WEBVTT - The History of Fast Food

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<v Speaker 1>The popularity of the bagel leads places like Dunkin Donuts

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<v Speaker 1>to have bagels available. And you know, for the New

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<v Speaker 1>Yorkers who are listening, I'm not saying this to offend you,

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<v Speaker 1>but you know, they're actually quite successful in bringing bagels

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<v Speaker 1>to a national market.

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<v Speaker 2>Welcome to one Day University Talks with the world's most

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<v Speaker 2>engaging and inspiring professors discussing their most popular courses. This

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<v Speaker 2>podcast is your chance to discover some of our top

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<v Speaker 2>rated lectures on your own schedule. I'm Steven Shregis. About

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<v Speaker 2>one in three Americans eat fast food on a typical day,

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<v Speaker 2>and there are nearly two hundred thousand fast food or

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<v Speaker 2>quick service restaurants in the US. It's big business, not

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<v Speaker 2>only in America but across the globe. Look at a

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<v Speaker 2>company like McDonald's. It made twenty three billion dollars in

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<v Speaker 2>revenue lat year. Professor Marsha Chatlin knows that fast food

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<v Speaker 2>has changed more than just our diet. Her lecture is

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<v Speaker 2>titled Drive through America, a Culinary History of the fast

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<v Speaker 2>food industry and how it shapes our lives. Marcia teaches

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<v Speaker 2>history and African American studies at Georgetown University in twenty

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<v Speaker 2>twenty one, she won the Poelitzer Prize in History for

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<v Speaker 2>her book franchise, The Golden Arches in Black America. Marsha

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<v Speaker 2>believes fast food engages so many people because we share

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<v Speaker 2>a connection to it.

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<v Speaker 1>So fast food is such a great topic to write

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<v Speaker 1>about because everyone comes into the conversation with some experience,

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<v Speaker 1>some opinion, some knowledge of the topic. You know, as

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<v Speaker 1>someone who has spent most of her career teaching about

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<v Speaker 1>race and history and you know some really difficult subject

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<v Speaker 1>matter from the past, it's always good to have a

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<v Speaker 1>table set with familiar topics for people to come to,

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<v Speaker 1>and fast food does that. You don't have to explain

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<v Speaker 1>that much about McDonald's or that much about the fast

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<v Speaker 1>food experience for people to be able to join the conversation.

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<v Speaker 2>I think I'm going to add something here that studying

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<v Speaker 2>fast food also involves learning about intellectual property. Yeah, because

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<v Speaker 2>I went to law school many many, many years ago,

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<v Speaker 2>and I learned about what's still considered a landmark ruling,

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<v Speaker 2>the White Castle versus White Tower case. So could you

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<v Speaker 2>explain that a bit to us.

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<v Speaker 1>I think in our contemporary moment, we have a very

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<v Speaker 1>clear sense that you know, no business in their right

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<v Speaker 1>frame of mind wouldever do really agregious copycatting. We know

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<v Speaker 1>that in the fashion industry we have counterfeits, and we

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<v Speaker 1>also know that, you know, sometimes people get into fights

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<v Speaker 1>about intellectual property, but in the early days of fast

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<v Speaker 1>food in the nineteen plays and thirties, there were not

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<v Speaker 1>the kind of claims on intellectual property that we know

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<v Speaker 1>of today. And so in the early days of White Castle,

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<v Speaker 1>which is really considered one of the forerunners of the

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<v Speaker 1>fast food franchise, they were getting beat by a competitor

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<v Speaker 1>called White Tower that was basically stealing all of their ideas.

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<v Speaker 1>They also had sliders. They also had these restaurants that

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<v Speaker 1>looked like castles, but towers in their incense. And the

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<v Speaker 1>case went all the way to the Supreme Court about

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<v Speaker 1>whether or not, you know, White Castle had a claim

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<v Speaker 1>on the architecture of its buildings and its trademarks and

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<v Speaker 1>its slogans. And you know, this was an important moment

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<v Speaker 1>because the fast food industry spends a lot of time

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<v Speaker 1>trying to root out copycats domestically and abroad.

