Eric Schlosser Quote

Future historians, I hope, will consider the American fast food industry a relic of the twentieth century — a set of attitudes, systems, andbeliefs that emerged from postwar southern California, that embodied its limitless faith in technology, that quickly spread across the globe,flourished briefly, and then receded, once its true costs became clear and its thinking became obsolete. We cannot ignore the meaning of madcow. It is one more warning about unintended consequences, about human arrogance and the blind worship of science.The same mindsetthat would add 4-methylacetophenone and solvent to your milkshake would also feed pigs to cows. Whatever replaces the fast food industryshould be regional, diverse, authentic, unpredictable, sustainable, profitable — and humble. It should know its limits. People can be fedwithout being fattened or deceived.This new century may bring an impatience with conformity, a refusal to be kept in the dark, less greed,more compassion, less speed, more common sense, a sense of humor about brand essences and loyalties, a view of food as more than justfuel.Things don’t have to be the way they are. Despite all evidence to the contrary, I remain optimistic.