows Signs of Heart Disease,” Daily Telegraph (London), Sept. 7, 2004.

[>] In 1993 surgeons performed about 16,000 gastric bypass operations: Figures courtesy of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery.

[>] The cost for one of these operations: Cited in Robert Steinbrook, “Surgery for Severe Obesity,” New England Journal of Medicine 350 (Mar. 11, 2004): 1075–79.

[>] Dr. Salvino had an unusual background: Interview with Dr. Salvino.

[>] In April 2004, Warren Allen died: See Todd C. Frankel, “Weighing the Risks for Obese Teens, a Last Resort,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mar. 7, 2005, and “Local Teenager Died Less than Year After Weight-Loss Surgery,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mar. 6, 2005.

[>] beriberi: See Sharon Kirkey, “The Fat Files,” National Post (Canada), Sept. 9, 2003.

[>] About one out of every 1,700 patients: Salvino interview.

 

YOUR WAY

 

We are grateful to Alice Waters for her hospitality during our visits to the Edible Schoolyard. Her book, Fanny at Chez Panisse: A Child’s Restaurant Adventures with 46 Recipes (New York: Morrow, 1997), explores the life of the restaurant through the eyes of Alice’s daughter and offers some simple recipes. Students interested in starting a garden at their school should consult the Edible Schoolyard’s Web site, www.edibleschoolyard.org. The National Gardening Association maintains a list of schools around the country that already have gardens. To schedule a visit to one, call the association at (800) 538–7476 or visit its Web site, www.kidsgardening.org. If you are looking for a delicious alternative to fast food, look for a farmers’ market near your home. The USDA Web site has a map showing where these markets can be found: www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets/map.htm. Buying food directly from your local farmer is the best way to support sustainable agriculture and enjoy fresh, healthy meals.

For sixty years, the Soil Association has been promoting organic food and sustainable agriculture in the United Kingdom. Its 2004 report, “Food for Life: Healthy, Local, Organic School Meals,” provides an excellent overview of the problems with school meal programs in the U.K. as well as a blueprint for schools everywhere that want to feed children properly.

 

[>] American soldiers waited: See Kerry Williamson, “Serving Fast Food in a War Zone a Whopper of a Task: Calgary’s Joe Petrusich Dodges Mortar Rounds to Bring Burger King and Pizza Hut to U.S. and British Military in Iraq,” Edmonton Journal (Alberta), Nov. 29, 2004; “Threats to Taste of Home,” Air Force Times, Mar. 1, 2004; David Finlayson, “Fast Food Hot Off the Grill Is Hot Stuff to Troops,” Vancouver Sun, Nov. 3, 2003; “Burger King in Baghdad—US Troops Dig in for Long Haul,” ONASA News Agency, July 15, 2003.

[>] “It is very, very challenging”: Quoted in Williamson, “Serving Fast Food.”

[>] In 1991, McDonald’s had fewer than 4,000 restaurants: Cited in “McDonald’s Opens First Restaurant in Greece; Golden Arches Now in 56 Countries,” PR Newswire, Nov. 11, 1991.

[>] Today it has about 18,000 restaurants: As of this writing, McDonald’s has more than 13,000 restaurants in the United States and 31,000 total worldwide. See “McDonald’s Announces Management Changes & Promotions,” McDonald’s Corporation, July 15, 2004.

[>] “McWorld”: For a fine examination of the cultural conflict now being waged in many societies, see Benjamin Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism Are Reshaping the World (New York: Ballantine, 1996).

[>] five hundred Russians: Cited in Ann Imse, “McDonald’s Opens in Moscow,” Associated Press, Jan. 31, 1990.

[>] when a McDonald’s opened in Kuwait: See Kevin Pang, “A Bite of Burger History: A Few Moments in the Fast-Food Burger’s Last 50 Years,” Chicago Tribune, May 26, 2005.

[>] holy city of Mecca: Cited in Bill McDowall, “The Global Market Challenge,” Restaurants & Institutions, Nov. 1, 1994.

[>] “The objective of this program is simple”: Quoted in Corinna Hawkes, “Marketing Activities of Global Soft Drink and Fast Food Companies in Emerging Markets: A Review,” in Globalization, Diets, and Noncommunicable Diseases, World Health Organization, 2002, p. 10.

[>] “Resist America beginning with Cola”: Quoted in Philip F Zeidman, “Globalization: A Hard Pill to Swallow,” Franchising World, July-Aug. 1999.

[>] “Maybe they think it’s Italian”: Quoted in “U.S. Companies in China Keeping Low Profile,” Colorado Springs Gazette, May 11, 1999.

[>] A new disease: For a thorough account of the history and spread of mad cow disease, see Maxime Schwartz and Edward Schneider, How the Cows Turned Mad (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003).

[>] “Our cows”: “Policy Statement by Consumer Protection Minister Renate Künast,” Die Bundesregierung, Feb. 8, 2001.

[>] “Because we have the world’s biggest shopping cart”: Quoted in Philip Brasher, “McDonald’s Enforcing Beef Rules,” Associated Press, Mar. 13, 2001.

[>] The hens got a little more space: Cited in Neil Steinberg, “McDonald’s Gives Hens More Room,” Chicago Sun-Times, Aug. 24, 2000.