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<v Speaker 2>I remember, did they even have a phrase that was

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<v Speaker 2>almost identical and easy to confuse?

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<v Speaker 1>Yes, So White Castle told people to enjoy their sliders

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<v Speaker 1>by the sack, and white Tower told people to enjoy

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<v Speaker 1>them by the bagful. I mean, they really didn't try

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<v Speaker 1>that hard to distinguish themselves, Marsha.

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<v Speaker 2>The growth of the auto industry and the federal highway

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<v Speaker 2>system is directly connected to the growth of the fast

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<v Speaker 2>food industry. You said that many times that cars played

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<v Speaker 2>a huge role in the nineteen fifties.

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<v Speaker 1>Yes, so the whole idea behind fast food initially was

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<v Speaker 1>to be able to serve food very quickly to people

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<v Speaker 1>in urban centers who may be working on construction sites

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<v Speaker 1>or out on a night of you know, enjoying some

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<v Speaker 1>alcohol and needing something to eat late at night. But

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<v Speaker 1>eventually the concept of fast food was really about the

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<v Speaker 1>ability to use the car as a second dining space.

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<v Speaker 1>And so as car ownership becomes more accessible in the

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<v Speaker 1>United States in the nineteen forties and fifties, there is

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<v Speaker 1>a whole car culture that fast food seamlessly integrates itself in.

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<v Speaker 1>So if it's going to a McDonald's drive in and

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<v Speaker 1>eating your dinner in your car, or using the expanded

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<v Speaker 1>highway network to travel across the country and to different states,

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<v Speaker 1>there's a way that fast food is about both the

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<v Speaker 1>efficiency of the product as well as the celebration of

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<v Speaker 1>the sense of freedom that cars in the highway system

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<v Speaker 1>provided more and more people.

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<v Speaker 2>Your lecture also talked about a magic moment in fast

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<v Speaker 2>food history, this one that I knew nothing about at

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<v Speaker 2>the Philadelphia World's Fair when the meat grinder was introduced.

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<v Speaker 2>Tell us about that.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you know, it's so funny. World's fares they still

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<v Speaker 1>exist to an extent, but not at the level of

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<v Speaker 1>popularity of the World's Fares of the nineteenth and early

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<v Speaker 1>twentieth century, where people would converge to see, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>technology unfolding. All of this is to say the meat

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<v Speaker 1>grinder revolutionized the meat industry because instead of relying on

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<v Speaker 1>distinct cuts of meat to be processed and sold as such,

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<v Speaker 1>you could take products from various parts of the cow,

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<v Speaker 1>grind them up together, and here you have ground meat.

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<v Speaker 1>And ground meat made meat eating more accessible to poor customers.

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<v Speaker 1>It reduced waste in the processing of cattle, and the

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<v Speaker 1>meat grinder also opens up the possibility for the burger

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<v Speaker 1>to be formed and served and sold cheaply, and as

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<v Speaker 1>burgers became more popular, it became more socially acceptable for

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<v Speaker 1>people in the middle and upper classes to eat ground meat.

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<v Speaker 2>All right, let's move on a little bit from ground

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<v Speaker 2>meat to Howard Johnson's, and I want to hear about

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<v Speaker 2>that chain's important role in the fast food industry and frankly,

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<v Speaker 2>what happened to them. I remember lots of them around

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<v Speaker 2>when I was younger. So tell us about Howard Johnson's then,

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<v Speaker 2>why they're so important.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, Howard Johnson's the last one closed a few

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<v Speaker 1>years ago, and it is a relic of that car

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<v Speaker 1>era of the United States. So in the nineteen twenties

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<v Speaker 1>and nineteen twenty five, Howard Johnson was found as a

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<v Speaker 1>chain of restaurants that specialized in ice cream. It was

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<v Speaker 1>kind of a faily restaurant that would call today, and

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<v Speaker 1>then they added the hotel concept that still exists today.

