Once upon a time, the spread of freedom and democracy was measured in the spread of hamburger franchises. Beaming network correspondents would report from places like Moscow or Beijing on how formerly gray and monolithic communist societies had opened their doors to the Golden Arches. This, truly, was freedom's fruit — man's inalienable right to two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese and a high-fat diet.
At the time, fast-food franchises were seen — not without reason — to represent America's entrepreneurial spirit, a capitalist triumph of cheery service, low-priced product and clever branding. They also stood for other, darker things such as union-busting, a deskilled workforce and advertising campaigns that targeted children, but it took a while for these aspects to become as recognizable as the giant butts that their high-calorie diet was creating all over America.
America is now almost the world's most obese nation (top honor goes to the South Pacific islands) and fast food has been fingered as the primary culprit. From the slow food movement to the documentary "Super Size Me" and New York City's laws against the use of transfats, the backlash is in full swing. The most influential work in spawning this backlash against fast food chains was journalist Eric Schlosser's excellent, wide-ranging expose of the industry, "Fast Food Nation." Published in 2001, the book became a massive best seller, filled with enough disturbing facts to choke a horse.