[>] In 2005, McDonald’s became: Cited in Gary Younge, “McDonald’s Grabs a Piece of the Apple Pie,” Guardian (U.K.), Mar. 23, 2005.

[>] The Washington Post estimated: Cited in Margaret Webb Pressler, “Hold the Health, Serve That Burger,” Washington Post, Aug. 18, 2005.

[>] The most successful new item: Ibid.

[>] “There are no good foods or bad foods”: McDonald’s representatives have been using this phrase since at least the early 1990s. See the quote of Michael Goldblatt, a former assistant vice president at McDonald’s, in “McDonald’s Highlights Importance of Good Nutrition in 1990 Annual Report to Shareholders,” Business Wire, Apr. 11, 1991. Representatives of fast-food companies and junk-food companies continue to use similar language today. Richard Martin, spokesman for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, told a congressional committee in July 2005 that “any food can be responsibly consumed by everyone, including kids.” Quoted in Melanie Warner, “Food Industry Defends Marketing to Children,” New York Times, July 15, 2005.

[>] “global ambassador of fun”: See Kate Macarthur, “Health-Minded Ronald Buffs Image; Iconic Mascot Is Redeployed to Tout Fit Lifestyle to Youth, but Is It an ‘Overcorrection’?” Advertising Age, July 25, 2005.

[>] “Bite me”: These slogans were found at www.mcdonalds.com/usa/fun/bigmac.html in Sept. 2005.

[>] As a child in the 1950s: The account of the Edible Schoolyard is based on interviews with Alice Waters, Esther Cook, and other staff members as well as visits to Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School. The authors also appreciate the assistance of Sarah Weiner and Sue DuBois at the Chez Panisse Foundation.

[>] “actions have consequences”: Quoted in “A Delicious Revolution,” by Alice Waters, Center for Eco-Literacy, 2004.

[>] survey by Restaurants & Institutions: See “2005 Consumers’ Choice in Chains,” Restaurants & Institutions, August 22, 2005.

 

AFTERWORD

 

The fast-food industry’s attempts to combat Chew on This received a good deal of publicity. Some of the best reporting came from Janet Adamy and Richard Gibson at the Wall Street Journal and Kate MacArthur at Advertising Age.

 

[>] “We are eating more fast food”: See Bruce Mohl, “After Soda Ban, Nutritionists Say More Can Be Done,” Boston Globe, May 4, 2006.

[>] Disney no longer wanted to be associated with the unhealthy food: See Rachel Abramowitz, “Disney Loses Its Appetite for Happy Meal Tie-Ins,” Los Angeles Times, May 8, 2006.

[>] “There is value in fast-food tie-ins”: See Martin Hickman, “Disney Drops $1bn McDonald’s Deal Amid Health Fears,” Independent (London), May 10, 2006.

[>] Disney announced that it would no longer allow characters: See Landon Thomas Jr., “Disney Says It Will Link Marketing to Nutrition,” New York Times, Oct. 17, 2006.

[>] “fiction masquerading as fact”: National Restaurant Association, “Setting the Record Straight About ‘Chew on This,’” May 2006.

[>] “it’s easy for urban intellectuals”: Mike John, NCBA president, “With Friends Like These . . . Anti-Meat Activist Is Not Your Advocate,” Beef Business Bulletin, June 16, 2006.

[>] “If Upton Sinclair were alive today”: From http://www.bestfoodnation.com/meat-processing.asp. Accessed November 2006.

[>] “not agree with some of [our] conclusions”: Cited in Katy Muldoon, “Fast-Food Author Gives Kids Something to Chew On,” Newhouse News Service, May 10, 2006.

[>] “objective and fair discussion”: Statement of Dr. Catherine Adams, vice president, Worldwide Quality Assurance, Food Safety and Nutrition, McDonald’s Corporation. May 2006.

[>] According to the Wall Street Journal: See Janet Adamy, “McDonald’s Readies Strategy to Deflect Critic’s Next Barrage,” Wall Street Journal, Apr. 12, 2006.

[>] Fast Talk Nation: This Web site was created by a branch of the Washington, D.C., lobbying firm DCI Group and was pulled offline only two days after it launched.

[>] “Make Up Your Own Mind”: See www.makeupyourownmind.co.uk.

[>] The entire marketing budget for Chew on This: Houghton Mifflin announced a marketing budget for Chew on This of $250,000. According to a 2006 National Academies Press report, $11.26 billion was spent on measured advertising of food and beverages in the United States in 2004. Unmeasured advertising such as product placements, character licensing, and in-school visits account for hundreds of millions dollars of additional spending. The restaurant and fast-food industry spent $4.42 billion in measured advertising, and at least $3 billion was spent to advertise fast food. If you add a conservative estimate of $3 billion on fast-food advertising spending and $700 million on carbonated soft drink advertising, and divide that $3.7 billion by 365 days, that works out to roughly $10.1 million spent every day. $250,000 is roughly 2 percent of $10.1 million. See Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity? National Academies Press, 2006, Table 4–11, p. 164.

[>] “I feel the best I’ve ever felt”: Interview with Sam Fabrikant.