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<v Speaker 1>But Howard Johnson is so important for fast food because

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<v Speaker 1>they created the distribution channels that fast food relies on

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<v Speaker 1>now as well as chain restaurants. And it's this idea

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<v Speaker 1>that you set up these different distribution centers in regions

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<v Speaker 1>and that the local restaurants can get the food from

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<v Speaker 1>the regions, so you reduce your shipping costs. You don't

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<v Speaker 1>have to worry about inconsistent suppliers. They also learned that

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<v Speaker 1>if you prepare foods at these distribution centers, than the

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<v Speaker 1>restaurants were places where you could just heat and serve,

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<v Speaker 1>and a lot of team restaurants today still use these

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<v Speaker 1>models when they are trying to expand nationally.

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<v Speaker 2>You've stated that fast food played a heightened role in

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<v Speaker 2>the civil rights struggle, especially just after the nineteen sixty

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<v Speaker 2>eight assassination of Martin Luther King. Why is that so.

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<v Speaker 1>One of the things that I discovered when I was

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<v Speaker 1>writing my book was that there is a civil rights

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<v Speaker 1>story of McDonald's that is really in plain sight in

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<v Speaker 1>American cities when we look at the concentration of McDonald's

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<v Speaker 1>and other fast food restaurants and predominantly African American communities.

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<v Speaker 1>And so what I was really curious about was how

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<v Speaker 1>did McDonald's, this brand that was very much associated with

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<v Speaker 1>the suburbs of the nineteen fifties, how does it end

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<v Speaker 1>up in cities like Chicago and Newark, African American sections

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<v Speaker 1>of Los Angeles in Detroit. And what I discovered was

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<v Speaker 1>after Martin Luther King Junior's assassination, there was a big

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<v Speaker 1>push to bring McDonald's franchises into African American neighborhoods.

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<v Speaker 2>After the break, the rise of the happy Meal, and

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<v Speaker 2>the unlikely combo of politics and fast food, fast food

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<v Speaker 2>and kids. I want to hear about those links.

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<v Speaker 1>A love story exactly.

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<v Speaker 2>And certainly the happy meal, but not just the happy Meal.

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<v Speaker 2>Also a little about a company that I didn't know

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<v Speaker 2>anything about and you've lectured on, called Burger Chef.

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<v Speaker 1>Yes, so there was a time in the US that

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<v Speaker 1>Burger Chef was more popular than McDonald's if you could imagine.

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<v Speaker 1>Burger Chef also created what was called the fun meal

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<v Speaker 1>for them, but you know what becomes like the happy meal,

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<v Speaker 1>where you have a self contained meal in an attractive

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<v Speaker 1>packaging for kids with a toy or some type of promotion.

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<v Speaker 1>Burger Chef was huge. I mean they had a cross

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<v Speaker 1>promotion with even Star Wars. But what the McDonald's brothers

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<v Speaker 1>understood when they were redefining the McDonald's dining experience, and

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<v Speaker 1>what Ray Kroc would later bring with McDonald's and other brands,

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<v Speaker 1>was that fast food could be a product that wasn't

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<v Speaker 1>very expensive, and you could market it to children so

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<v Speaker 1>that they would pester their parents until they could be

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<v Speaker 1>able to go to McDonald's or any fast food restaurant.

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<v Speaker 1>And so much of the fast food industry's growth that

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<v Speaker 1>happens in the nineteen fifties and sixties is really catering

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<v Speaker 1>to nuclear families, baby boom families. That the experience of

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<v Speaker 1>children is really center to how the family is going

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<v Speaker 1>to entertain itself. So McDonald's and others understood that when

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<v Speaker 1>you create characters and you have crossed promotion with popular toys,

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<v Speaker 1>you get really consistent customers in children.

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<v Speaker 2>So now we've heard about kids, let's move on to celebrities.

