"fast food nation" news and stories

Troubled by what he had been reading about his dinner, documentary filmmaker Robert Kenner embarked on a 6-year, cross-country journey to expose the nation's agribusiness industry. "Food, Inc." (see the trailer above) features interviews with authors Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan and quotes from some of the heads of Big Farming from Walmart to Tyson. Kenner examines recent salmonella scares, chats with organic farmers and calls his film -- which hits the big screen next month -- "entertaining and hard-hitting." We caught up by phone with Kenner in L.A. to chat mutant chicken nuggets, Oprah's legal issues and his quest to leave you "delightfully disturbed."

What made you want to make this film?
We spend less of our paycheck on food now than at any time in our history, which is great, but it also comes at a great cost to us ... I made a film that I hope will leave you delightfully disturbed.

What do you mean by "a great cost to us"?
One out of every three babies born after 2000 will develop early onset diabetes. A lot of that is attributed to corn and corn byproducts. We can't sustain that. There are environmental costs and ultimately it is a cost to the consumer. You might be paying less money, but you are paying additional [health] costs that are becoming very, very expensive.

Men in suits, their strawberries and Oprah after the jump.

Before there was Supersize Me, before Eric Schlosser penned Fast Food Nation, Matt Malmgren was busy acquiring Big Macs for his Burger Museum. According to a video that has spread like wildfire throughout the blogosphere, Malmgren purchased two McDonald's hamburgers on Jan. 1, 1989. He ate one and placed the other in his jacket pocket and forgot about it. A year later the video tells us in large red text "It looked and smelled EXACTLY the same!"

Since nobody believed him, gasp, he proceeded to amass more burgers and now has the world's largest, and probably the only, collection of
Immortal Big Macs, double cheeseburgers and hamburgers. As an ominous soundtrack plays, the video lists the "secret ingredients" that make such immortality possible. Among them are 1,1,1-trichloroethane, chloroform, ethyl benzene, styrene and toluene. In the interest of full disclosure, it also notes that the ingredients were taken from the FDA's report on pesticide residues in fast food. The Web site that hosts the video even has directions on how to make your own Immortal Hamburger. It bears pointing out the Web site, Best Day Ever, is a promotional vehicle for a raw foods guru. [via Neatorama]

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We've been waiting for some time now for Fast Food Nation, the theatrical version of Eric Schlosser's popular book from about 5 years ago, to hit theaters. Fortunately, we don't have to wait much longer as the release date is November 17th.

The Washington Post has an interview with Schlosser and director Richard Linklate, who co-wrote the loosely adapted and fictionalized screenplay with Schlosser. Instead of only taking questions from an interviewer, however, they opened the floor to some curious readers from around the country so that they could ask their own questions about what went into making the film and what issues Schlosser has had to deal with since writing the original book. For example, one wants to know how many lawyers they needed to "cover-their-ass," while another wants to know if Schlosser has seen any big changes since the first publication of the book.

The interview doesn't offer as much food for thought as the book, but it's still enough to whet the appetitie for the movie's premier.

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Fast Food Nation, the movie, is due to hit theaters nationwide this fall and after the tremendous publicity it has received, as well as both positive and negative press, I'm sure you're all dying to see the preview. Well, here it is. It doesn't give away much, but it does give you a tiny taste of what the movie is going to be like. The cast includes Greg Kinnear, Patricia Arquette, Luis Guzmán, Ethan Hawke, Kris Kristofferson, Avril Lavigne, Esai Morales, Wilmer Valderrama and Bruce Willis. For more information, check out the official site, and for more video clips, head over to the Fast Food Facts site.

Are you planning on seeing it in theaters?

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With the premier of Fast Food Nation at the Cannes Film Festival, a lot of protests both prosecuting and defending the fast food industry have sprung up. Despite the fact that official release of the film will not be until the fall, sides have been taken and opinions have been formed, and everyone is so polarized that it is almost beside the point that the movie is getting less-than-glowing reviews. Supporters of the movie still hope that its wide release will further raise awareness of the problems in the industry, from food standards to encouraging healthy eating habits. And on the other side, Best Food Nation is a website started by a coalition of food industry trade associations and lobby groups as a reaction to Eric Schlosser's books, Fast Food Nation and Chew on This, trying to give the public access to information from the supply side of the industry.

Cinematical asked the question yesterday, but I'm asking it here: should we just leave the fast food industry alone? Forget the "issues" and just let people eat it if they want to?