Fast Food Nation -- Chapter 2 America without McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and other fast food restaurants is difficult to imagine these days, but before Ray Kroc bought the franchise rights to McDonald's in the mid-twentieth century, fast food was not an entrenched part of our culture. In Fast Food Nation,' Eric Schlosser spends the second chapter of his book describing how Ray Kroc paralleled the work of Walt Disney and filled a cultural void in America. Because America was a relatively young country, there was no established food culture like there was in older countries such as France, Italy and Spain. Until Ray Kroc's innovations, there was no food that could be described as "American," and in the ironically titled chapter "Your Trusted Friends," Schlosser described exactly how Kroc helped create America's fast food culture.

Schlosser begins chapter two of Fast Food Nation by describing McDonald's as it exists today and demonstrating how ingrained it is in our society. He describes his visit to the Ray A. Kroc museum, walking through the McStore, it's close proximity to Hamburger University and the degree received by its students: a degree in "Hambergerology." He describes the merchandise available in the McStore: bean bag McBurglar dolls, telephones shaped like French friends, key chains, golf bags, jewelry, baby clothes, leather jackets and more. This is all to demonstrate how one man created a food culture where there was none in America, and how artificial and commercial that culture really is.

Schlosser argues that McDonald's, influenced by the success of Disney, has become an entrenched part of American culture and that its influence extends far beyond food. McDonald's is a cultural symbol, recognized by children as young as two, and now exported around the world as a symbol of America. Schlosser believes that...

Schlosser says that Ray Kroc sought to create a utopia that doesn't exist n reality, a place where cleanliness and control are maintained by strictly adhering to a set of standards that are non-negotiable.
In "Your Trusted Friends," Schlosser outlines Ray Kroc's rise to fame and fortune and points out that, more than someone who cared about food and culture, Kroc was a masterful salesman. His ability to market McDonald's, particularly to children, was the way in which the restaurant has come to be the food culture that America lacked.

Kroc initially bought the franchise rights to McDonald's from the original owners of a single McDonald's restaurant in California. He had the vision and understanding of America to know that fast food could be the innovation that would create a food culture where there was none. In this ability, according to Schlosser, Kroc was very similar to Walt Disney, who created an entertainment culture from scratch. Schlosser chronicles Disney's rise to power in order to demonstrate how Kroc followed in his footsteps, specifically in courting young consumers. Disneyland, like McDonalds later, created a seemingly perfect escape, where everything was orderly, clean and predictable. This, Disney knew, was the wave of the future in an increasingly unpredictable and volatile reality. The same can be said of McDonald's -- every restaurant offers the same basic menu, the golden arches never change and the food tastes the same no matter which McDonald's restaurant you go to. According to Schlosser, Kroc understood that how the food was delivered was just as important (if not more important) than how the food tasted, which is a very American concept. One can't…