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<v Speaker 2>What is their role in their history when it comes

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<v Speaker 2>to fast food.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, when I was writing my book Franchise, I

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<v Speaker 1>spent so much time in the archive looking at old commercials,

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<v Speaker 1>looking at old print ads, and the use of celebrities

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<v Speaker 1>to sell fast food is really popular in the nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>sixties and seventies. Between nineteen sixty and nineteen ninety, you

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<v Speaker 1>have the golden age of celebrity endorsements, and you know

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<v Speaker 1>they're coming from a number of sectors. You've got athletes

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<v Speaker 1>who are actually leasing their names to fast food restaurants,

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<v Speaker 1>including Joe Namath and Ernie Ford, growing up in the

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen eighties. It was the era of people like Michael

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<v Speaker 1>Jordan who are front and center selling McDonald's. You have

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<v Speaker 1>people like Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight and just a

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<v Speaker 1>number of really big stars who are promoting fast food.

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<v Speaker 1>And part of the appeal of those commercials is, look

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<v Speaker 1>at this famous person. They're just like us. They also

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<v Speaker 1>enjoy a big mac occasionally.

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<v Speaker 2>In your lecture, you explain that even though hamburgers, fried chicken,

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<v Speaker 2>and tacos are the big three, there's also an increasing

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<v Speaker 2>amount of fast food influenced by foreign delicacies that are

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<v Speaker 2>not in that group.

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<v Speaker 1>As the American palette changes and there's an availability of

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<v Speaker 1>foods from around the world, you see these products finding

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<v Speaker 1>their ways into fast food. Sun dried tomatoes, Chipotle sauces

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<v Speaker 1>being available into fast food. All of these are the

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<v Speaker 1>opening up of what we would once call international or

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<v Speaker 1>ethnic foods that become cheap, and the supply chain becomes

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<v Speaker 1>large enough to actually supply fast food restaurants, and we

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<v Speaker 1>see these tastes coming into these products. One of the

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<v Speaker 1>kind of most fun parts of researching McDonald's is to

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<v Speaker 1>learn about how they market their products and countries where

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<v Speaker 1>people don't really eat beef, for where pork is prohibited food,

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<v Speaker 1>and they do these incredible workarounds, whether it's a Samosa

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<v Speaker 1>burger in India or you know, the enhancements of the

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<v Speaker 1>McDonald's menu in China. You see all of these different

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<v Speaker 1>ways to make sure that the food is both recognizable globally.

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<v Speaker 1>The brand is, but the foods are a little bit

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<v Speaker 1>more regionally catered. I'm kind of of a generation where

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<v Speaker 1>when I was a young kid, bagel was considered an

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<v Speaker 1>ethnic food. I need wonderbread to not make bagels. You

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<v Speaker 1>had to go to a proper Jewish Jelli for a bagel.

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<v Speaker 1>But then the popularity of the bagel leads places like

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<v Speaker 1>Dunkin Donuts to have bagels available. And you know, for

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<v Speaker 1>the New Yorkers who are listening, I'm not saying this

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<v Speaker 1>to offend you, but you know, they're actually quite successful

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<v Speaker 1>in bringing bagels to a national market.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, I'm not sure I agree with you about

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<v Speaker 2>the advisability of ordering a bagel at Dunkin Donuts, but

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<v Speaker 2>I'm gonna letico I'm just gonna let it go and

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<v Speaker 2>move on. Okay, I want to talk about the supply

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<v Speaker 2>chain a lot of people don't realize what a huge

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<v Speaker 2>impact the fast food industry has on the supply chain.

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<v Speaker 2>I certainly didn't until I heard about it from you

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<v Speaker 2>can you give us some background and some statistics, somethings

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<v Speaker 2>like potatoes and eggs.

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<v Speaker 1>What you need in order to provision the major fast

0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:34.520
<v Speaker 1>food brands is kind of astonishing. Not just enough potatoes,

0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:38.120
<v Speaker 1>but enough potatoes that are cut and processed in order

0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:42.040
<v Speaker 1>to serve all of the burger and chicken chains, the

0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:45.160
<v Speaker 1>number of fresh tomatoes, the number of eggs, and so.

