Last night I went to A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books and saw Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, speak about Chew on This, his new book aimed at preteens wanting to know about the ins and outs of the fast food industry.
Now, I want to make clear that I thoroughly enjoyed his discourse, and have a great appreciation for his investigative non-fiction. Eric is a great researcher who delves deeply into subjects, revealing an inner core that many people don’t like to think about.
But on this particular night, I got one of those feelings that told me I was a little out of place. I was probably one of the few guys in a room full of mostly concerned, liberal women (who are most likely moms). I’m not saying this was a bad thing, but just that I felt a bit strange.
In any case, he spent the majority of the time talking about his new book. It aims to shed light on food production in the fast food industry to kids. But, after flipping through a few pages worth, I was convinced that no kid would be interested at all in the book. First, the text is written in a tone not far from Fast Food Nation. Don’t get me wrong–I loved Fast Food Nation–but I’m no 11 year old kid. If you would have given me Chew on This when I was young, I would probably read it for 5 minutes, then fall fast asleep. It’s just not as gripping as say Harry Potter, which Eric refered to as the inspiration for his new book. All I can say is good luck to him with that one.
I was also excited to hear about the Fast Food Nation movie, which is definitely not mainstream. It will be debuting in a festival sometime soon, and hopefully will be held up for a wider release after that. Eric said that it would not be a feel good movie. I’ll be looking forward to that one.
