My Fast Food Meal Summary

In the article “My Fast Food Meal” by Michael Pollan, fast food is explained In-N-Out.

Pollan’s son, Isaac, convinces his reluctant mom to go to McDonald’s by telling her she can get a salad. The option for the whole family to get whatever meal they desire is a marketing tactic that makes sure there is something for everybody, so kids can convince parents to go and get fast food.

Pollan’s family heads to the car to enjoy the meal, as many American families do. In fact, about 19 percent of American meals are eaten in a car. Fast food meals are specifically engineered to eat in the car to up the convenience factor.

We might not recognize this, but fast food has its own distinct flavor, and instead of being chicken or beef, it’s chemicals from a food lab. When Pollan digged a little deeper, he discovered a majority of ingredients in a chicken nugget were either corn

So how much corn is in a typical meal? Many families’ orders look similar to Pollan’s order, and in his order, there is a whopping 3 ½ pounds of corn! Instead of most of the calories being from bread, potatoes, and meat, they are from corn. The dozens of menu items look like they have a bounty of ingredients, but a great number are made from one ingredient: corn.

While it might seem that this enormous consumption of corn is bad, it all depends on the individual's life. If they work in agribusiness, processing the inexpensive ingredient into a fast food menu is great. When they have that many products, they make more food than consumers need, and in turn, make more money. The government spends billions to support cheap corn, but these cheap calories come with obesity, Type II diabetes, and heart