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Roughly 90 percent of the nation’s fast food workers: Of the roughly fifty to sixty employees at a a typical McDonald’s, only four or five are full‑time, salaried managers. See Leidner, Fast Food, Fast Talk , p. 50–54.

74 an average of thirty hours a week: Cited in Robert W. Van Giezen, “Occupational Wages in the Fast‑Food Restaurant Industry,” Monthly Labor Review , August 1994.

earn about $23,000 a year: Cited in Liddle, “Demand Fuels Salary, Bonus Surge.”

training in “transactional analysis”: See Boas and Chain, Big Mac , pp. 91–93; Ben Wildavsky, “McJobs: Inside America’s Largest Youth Training Program,” Policy Review , Summer 1989.

75 forced to clean restaurants… compensated with food: See Gillian Flynn, “Pizza As Pay? Compensation Gets Too Creative,” Workforce , August 1998.

As many as 16,000 current and former employees … a high school dropout named Regina Jones: See E. Scott Reckard, “Jury: Taco Bell Short‑changed Its Employees,” Los Angeles Times , April 9, 1997; Steve Miletich, “Taco Bell Is Found Guilty of Worker Abuses,” Seattle Post‑Intelligencer , April 9, 1997; Stephanie Armour, “One Woman’s Story: More and More Workers Are Being Asked to Work Overtime Without Pay,” USA Today , April 22, 1998.

the trait most valued : Reiter, Making Fast Food , p. 129.

76 A “flying squad” of experienced managers: See Love, Behind the Arches , pp. 394–95; Boas and Chain, Big Mac , pp. 94–112.

amid a bitter organizing drive in San Francisco: For the events in San Francisco, see Boas and Chain, Big Mac , pp. 104–12

77 employed fifteen attorneys: Cited in Bill Tieleman, “Did Somebody Say McUnion? Not If They Want to Keep Their McJob,” National Post , March 29, 1999.

“one of the most anti‑union companies on the planet”: Quoted in Mike King, “McDonald’s Workers Win the Union War But Lose Jobs,” Ottawa Citizen , March 3, 1998.

a money‑loser: See Mike King, “McDonald’s to Go,” Montreal Gazette , February 15, 1998.

77 about 300 to 1: Roughly three McDonald’s closed per year in Canada during the early 1990s, while about eighty new ones annually opened. Cited in King, “McDonald’s to Go.”

“Did somebody say McUnion?”: Tieleman, “McUnion?”

80 Numerous studies have found: ” See Protecting Youth at Work , pp. 225–26. Teenage boys who work longer hours: Ibid., p. 132.

“IT’S TIME FOR BRINGING IN THE GREEN!”: The ad appeared in the Colorado Springs Gazette on March 20, 1999. My account of the working conditions at FutureCall is based on conversations with former employees. For more on FutureCall, see Jeremy Simon, “Telemarketing,” Colorado Springs Gazette , February 15, 1999.

82 George, a former Taco Bell employee: Whenever a person is identified only by a first name in this book, the name is a pseudonym. All of the people described really exist; none is a composite.

83 The injury rate of teenage workers: Cited in Protecting Youth at Work , p. 4. about 200,000 are injured on the job: Ibid., p. 68.

Roughly four or five fast food workers are now murdered … more restaurant workers were murdered on the job: In 1998, the most recent year for which figures are available, fifty‑two police officers and detectives were murdered on the job – and sixty‑nine restaurant workers were murdered on the job, mainly during robberies. The vast majority of restaurant robberies occur at fast food restaurants, because they are open late, staffed by teenagers, full of cash, and convenient. The homicide figures are cited in Eric F. Sygnatur and Guy A. Toscano, “Work‑Related Homicides: The Facts,” Compensation and Working Conditions , Spring 2000.

more attractive to armed robbers than convenience stores: See Laurie Grossman, “Easy Marks: Fast‑Food Industry is Slow to Take Action Against Growing Crime,” Wall Street Journal , September 22, 1994; Kerry Lydon, “Prime Crime Targets; Highly Publicized Restaurant Crimes Have Drawn Both Criminal and Customer Attention to Security Lapses,” Restaurants and Institutions , June 15, 1995; Milford Prewitt, Naomi R. Kooker, Alan J. Liddle, and Robin Lee Allen, “Taking Aim at Crime: Barbaric to Bizarre, Crime Robs Operators’ Peace of Mind, Profits,” Nation’s Restaurant News , May 22, 2000.

at 7–Eleven stores the average robbery: Cited in Scot Lins and Rosemary J. Erickson, “Stores Learn to Inconvenience Robbers: 7–Eleven Shares Many of Its Robbery Deterrence Strategies,” Security Management , November 1998.

