Metaphor for capitalism
For Schlosser, the rise in the fast-food industry is a clear sign that society in general is shaped more and more by capitalist values that have shaped the society after the end of the Second World War. Thus, in this account, the fast-food industry and the highly industrialized world in general are all metaphors that stand for capitalism and its values.
Metaphor for freedom
In the second chapter, the story of Carl Karcher is analyzed and how he created drive-through restaurants for the first time. The cars that appeared at the middle of the 21th century were an important invention that changed the world and provided the general population with the means to travel from one place to another in a short period of time. Because of this, owning a car became a metaphor for freedom in the 21th century and it was linked with the idea that a person was free to do whatever he or she wanted.
Gold arches
Schlosser talks in the fourth chapter about the golden arches used by McDonald to help their customers identify the restaurant. While in the beginning the arches were used for architectural purposes, in time they became more and more a visual image helping the customer to make the connection between the food and how the food made them feel. In this sense, the arches were used here as a metaphor to make reference to the feelings a customer may experience when making the connection between the visual image and the pleasure of eating food.
Metaphor for the disappearance of natural foods
Schlosser begins to talk about another shift that took place in the food industry that is the moment when fast-food restaurants stopped using beef tallow and began to use instead cheap vegetable oil and then add artificial flavoring to make the fries taste the way they did before. For Schlosser this marks the shift from natural to artificial and it is also a metaphor to suggest the disappearance of natural foods and the beginning of a time when using artificial flavoring became more widespread.
Metaphor for the old ways
In the sixth chapter, Schlosser talks about a small farmer named Hank who has a potato farm. Schlosser compares Hank’s methods of farming with the way the big company farm and notes that Hank goes to great lengths to make sure that he doesn’t harm the land pointlessly and that he does as little damage as possible. Schlosser used Hank here as a metaphor that stands for the way farming should be seen and treated. Hank treats the land with respect and care and he doesn’t feel entitled to destroy it just because he can. His attitude is different form the way the big company farm and Schlosser hints that Hank’s way of farming is the better one in the long run.
