To examine the "how and why" of Eric Schlosser's' book, "Fast Food Nation," where he shows how fast food developed and became the center of American image and society. In order to prove this I will attempt to illustrate how different elements factor in, for this cultural phenomenon to have become such an American cultural norm. First, look at how fast food became such a popular way of eating and living. Carl N. Karcher (owner of Carl's Jr, Hardees) is one of the fast food industry's pioneers. His life seemed at once to be a tale by Horatio Alger, a fulfillment of the American dream, and a warning about unintended consequences. This is one of the factors to its development of an American cultural norm. After World War II, men like Karcher and Ray Kroc (founder of McDonald's) had ideas to give the public a sense of home when it came to meal time, something that would be familiar not only down the street from his or her home, but also fifteen hundred miles away across the country. That let the public believe that McDonalds is like a trusted friend, said executive Ray Bergold" (Schlosser 50).
One of the stories is southern California, where cities became prototypes for the rest of the nation. After World War II, Southern California had a rich and growing economy with high tech, and military industry jobs. With many young families, they had a need for new homes, in city and communities that would be a bastion for the fast food companies. Whose love of the automobile gave people in large numbers personal transportation. People with freedom, and a good personal income to go out to eat, travel, shop and go to Disneyland, all of which changed us into an insatiable consumer economy. It is what America looks like, what Americans eat, and what Americans believe in and how we look to the rest of the world. Even though these images produce a cheerful and an almost perfect view of what is like to live in this country through the advertising of the fast food corporations.