Rayne Blumenthal
Lee
English 101
19 October 2014
Greasy Dollar Bills One dollar can be exchanged for quite a bit in this country. A package of slightly-dried out play dough, a box of off-brand crayons, maybe even a flimsy pencil case for the first day of school. There are stores whose entire inventory is marketed for a single dollar. However, none of these these items are of long lasting quality. That play dough is not moldable, the crayons off colored and the pencil case will break at first sign of impact. Something that is poorly made will perform as such, and that is a universal truth. With fast food restaurants popping up on every corner featuring America’s favorite - the drive-thru - this concept is applicable the evolution taking place within culinary culture. Over the years, many consumers have chosen to stray from quality to pursue the convenience of fast food, resulting in the overtaking of family farms and substantial decline in overall value. All culinary manufacturing originated within the hearts of a family farm. For all intensive purposes, these plots of sod can be seen as the starting point of this potentially cyclical evolution, mentioned previously, of the fast food industry. Traditionally, seed was laid by farmers, watered by farmers, tended to and harvested by farmers and sold by the farmers. This process was originally done with their own hands or those of their offspring and it was viewed as a sense of honor. In fact, family farms were passed down the male family line and it was the most common source of income. Obviously, their techniques evolved over time to allow for greater efficiency. Tractors and vehicular seed-setters were invented and placed into circulation. However, much to these farmer’s dismay, the technological evolution did not cease. As major corporations recognized the profits to be made in mass production, they began buying out these plots of land. Exchanging honor for dollar bills. With mass production as the motive, efficiency is often confused with speed and major corporations have adopted industrial means to cut corners, spraying pesticides and coating potatoes in Ammonia gas to preserve a faux freshness. This takeover, while blatantly detrimental to the farmers, has resulted in the sacrifice of genuine quality. This sacrifice is prevalent within the potato industry. The notion that an entire industry may idolize a single vegetable is silly, at best, until its actuality is observed. Potatoes can be eaten mashed, baked, chees’d and salted. Enjoy them wedged or crinkle-cut. They are main dishes and side dishes. They are a dedicated weight-watcher’s cheat day meal and an overzealous body builder’s primary diet plan. It is necessary to understand their demand within in culture to properly analyze their corporate appeal. The more substance they obtain the more profit they cultivate, this is the basic principle of supply and demand. To obtain and maintain this product in such large quantities, some preliminary measures must take place. Such as steroids to stimulate rapid growth - as well as produce even in their “off-season” - machinery to quickly harvest the goods and chemical to preserve them, until they are ready to be prepared in an industrialized kitchen. The process begins, as Eric Schlossner explains in his ariticle Fast Food Nation: Meat and Potatoes, with conveyor belts that take the wet potatoes (which had arrived to the factory post-harvesting via tractor trailers) and blast them with steam for approximately twelve second. This allow for the peelings to fall off prior to being emerged into what is called a Lamb Water Gun Knife, slicing them into shoestring fries. After being screened for any blemish or malfunction - done precisely by camera, as opposed to human hand - they are air-cooled compressed by ammonia gas and frozen quickly to be placed into a computerized sorting device, allowing for uniform packaging. “I saw 20 million pounds of french fries, most of them destined for McDonald’s, the boxes if fries stacked thirty feet high, the stacks extending for roughly forty yards.” (Schlossner) Instead of having one hundred fresh french fries, there is now hundreds of thousands of subpar quality ready to be disbursed at any given moment. This evolution did not solely envelop the potato, but all of fast food culture and its assets.
Culture has deemed convenience of greater importance than quality. Many consumers prefer to bypass the time and effort it takes to put together a homemade meal and settle for a bucket of KFC fried chicken or a bag full of cheap, poorly made burgers instead. This is the epitome of lazy and has been encouraged with ease within food culture over the last decade. To shed further light upon the epidemic, it seems as though less Americans care not only about what is inside the food they ingest, but even where they purchase this “food” from. A survey was conducted on Arizona State University’s campus - one of the largest, most densely populated universities in the nation - asking whether the students preferred McDonalds or Wendy’s. Out of the twenty one people originally surveyed, nineteen chose Wendy’s. When asked why, the most common answer was encased within Freshman, Mariah Melgosa’s statement: “It is just better quality food.” Now, there are two derivatives of this statement. The first being that, while Wendy’s may be ranked higher grade by their consumers, they are not , in fact, substantially more nutritional or authentic. The second being that when the students were asked as follow up question - Which of the two do you visit more frequently? - all twenty-one students unanimously agreed upon McDonalds. But why is that? How is it that, if a vast majority agreed that Wendy’s was the more tasteful option, that McDonalds still remains the number one fast food chain in the world? Simple: convenience. There are thirty-five thousand McDonald’s restaurants worldwide, as stated on McDonald’s Wikipedia page, making them the most prevalent chains on Earth. Their abundant locations alongside their Dollar Menu makes them enticing and has allowed them to achieve utter success. However, their success is based within this culture’s decline in standard. Their foundation within corporate issued, industrialized culinary evolution. With the disruption of tradition to make way for convenience, a degree of quality within our culinary culture has been sacrificed. While many will disagree that they condone this evolution or participate in it, it is necessary to consider the ignorance that may be associated with that defense. For, while the nutritional value is mandated by law to be present, it is all too common to turn the package around and call it oblivion. For example, McDonalds opened its doors for the very first time in 1940. Over the last almost seventy five years, they have (as mentioned previously) opened up a total of thirty five thousand stores in one hundred and nineteen different countries around the world. In the last seventy five years, their prices and quality have continued to decline - while their profits have the inverse effect. To assume that, in those seventy five years, there has not been any publicity associated with their subpar quality is ludicrous and a downright lie. In 2004, Morgan Spurlock starred in a documentary called Super Size Me, where he exemplified the harmful effects frequent and long-term consumption of McDonalds has on the human body. While the film was very popular, became accessible on Netflix as well as is used as a learning staple in many modern classrooms, the stigma it created was no more than a fad. It did not resonate long-term with this culture, thus proving the assumption that culture’s continued consumption is but a preferred ignorance. In order to change food culture, the culture it dictates must first remain conscious of it. Fast food chains have become so successful because their inadequacies are overlooked. But the message this sends is worth much more than a single greasy dollar bill.

Works Cited
Schlosser, Eric. "Fast-Food Nation: Meat and Potatoes." (n.d.): n. pag. Web.
McCarthey, Niall. "Infographic: 1 in 5 Americans Eat Fast Food Several Times a Week." Statista Infographics. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Melgosa, Mariah. "Fast Food Preference." Interview. n.d.: n. pag. Print.
Un, Known. "Super Size Me." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Oct. 2014. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Un, Known. "McDonald's." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Oct. 2014. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.