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In 1970, Americans spent about $6 billion on fast food in 2000, they spent more than $110 billion. Americans now spend more money on fast food than on higher education, personal computers, computer software, or new cars. They spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and recorded music—combined.

Eric Schlosser

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Eric Schlosser
Age: 65
Born: 1959
Born: August 17
Journalist
Writer
New York City
New York
Book
Higher
Newspapers
Recorded
Personal
Video
Combined
Movies
Fast
Computers
Food
Spent
Billion
Education
Car
Cars
Books
Computer
Software
Money
Americans
Magazines
Music
Spend
Billions
Videos

More quotes by Eric Schlosser

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The obesity epidemic among American children is becoming so bad that I think there's a growing realization across the country that we've got to change what we're feeding our kids and that school may be a really good place to start.
Eric Schlosser
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I think there could hardly be a more important subject than health and nutrition.
Eric Schlosser
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I went into the library and read about fast food and became amazed by all the stuff I didn't know. I learned that there is a whole world behind the counter that, it seemed to me, has been deliberately hidden from the public.
Eric Schlosser
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Most fast food is fried. Fried food tastes great, and people dont seem to care about the fat aspect.
Eric Schlosser
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As a matter of fact, most cases of food poisoning are never linked back to their source.
Eric Schlosser
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Yes, a cheeseburger and fries is probably my favourite meal. But I don't eat ground beef anymore.
Eric Schlosser
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I think two different people can read one of my books and come away with completely different opinions on the subject. I hope they just read from the beginning to the end and be made to think about the subject. Then they can come to their own conclusions.
Eric Schlosser
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So for everything I do, I'm very clear about what I'm doing, and I tell people what it's about. They get a sense of what I'm thinking. I don't let people think I'm going to write something in praise in the meatpacking industry, and then they read it and it's actually attacking the meatpacking industry.
Eric Schlosser
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The current fast food that we have is inexpensive when you buy it, but the long-term costs of eating it and the long-term costs to society, are much too high. This cheap food, when you add up all the total costs, is much too expensive.
Eric Schlosser
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The United States now has more prison inmates than full-time farmers.
Eric Schlosser
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The executives who run the fast food industry are not bad men. They are businessmen. They will sell free-range, organic, grass-fed hamburgers if you demand it. They will sell whatever sells at a profit.
Eric Schlosser
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The industry doesn't want you to know the truth about what you're eating, because if you knew, you might not want to eat it.
Eric Schlosser
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If the market does indeed embody the sum of all human wishes, then the secret ones are just as important as the ones that are openly displayed.
Eric Schlosser
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I think for real change to happen, it's going to have to come from the kids, the community, the teachers, the parents.
Eric Schlosser
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I hate the word inevitable because I feel like things don't have to be the way they are.
Eric Schlosser
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The market is a tool, and a useful one. But the worship of this tool is a hollow faith. Far more important than any tool is what you make with it.
Eric Schlosser
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I'd been eating fast food all my life without thinking about it. And the more I learned about the subject, the more intrigued I became.
Eric Schlosser
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Different people, in good faith, can look at the same fact and interpret it differently. But thats where an interesting conversation begins.
Eric Schlosser
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Today the U.S. government can demand the nation-wide recall of defective softball bats, sneakers, stuffed animals, and foam-rubber toy cows. But it cannot order a meatpacking company to remove contaminated, potentially lethal ground beef from fast food kitchens and supermarket shelves.
Eric Schlosser
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A generation ago, three-quarters of the money used to buy food in the United States was spent to prepare meals at home. Today about half of the money used to buy food is spent at restaurants--mainly at fast food restaurants.
Eric Schlosser