According to American journalist and Author of Fast Food Nation Eric Schlosser, "Today the typical American eats sixty-eight pounds of beef each year (142)". The way we buy beef today is misunderstood and needs to be further discussed. According to Michael Pollen, an American journalist, “Forgetting, or willed ignorance, is the preferred strategy of many beef eaters, a strategy abetted by the industry”. Michael Pollan means that people try to forget the bad things of the beef they buy. Many people ignore that the cow goes through a livestock auction, the process of getting the meat from the cow, how farmers struggle raising the cows, and the dark side of buying fast food.

One thing that many look past is that most cows go through …show more content…
People usually buy their meat from the grocery store by the pound. However, consumers don't bother to ask where the meat came from. In fact, they probably don't even like to think that it came from a cow. If they ever think about the cow, they think of a happy cow because of the pictures that are displayed on the meat package. They see a cow is all alone in a big empty field eating grass. Unfortunately, nowadays most cows don't eat grass and don't even eat at their own pace. Today, most of the cows are forced to eat a lot of corn. Once the cows are full they are still required to eat a lot, but so their stomach won't hurt them, antibiotics are mixed with their food. Someone might ask why we don't just feed them grass. Well, grass won't help these animals grow as fast. Another painful fact is, “implanting hormones in beef cattle is legal and financially irresistible: an implant costs $1.50 and adds between 40 and 50 pounds to the weight of a steer at slaughter, for a return of at least $25” (Pollan). In this quote, Michael Pollan implies that farmers thinks it is okay to add growth hormones to cows for a profit; and the consumer ends up digesting the same hormones. The last painful fact is how little the cows spend with their family. "Apart from the trauma ... looking back on those six months grazing at his mothers side as the good old days" (Pollan). Imagine an infant …show more content…
They think about the cheap, juicy, tender meat. hopefully, one day these farmers start a revolution and stop selling cows. The fast food business will go out of business, but will that hurt