Where’s the Beef, Research Paper Example

Globalization has increased the popularity of beef and beef products. This is prevalent on a cultural standpoint as the entire country of America is run on the automobile industry. Since fast food popularization (with the advent of McDonald’s, Burger King, etc.) of the drive thru has only increased the culture hinging on such a commodity to fulfill it’s obligatory consumption of beef in every meal, it isn’t a surprise to find parallelism of beef and fast food (Robbins para.2).

Eric Schossler states in his book, “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal,” McDonald’s is solely responsible for 90 percent of America’s new jobs (in an economy that has averaged 8 percent unemployment—down from 14 percent a year ago—this is quite a feat). This economic boost is further supported by the chain creating 28,000 restaurants worldwide (Schossler 4). It is easy then to agree that beef and industry have a symbiotic relationship.

Fast food is an influential beast—and therefore, the industry that hinges upon beef creates a market, or a culture, that also hinges on beef development. This is seen in the way the environment is treated (cattle ranches in the West boost productivity but at a detrimental cost to animal welfare just so that McDonald’s can sell a beef patty for a discount).

Works Cited

Robbins, Richard. Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism. New York: Allyn and Bacon, 1999. Print.

Schossler, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal.New York: Houghton-Mifflin, 2001. Print.

Shah, Anup. Beef. Global Issues, 2010. Web. 29 November 2014.