In Washington D.C. no one is allowed to construct a building higher than the Washington Monument. This regulation is based on the principle that what is highest, is of highest importance. In other words, the tallest building in a town provides a clue towards what its people value most, whether it be a church steeple or a financial center. In a typical American town, on a typical American street, one of the highest constructions is often a pair of golden arches, built to rise above the buildings and trees to attract drivers from highways or in surrounding areas. These towering signs, monuments to fast food culture, might say more about us than we’d like to admit. And yet the truth behind fast food is largely unknown. Unless you’ve picked up Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation, Robert Kenner’s Food, Inc. or another, similar exposé on the industry, your knowledge of exactly where a McDonald’s or Burger King burger comes from is probably very limited. And yet the impact of your choice to eat the aforementioned burger is anything but limited.

The most widely known criticism of fast food is its impact on health. Obesity is the second highest cause of mortality in the U.S, and overweight people are anywhere from twice to four times as likely as other people to die young, depending on the severity of the weight problem, according to a 1999 study by the American Cancer Society. Annual health care costs from obesity are around 240 billion, and an estimated 280 thousand Americans die every year from weight-related issues. It is impossible to directly prove that the emergence of the fast food industry has caused the obesity epidemic, but the two have a strong correlation: as the number of fast food restaurants in the country increased, so did the rate of obesity. And as American-style consumption of burgers, fries, and other fast food products spread to other countries, those countries reported an increase in obesity and obesity-related illness as well. Between 1984 and 1993, both the number of fast food restaurants in Great Britain and the adult obesity rate doubled. And since the introduction of McDonald’s and the resultant increase in consumption of animal fats and red meat, obesity is on the rise even in Japan, a country long known for the health of its traditional cuisine. The problem increases as appetites accustomed to abnormal amounts of fat and sugar continue to grow. Restaurant chains have increased their portion sizes astronomically over the years, boasting of the size of burgers and meals as a means of attracting customers. The Angus Bacon and Cheese burger at McDonald’s contains 790 calories and 39 grams of fat. Their website boasts, “Bigger really is better!” Add a 500 calorie large fry and a 310 calorie large Coke, and you’ve got a 1600 calorie meal with enormous amounts of fat and sugar and very few nutrients.

Though it is one of America’s most unhealthy habits, fast food is highly dependent on children for its profits. Every month, around 90% of American children between 3 and 9 are taken to a McDonald’s at least once. Fast food executives have ensured an impregnable connection to the young generation through their marketing efforts. Not only are more than 3 billion dollars spent annually on television ads, but restaurants like McDonald’s and Burger King have created thousands of playpens and playgrounds to attract children and their parents, a very effective tool in bringing in more money. One of the strongest draws for children is the toys included with the kid’s meals, a business venture which benefits both the restaurant chain and the toy companies (and Hollywood studios during movie promotions). During the first week of the Beanie Baby promotion in 1997, McDonald’s profits went up to ten times their average. Fast food restaurants even take care to make sure that their restaurants are geographically close to schools. An analysis of the spatial distribution of restaurants serving fast food shows that there are 3 to 4 times the normal number of fast food restaurants clustered around schools, on average. Ronald McDonald is better known to children than any fictional character but Santa Claus—95 percent of the children surveyed recognized him. With childhood obesity on the rise, it makes sense that a fast food icon is nearly as important as Christmas to young generations.

But what exactly are these young target consumers eating when their parents buy them a Happy Meal? One of the strangest aspects of the industry is how its products get their taste. When you bite into a Whopper or a handful of McDonald’s fries, you are not tasting the beef or the potatoes themselves. Almost all of the flavor comes from a carefully prepared selection of chemicals manufactured in New Jersey factories. Scientists called “flavorists” work to manufacture the smoky taste of a charbroiled chicken breast or a crispy, flavorful fry through the combination of specific chemicals that trick the brain into believing that you are actually consuming something fresh off the grill or out of the oven. Without these chemicals, it can only be imagined how these prefrozen patties, moulded together from bits and pieces of various animal parts, would actually taste. The artificial strawberry flavor used in strawberry milkshakes, for examples, contains 50 different chemicals, all under the one heading of “artificial flavor.”

Even more disturbing than the origination of fast food flavor is the origination of the meat. Your burger isn’t made only from beef and chemicals. The hectic, messy nature of meatpacking combined with the inevitable difficulty that slaughterhouse workers face in performing repetitive tasks precisely and quickly often results in undetected meat contamination: fecal material, urine, vomit, hair, metal shavings, and insects all can make their way into the final product. One of the many potential consequences of these unwanted components to your meal is the E. coli bacterium, which, when fed to children, the elderly, or adults with compromised immune systems, often results in serious illness and death. Restaurant and meat industry lobbyists and their Congressional allies work hard to keep the meat inspection system as inefficient and deregulated as possible, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has a startling lack of authority over the recall of tainted meat, which is especially difficult to carry out, as one patty may contain parts of dozens or even hundreds of different animals. The meat industry has a vested interest in making sure the recall is as small and under the public radar as possible, and very little interest in public well-being.

If you pay a visit a slaughterhouse, you will find yourself wading ankle-deep in blood, surrounded by workers performing jobs such as Knocker, Shackler, Rumper, Navel Boner, and Feed Kill Chain. One worker does nothing but stand in place shooting each animal with a stun gun as it comes through the door, while another worker, the “Sticker,” stands in a river of blood and slits each one’s neck with a long knife, precisely slicing the carotid artery and quickly becoming drenched in blood and other animal matter. Meatpacking, with its dangerous machines, sharp knives, powerful chemicals, and swiftly moving carcasses, is the most dangerous job in the U.S. Workers suffer from lacerations due to their work with knives, and commonly suffer from cumulative trauma disorders such as carpal tunnel syndrome and back problems. Other injuries include finger and limb amputations, respiratory problems from the inhaling of chemicals, and death. Slaughterhouses make profits based on line speed, and thus force workers to perform tasks with sharp knives and dangerous machines at quicker and quicker speeds, in spite of the increased rate of injuries. Workers are strongly discouraged from reporting their injuries or visiting doctors, due to the pressure supervisors face to keep injury statistics low. Workers may be fired at a moment’s notice, and the reporting of an injury will often lead to employment termination, which many workers, both native and immigrant, cannot risk. In a slaughterhouse, it is debatable who is treated more humanely- the workers or the animals.

As the cultural landscape of America becomes increasingly homogenized, each street looks more and more like another. The familiar golden arches rise above each town, accompanied by Burger Kings, Wendy’s, and a host of other famous fast food chains, serving the same food they serve in each restaurant across the world. It is easy to see why people love fast food—it’s cheap, it tastes good, it’s convenient, and it’s familiar. The comfort of a burger and fries, however, has turned into the discomfort of obesity and heart failure, and has been made possible by the experiments of New Jersey scientists and the suffering of countless slaughterhouse workers across the country. With its domination of the landscape, our minds, and our bodies, fast food plays an extremely large role in our cultural consciousness. If the great height of the Washington Monument reveals our founder’s importance to our country, what do the famous golden arches rising high above our towns say about us?