84 about two‑thirds of the robberies at fast food restaurants: Cited in Grossman, “Easy Marks”; and Lydon, “Prime Crime Targets.”

about half of all restaurant workers: Cited in Ed Rubinstein, “High‑Tech Systems Look to Head Off Restaurant Shrinkage,” Nation’s Restaurant News , January 11, 1999.

The typical employee stole about $218: Cited in “NCS Reports Employee Theft Doubled in Restaurant/Fast Food Industry,” press release, NCS and National Food Service Security Council, July 9, 1999.

“It may be common sense ”: Interview with Jerald Greenberg.

OSHA was prompted: See Ralph Vartabedian, “Big Business, Big Bucks: The Rising Tide of Corporate Political Donations,” Los Angeles Times , September 23, 1997; Joan Oleck, “Who’s Afraid of OSHA?” Restaurant Business , February 10, 1995.

84 OSHA recommended: See “Recommendations for Workplace Violence Prevention Programs in Late‑Night Retail Establishments,” U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA 3153, 199885

“Who would oppose putting out guidelines”: Quoted in Vartabedian, “Big Business.”

“potentially damaging” robbery statistics: Quoted in Jack Hayes, “Industry Execs Nix OSHA Guidelines at ‘Security Summit,’” Nation’s Restaurant News , May 19, 1997.

“No other American industry”: Interview with Joseph A. Kinney.

86 Hundreds of fast food restaurants are robbed: This is my own estimate. The Los Angeles Police Department is one law enforcement agency that does track restaurant robberies, of which the vast majority are fast food robberies. The population of Los Angeles is about one‑eightieth the total U.S. population. In 1998, 520 L.A. restaurants were robbed. Even if you assume, conservatively, that L.A. restaurants are four times more likely to be robbed than restaurants elsewhere in the country, that still leaves an estimated 10,000 U.S. restaurant robberies every year. The actual number is most likely higher. The FBI does compile statistics on convenience store robberies, and during the mid‑1990s about 28,000 of them were robbed every year (more than 500 a week). According to the LAPD’s 1998 robbery statistics, restaurants were robbed nearly twice as often as minimarts. See “Restaurant Robberies in L.A. from 01/01/98 to 12/31/98” and “Mini‑Mart Robberies in L.A. from 01/01/98 to 12/31/98,” Los Angeles Police Department; and Greg Warchoi, “Workplace Violence, 1992–96,” Bureau of Labor Statistics Special Report, July 1998.

88 “Cynics need to be in some other industry”: The speeches and panel discussions at the Thirty‑eighth Annual Multi‑Unit Foodserver Operator Conference were tape‑recorded by the Sound of Knowledge, Inc., San Diego, California.