0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:48.880
<v Speaker 1>At the various moments where fast food restaurants are expanding

0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:52.400
<v Speaker 1>their offerings, whether it's the introduction of the fileo fish,

0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:56.600
<v Speaker 1>whether it's the introduction of breakfast and then the transition

0:14:56.680 --> 0:15:00.160
<v Speaker 1>to all day breakfast, you have to ensure that they're

0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:04.640
<v Speaker 1>is a supply chain behind it so that customers can

0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:09.280
<v Speaker 1>consistently receive the same product from coast to coast. In

0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:12.160
<v Speaker 1>twenty nineteen, for instance, you know, there was an estimate

0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:16.960
<v Speaker 1>that McDonald's uses about three point four billion filling with

0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:21.240
<v Speaker 1>the b pounds of US grown potatoes each year. And

0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:26.840
<v Speaker 1>so just that one company is able to demand this

0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:30.800
<v Speaker 1>many pounds of potatoes, this is like unbelievable when we

0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:35.000
<v Speaker 1>think about the fact that on average nine million pounds

0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:39.080
<v Speaker 1>of potatoes have to be available in America daily in

0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:41.640
<v Speaker 1>order for fast food to continue to do its work,

0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:45.920
<v Speaker 1>and so the pressures that it puts on the American

0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:51.600
<v Speaker 1>agriculture system, the meat processing system is kind of just shocking.

0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:55.960
<v Speaker 1>And as fast food continues to grow, these demands will

0:15:56.000 --> 0:15:57.120
<v Speaker 1>also continue to grow.

0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:01.920
<v Speaker 2>Marcia. A phrase of yours is politics and fast food

0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:04.680
<v Speaker 2>go hand in hand. And when people give you a

0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:07.920
<v Speaker 2>puzzled look, you say, hey, just think about Bill Clinton.

0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:09.400
<v Speaker 2>Tell us what you're thinking.

0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:12.240
<v Speaker 1>Well, Bill Clinton's presidency, I think had a lot to

0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:16.160
<v Speaker 1>do with inspiring me to write this book, because he

0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:20.400
<v Speaker 1>was very much of that new generation in the White

0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:23.600
<v Speaker 1>House during his election of the nineteen nineties, you know,

0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:26.560
<v Speaker 1>as a boomer president, and as someone who was often

0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:30.080
<v Speaker 1>photographed jogging to McDonald sometimes with Al Gore, sometimes with

0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:34.760
<v Speaker 1>secret service, and someone who was very much a product

0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:38.800
<v Speaker 1>of the culture of the rise of fast food. And

0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:42.200
<v Speaker 1>I think that outside of kind of what order he

0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:44.640
<v Speaker 1>liked to have at McDonald's and the presidents that eat

0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:47.320
<v Speaker 1>there or don't eat there, the political life of fast

0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:49.760
<v Speaker 1>food is so important for us to think about because

0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:54.120
<v Speaker 1>with an industry so large, they are dependent on the

0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:57.320
<v Speaker 1>regulations or the lack of regulations that the federal government

0:16:57.360 --> 0:17:00.800
<v Speaker 1>puts in front of them or facilitates for them. When

0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:04.600
<v Speaker 1>I was writing Franchise, I discovered the number of African

0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:08.800
<v Speaker 1>American franchise owners were able to tap into federal resources

0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:11.480
<v Speaker 1>for minority owned businesses in order to become part of

0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:15.639
<v Speaker 1>the McDonald's network. Issues like the minimum wage, issues like

0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:19.119
<v Speaker 1>worker safety and standards. It's the health and safety of

0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:21.120
<v Speaker 1>the workers and what they get paid or what they

0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:24.080
<v Speaker 1>don't get paid, and what are the rights that workers

0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:27.240
<v Speaker 1>have and that context, and what are the responsibilities of

0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:30.919
<v Speaker 1>corporations and the franchises that sit under them are so

0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:35.840
<v Speaker 1>I think that if you want to learn about American politics,

0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:37.399
<v Speaker 1>you just got to learn about fast food.

