A Means to an End

In Reading Jonathan Safran Foer "Eating Animals" and in a chapter that in a way look similar to a dictionary.He discusses terms that seem to have no significances or importance to use but as you explore and dig deeper into the word and definition has a relevant essence to our lives and the things we consume. Neglect, a term I have chosen to sum up into one word about this book.

Eating Animals

Jonathan Saefan Foer’s book “Eating Animals" discusses major topics above and beyond the concept of what we consume, but about ourselves as individuals. We neglect to know what’s going on, not only with the food we consume, but our world as we know it. Based on ideas  from "Eating Animals", I believe that as individuals we need to take a stand on not only the food choices that the corporation regulate but information that is being hidden by corporations that is not only hazards to one’s health but to everyone’s well being.                                   

The government and Corporations hides behind headlines in articles on new strains of diseases that are connected strangely to the farm animals we eat and domesticate. Scientist has researched for years about the foods we eat, and the genetic connections we have with them. However, these scientists never reveal to the public that the animals we consume are connected to the diseases we have today. In 1918, an influenza pandemic known as the Spanish flu claimed the lives of over twenty- four million in twenty- four weeks globally. Every twenty- seven years there has been a "population control" pandemic, which wipes out millions, keeping the population in stable conduction. However, there has not been a pandemic for the past forty years and scientists believe that we are overdue for one.

In Saefan Foer’s travel to Brevig, to uncover the scientific cause of the Spanish flu, he states “[Johan] Hultin eventually uncovered the remains of a woman among the frozen dead of 1918 and named her Lucy. He cut out Lucy’s lungs and mailed them Taubenberger, who took samples from the tissue and found evidence of something quite remarkable. The results, published in 2005, show that the source of the 1918 pandemic was avian influenza –bird flu…”(Foer,126).

Uniformity

In Eric Schlossors's  book ”Fast Food Nation" , he refers to the concept of "Uniformity" multiple times thought out his book. Uniformity could be defined as "conforming to one principle, standard or rule; being the same as or consonant with another or others”. However, to fast food corporations uniformity is repetition within the product. It’s being able to keep the food the same no matter where you go, so you will always trust what you know which may be a McDonalds or Burger King. We witness Uniformity in cattle and potato suppliers, McDonald’s buys from the same potatoes and meat farmers, so the meal will taste similar. The Designs in franchises, Familiarity so where ever you might travel you know in India like the U.S. that it’s a McDonalds. Uniformity is significant to the fast food industry because it creates an image of trust and consolidation with the food. If one item on the menu tastes the same at a McDonald s In Utah, It must taste similar to one of the franchises in New York. Cattle, Chicken, Potato suppliers become uniformed by corporations by having fewer than three or four farmers and growers produce the supplies for the companies to create a trend of similar taste. Designs created give off a sense of comfort because” I” know that the McDonalds in China is the same in California.  And Workers are trained the same to, all reply the same, dress similar and even perform the same task as the next franchise.

ThroughtPut

In Eric Schlossor’s book "Fast Food Nation" he speaks about a term which is used in the fast food industry, “throughput". This method is an important operation of the source of mass production in companies because it creates a faster and quicker production of a high demand product similar to a assembly line work. Alfred D. Chandler defines this method of production as “a factories speed and volume of the flow...". The Speed in terms of how fast it produced and volume of flow meaning the amount of product to supply a high demand in a short amount of time.  The number of people employed pertains to this method too because number of workers can produce a huge amount of goods cheap because not as much skill goes into the work when you on teach a person one technique and also you are able to hire or fire anyone because there is not as much to teach a person when they are learning one skill. An example of this production,  is Carl Kroc's fast food assembly line method adopted from the McDonald Brothers.