Exploring Your Refrigerator: The Truth Behind What You Eat

By Arielle Silvan                 

Exploring Your Refrigerator: The Truth Behind What You Eat

Have you ever wanted to know the secrets behind what you eat? Why those fries taste so good? How that burger was made? Or the secret ingredient behind what makes your snacks and drinks pink?  Chew On This by Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson teaches you everything you want and don’t want to know about fast food. This book teaches you about the social, historic, business, health and ethics behind your fast food meals. After reading this book I guarantee you won't look at fast food the same way.

The book was divided up into many different parts: the history and inventors of fast food, the employees jobs and safety, the health issues, the factories, the labs and more. At the end of the book there were resources and ways to take action. This book was educational and interesting. Chew On This dives right into the world of fast food and makes you question what you are eating. I learned a lot and couldn't put the book down! I was very surprised by the things I learned and found out. For example, did you know Americans now spend more money on fast food than movies, books, magazines, newspapers and recorded music combined! Or that some schools encourage the unhealthy eating of fast food. In fact, one out of every five public schools in the United States now serves brand name fast food. I was somewhat disgusted, but then inspired to make a change after reading this book.

Chew On This was similar to another book I previously read, The Omnivores Dilemma. Both books were about the same thing: food science.  The Omnivores Dilemma was more about an individual person's story where it was all tied together, while in Chew On This each chapter was about something different. The message in Chew On This wasn't that all fast food is bad! The author isn't a vegetarian, the book mentions responsible fast food restaurants and no ideas were pushed on you. Although I think that the writer's message in Chew On This was to educate and inform, the writers did it in a very interesting and fun way!  

Links:

Let's Move (First Lady Michelle Obama's fight to set children on a path to a healthy future)

Finding Sustainable Food Near You

                                                          Cover of Book (Chew on This)

Factory Farming Described in Chew on This