0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:41.800
<v Speaker 2>Here's a phrase you don't use. Healthy eating and fast

0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:44.200
<v Speaker 2>food go hand in hand. I want I never heard

0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:47.159
<v Speaker 2>you say, but in your lecture you do describe the

0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:50.359
<v Speaker 2>d Lights chain as an example of why you don't

0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:50.840
<v Speaker 2>say that.

0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:56.240
<v Speaker 1>I mean the attempts to try to create healthy alternatives

0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:59.879
<v Speaker 1>or healthy items and a fast food venue. They're hard people.

0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:02.360
<v Speaker 1>I don't go to fast food restaurants to eat salads,

0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:06.360
<v Speaker 1>and anytime the major fast food brands try to have

0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:10.159
<v Speaker 1>a lighter menu offering or these chains that try to

0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:13.359
<v Speaker 1>say we are a light brand like Delights, they don't

0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:16.719
<v Speaker 1>do well because that's not why people are going to

0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:19.760
<v Speaker 1>have fast food. And I think that there's been incredible

0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:23.959
<v Speaker 1>pressure on the fast food industry to take accountability for

0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:26.440
<v Speaker 1>the health and wellness of its food. But I think

0:18:26.520 --> 0:18:33.200
<v Speaker 1>it's about larger questions about the diversity of food opportunities

0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:36.520
<v Speaker 1>that we may have or may not have based on

0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:40.000
<v Speaker 1>our social position in society. But no one goes to

0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:41.880
<v Speaker 1>a fast food restaurant so they can have a side

0:18:41.920 --> 0:18:44.840
<v Speaker 1>dish of carrots. And I strongly stand by that statement.

0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:48.040
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to assume you would say that struggling with

0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:51.840
<v Speaker 2>healthy food is one of the biggest concerns one of

0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:55.640
<v Speaker 2>the biggest problems in the fast food industry. Are there

0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:59.240
<v Speaker 2>any other major problems they just keep facing and aren't

0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:01.359
<v Speaker 2>quite sure how to well.

0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:04.760
<v Speaker 1>I mean, I think one of the fundamental issues about

0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:09.040
<v Speaker 1>fast food is this idea of work. How much workers

0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:12.040
<v Speaker 1>are making, how much they're not making. What can be

0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:15.280
<v Speaker 1>done in terms of representing the voice of workers, is

0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:18.480
<v Speaker 1>it through a union, Is it through local pressure through

0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:22.320
<v Speaker 1>ordinances about the minimum wage? Is it a combination of both.

0:19:23.000 --> 0:19:26.240
<v Speaker 1>How do we make sure that fast food work is

0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:30.800
<v Speaker 1>work that properly compensates people and treats them with dignity.

0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:34.240
<v Speaker 1>I think that the marketing of fast food is always

0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:38.240
<v Speaker 1>an issue because we know that there have been disparities

0:19:38.320 --> 0:19:41.960
<v Speaker 1>in terms of race and the children who are marketed

0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:45.000
<v Speaker 1>to more or less than others. So you know, fast

0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:47.639
<v Speaker 1>food is always going to be a place that I think,

0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:53.240
<v Speaker 1>even as it's accepted and embraced and quite successful, will

0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:55.480
<v Speaker 1>always be a place where there are a lot of contentions.

0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:58.199
<v Speaker 1>And I think it's about these larger questions of the

0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:01.879
<v Speaker 1>role of a corporation in a civil society and in

0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:02.720
<v Speaker 1>a democracy.

0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:07.679
<v Speaker 2>You sometimes on your lecture with the assertion, whatever you

0:20:07.760 --> 0:20:11.680
<v Speaker 2>eat or don't eat, like all of us, you are

0:20:11.720 --> 0:20:14.919
<v Speaker 2>living in a fast food nation. Can you tell us

0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:16.320
<v Speaker 2>why you often close with that.