4. Success

Mahmood A. Khan’s Restaurant Franchising (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1992) provides a straightforward examination of the subject, much like a textbook. Stan Luxenberg’s Roadside Empires is less thorough but much more interesting, examining the franchise boom in the context of American postwar culture. Big Mac , by Max Boas and Steven Chain, John Love’s Behind the Arches , and Ray Kroc’s Grinding It Out also contain good material on the early days of franchising in the fast food industry. A number of articles published in academic journals helped me understand some of franchising’s finer details: Francine Lafontaine, “Pricing Decisions in Franchised Chains: A Look at the Restaurant and Fast‑Food Industry,” Working Paper 5247, National Bureau of Economic Research, September 1995; Scott A. Shane, “Hybrid Organizational Arrangements and their Implications for Firm Growth and Survival: A Study of New Franchisors,” Academy of Management Journal , February 1996; H. G. Parsa, “Franchisee‑Franchisor Relationships in Quick‑Service‑Restaurant Systems,” Cornell Hotel & Restaurant Administration Quarterly , June 1996; Scott A. Shane and Chester Spell, “Factors for New Franchise Success,” Sloan Management Review , March 22, 1998; Robert W. Emerson, “Franchise Terminations: Legal Rights and Practical Effects When Franchisees Claim the Franchisor Discriminates,” American Business Law Journal , June 22, 1998. The Franchise Opportunities Guide , published annually by the International Franchise Association, gives a rosy view of “the success story of the 1990s.” The Franchise Fraud: How to Protect Yourself Before and After You Invest (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1994), by Robert L. Purvin, Jr., regards the promises of franchisors with more suspicion. Mr. Purvin – an attorney who serves as chairman of the board of trustees of the American Association of Franchisees and Dealers – helped to ensure the accuracy of my legal analysis. Susan Kezios, president of the American Franchisee Association, spoke with me at length about the legislative reforms being sought by her organization. Richard Adams, the president of Consortium Members, Inc., an alliance of disgruntled McDonald’s franchisees, described some of the franchising practices of the world’s largest fast food chain. Rieva Lesonsky, the editorial director of Entrepreneur magazine (which annually publishes the “Franchise 500: Best Franchises to Start Now!”) gave me a much brighter view of the industry. Peter Lowe took time from his hectic schedule to discuss success. In addition to Dave Feamster, I interviewed a number of other fast food franchisees who shall remain unnamed. I am grateful to Feamster not only for giving me free rein at his restaurant, but also for allowing me to spend an evening delivering Little Caesars pizzas in Pueblo.

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94 “Instead of the company paying the salesmen”: Luxenberg, Roadside Empires , p. 13.

95 often earned more money than the company’s founder: See Emerson, Economics of Fast Food , p. 59; Love, Behind the Arches , pp. 171–75.

“common sense”: Kroc, Grinding It Out , p. 111.

“any unusual aptitude or intellect”: Ibid., p. 111.

96 “We are not basically in the food business”: Quoted in Love, Behind the Arches , p. 199. See also Kroc, Grinding It Out , p. 109.

more than $180 million a year: By 1998, the year of Richard McDonald’s death, the annual system‑wide sales of McDonald’s exceeded $36 billion. Cited in “The Annual,” McDonald’s Corporation 1998 Annual Report.

“grinding it out ”: Kroc, Grinding It Out , p. 123.

97 “Eventually I opened a McDonald’s”: Ibid., p. 123.

The distinctive architecture of each chain: For the use of chain architecture as “packaging” and Louis Cheskin’s advice to McDonald’s, see Thomas Hines, The Total Package: The Evolution and Secret Meanings of Boxes, Bottles, Cans, and Tubes (New York: Little, Brown, 1995), pp. 121–24.

98 “mother McDonald’s breasts”: Quoted in “Brand Iconography: The Secret to Creating Lasting Brands?” Brand Strategy , February 20, 1999.

an IFA survey claimed that 92 percent: Cited in Dan Morse and Jeffrey A. Tannenbaum, “Poll on High Success Rate for Franchises Raises Eyebrows,” Wall Street Journal , March 17, 1998. For the results of a similar, equally dubious IFA poll, see Joan Oleck, “The Numbers Game: Retail Franchise Failure Rates,” Restaurant Business , June 10, 1993.

98 38.1 percent of new franchised businesses: Cited in testimony of Dr. Timothy Bates to the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, Judiciary Committee, U.S. House of Representatives, June 24, 1999.

According to another study: Despite the high failure rate, the study’s author, Scott A. Shane, believes that franchising is still the best way to expand a company quickly, though the financial risks are often understated. See Scott A. Shane, “Hybrid Organizational Arrangements and Their Implications for Firm Growth and Survival: A Study of New Franchisors,” Academy of Management Journal , February 1996.

“In short”: Testimony of Dr. Timothy Bates.

