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66 of 69 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A lot to chew on :-(), May 6, 2006
I really like this book. I bought it (even though it's geared more to kids) because I am a fan of Fast Food Nation (can't wait till the movie comes out) and wanted to hear what he had to say this time around.
He's targeted 9-15 year olds mainly because American kids are so unhealthy and out of shape - he wanted to not tell them what not to eat, but in fact enlighten them about what they are actually eating. Because the stats are so high for being obese at age 35 if you were obese at 13, he wants to try to stop kids getting obese by age 13 in the first place.
He takes shots at the soda industry as well as fast food restaurants. There is a chapter dedicated to the sodas making kids fat/unhealthy.
1 out of 3 toys in America come from fast food restaurants he states, showing the 'marketing skills' of these chains to lure kids to want to eat there.
Chew On This is really designed to make people (especially the kids) aware of what they are buying and eating and awareness is key to the choices you make.
I loved this book. It's eye opening and interesting and does in fact make you chew on his thoughts. I think he's done a great job here. I hope this message sinks in to kids heads and make them reconsider what they would rather eat.
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72 of 80 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Some of the same info as in Fast Food Nation but still interesting with new information, May 15, 2006
Personally I think the authors book Fast Food Nation is better, even for kids ages ten and up, since kids can handle the contents which hold your attention.
The chapter on soda pop interesting since it spoke of Glennallen Alaska and other areas in Alaska where most kids have lost teeth or have rotting teeth because of beverage companies pushing Pepsi, Coke etc.
Also interesting was page 121 and the chapter titled The Bugs In Your Candy which is about color additives in processed foods like cochineal extract also known as carmine or carminic acid which is made from dead bodies of small bugs harvested mainly in Peru and the Canary Islands. The author notes these 'little bugs are collected, dried and ground into coloring additive which makes processed foods look pink, red or purple. Dannon yogurt gets its color from camine, as do many candies, frozen fruit bars, fruit fillings, and Ocean Spray pink grapefruit juice drink'.
This is especially troubling to those of us who strive to not eat animals of any kind. Being vegetarian or vegan to me means NO animal meat, bodies etc, and I detest companies who sneak animal bodies into food one should assume are safe.
So just remember this book is geared to young people, while I think his other book Fast Food Nation is geared to all ages.
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36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Your kids need to know this stuff, May 25, 2006
I just saw Eric Schlosser speak tonight to a crowded room full of interested kids, so you can put away any notions you might get that kids aren't interested in learning more about what they eat or will be put off by "gross" pictures (there are one, maybe two of these in the whole book).
Let me say a little though about what Schlosser does NOT do in this book: he does not tell kids what to eat or not eat. He does not tell them they must stay away from fast-food restaurants at all times (he's not a vegetarian, actually, and he even mentions some responsible ones that he likes, like In-n-Out Burger). Instead, he tried to inform kids about what's in fast food and how fast-food restaurants are run, and encourages kids to make their OWN well-informed decisions.
Schlosser is an investigative journalist, and the book is intended as an expose of the fast-food industry, there's no question about it. A lot of what he says will make parents and kids feel pretty bad about their eating behavior - the terrible pollution problems caused by factory farms, the health problems caused by obesity, terrible dental problems caused by soda pop, etc. So, his opinion on the subject is clear but well-supported.
But before you decide whether you're interested in this book, I would like to suggest to readers of this book's reviews to do some of their own fact-checking. For example, by clicking on a reviewer's name on this page you can see how many other reviews he/she has written. If that person has never written about anything else, ask yourself WHY. Ask yourself who they work for. And then, as Mr. Schlosser would himself suggest, *draw your own conclusions.*
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