0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:19.119
<v Speaker 1>It doesn't matter if you're eating the food or not,

0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:21.239
<v Speaker 1>if you like it or not, if you want your

0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:24.000
<v Speaker 1>kids to eat it or not, if you know you're

0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:27.640
<v Speaker 1>ordering the bagel at Dunkin Donuts or not. We are

0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:33.240
<v Speaker 1>living in a context in which the availability of fast

0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:38.080
<v Speaker 1>food fundamentally changes our relationship to eating, how fast we eat,

0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:44.480
<v Speaker 1>the consequences of those foods, on the larger public health,

0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:48.840
<v Speaker 1>on the quality of jobs, on what's available when you're

0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:52.000
<v Speaker 1>on the road versus what's not available. We are very

0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:55.280
<v Speaker 1>much kind of in a fast food nation. To borrow

0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:58.920
<v Speaker 1>the title of Eric Schlosser's excellent book, because there's no

0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:03.119
<v Speaker 1>escaping the consequences of it, right, So, the price of potatoes,

0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:05.560
<v Speaker 1>the price of eggs, the price of tomatoes, all of

0:21:05.600 --> 0:21:09.199
<v Speaker 1>these things are impacted by the large buyers. You know,

0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:11.919
<v Speaker 1>whether or not we think the fifteen year old should

0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:14.040
<v Speaker 1>make twenty dollars an hour, or if we think it

0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:17.159
<v Speaker 1>should be seven dollars an hour, these questions are so

0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:20.560
<v Speaker 1>much shaped by our assumption on fast food as a

0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:23.119
<v Speaker 1>first job for young people. So, you know, we are

0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:24.920
<v Speaker 1>living in it, and I think that the best way

0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:26.600
<v Speaker 1>to deal with it is to learn as much as

0:21:26.600 --> 0:21:31.040
<v Speaker 1>possible and really engage in the various questions and controversies

0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:34.639
<v Speaker 1>and opportunities that it provides us to really reflect on.

0:21:35.000 --> 0:21:39.160
<v Speaker 2>Marsha, thank you, I appreciate it, and I really hope

0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:41.600
<v Speaker 2>I see you again lecturing soon, because you are just

0:21:41.720 --> 0:21:44.680
<v Speaker 2>fascinating to listen to thank you, Thank you so much,

0:21:46.359 --> 0:21:49.480
<v Speaker 2>thanks for joining us here at One Day University. Sign

0:21:49.560 --> 0:21:53.160
<v Speaker 2>up at our website one dayu dot com to become

0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:56.680
<v Speaker 2>a member and access over seven hundred full length video

0:21:56.760 --> 0:22:00.960
<v Speaker 2>lectures from the world's finest professors. You can also download

0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:04.359
<v Speaker 2>our app. There you can learn more about today's episode

0:22:04.600 --> 0:22:08.679
<v Speaker 2>and watch Georgetown professor Marsha Chaplin's lecture on the history

0:22:08.680 --> 0:22:11.560
<v Speaker 2>of fast food in America, as well as her talks

0:22:11.560 --> 0:22:16.199
<v Speaker 2>on civil rights, the Great Migration, and more. Join us

0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:18.760
<v Speaker 2>next time when we rank the most powerful people in

0:22:18.800 --> 0:22:19.280
<v Speaker 2>the world.

0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:22.640
<v Speaker 3>If you can reshape political debate, if you can get

0:22:22.680 --> 0:22:25.919
<v Speaker 3>governments to act, if you can have the soft power

0:22:25.960 --> 0:22:29.160
<v Speaker 3>to influence one point eight billion young people, you ought

0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:32.600
<v Speaker 3>to be on our list, and so Bretta is online.

0:22:32.760 --> 0:22:36.520
<v Speaker 2>One Day University is a production of iHeart Podcasts and

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<v Speaker 2>School of Humans. If you're enjoying the show, leave a

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