99 Ralston‑Purina once terminated: See Boas and Chain, Big Mac , pp. 162–63.

100 more legal disputes with franchisees: Cited in Richard Behar, “Why Subway Is ‘The Biggest Problem in Franchising,’” Fortune , March 16, 1998.

the “worst” franchise in America: Quoted in Jennifer Lanthier, “Subway Bites,” Financial Post , November 25, 1995. For other accounts of Subway’s questionable business practices, see Barbara Marsh, “Franchise Realities: Sandwich Shop Chain Surges, but to Run One Can Take Heroic Effort,” Wall Street Journal , September 16, 1992; Jeffrey A. Tannenbaum, “Right to Retake Subway Shops Spurs Outcry,” Wall Street Journal , February 2, 1995.

“Subway is the biggest problem in franchising ”: Quoted in Behar, “Subway.”

“almost as geared to selling franchises ”: Lanthier, “Subway Bites.”

A top Subway executive has acknowledged : See Behar, “Subway.”

101 30 to 50 percent of Subway’s new franchisees: Cited ibid.

Coble’s bill would for the first time: For a detailed analysis of the legislation and strong criticism of its proposals, see Harold Brown, “The Proposed Federal Legislation in 1999,” New York Law Journal , January 28, 1999; Rochelle B. Spandorf, “Federal Regulating Legislation,” Franchising Business and Law Alert , November 1999.

“We are not seeking to penalize anyone”: Testimony of Howard Coble to the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, House Judiciary Committee, June 29, 1999.

“whiny butts”: For this quote and Ireland’s views on franchise reform, see Kirk Victor, “Franchising Fracas,” National Journal , September 26, 1992; Deirdre Shesgreen, “Franchisees Seek Protection on Hill,” Legal Times , January 4, 1999.

“free enterprise contract negotiations”: Quoted in “Small Business Franchise Partnerships Feared Endangered if Federal Government Muscles In,” PR Newswire , July 1, 1999.

“Small businesses and franchising succeed ”: Quoted ibid.

102 A 1981 study by the General Accounting Office: For the GAO study and the congressional investigation that prompted it, see Luxenberg, Roadside Empires , pp. 256–59.

The chain was “experimenting”: Quoted ibid., p. 258.

a recent study by the Heritage Foundation: See Scott A. Hodge, “For Big Franchisers, Money to Go: Is the SBA Dispensing Corporate Welfare?” Washington Post , November 30, 1997.

5. Why the Fries Taste Good

Food: A Culinary History (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), edited by Jean‑Louis Flandrin and Massimo Montanari, traces the cultural and technological changes in food preparation from prehistoric campfires to the kitchens at McDonald’s. A good account of the history of American food processing can be found in John M. Connor and William A. Schiek, Food Processing: An Industrial Powerhouse in Transition (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1997). Harvey Levenstein’s Paradox of Plenty: A Social History of Eating in Modern America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993) has a fine chapter on the implications of postwar advances in food processing. For consolidation in the food processing industry and its effects on American farmers, I learned a great deal from the following sources: Charles R. Handy and Alden C. Manchester, “Structure and Performance of the Food System Beyond the Farm Gate,” Commodities Economics Division White Paper, USDA Economic Research Service, April 1990; Alden C. Manchester, “The Transformation of U.S. Food Marketing,” in Food and Agricultural Markets: The Quiet Revolution , edited by Lyle P. Schertz and Lynn M. Daff (Washington, D.C.: National Planning Association, 1994); Concentration in Agriculture, A Report of the USDA Advisory Committee on Agricultural Concentration (Washington, D.C.: USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, June 1996); A Time to Act: Report of the USDA National Commission on Small Farms (Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Agriculture, 1998); and William Heffernan, “Consolidation in the Food and Agriculture System,” Report to the National Farmers Union, February 5, 1999. A telephone interview, extending for hours, with J. R. Simplot provided much information on the details of his life and the origins of the potato industry in Idaho. Simplot was blunt, charismatic, entertaining, and seemingly tireless. Fred Zerza, the vice president for public and government relations at the J. R. Simplot Company, helped confirm the accuracy of Simplot’s remarks. I also relied on “Origins of the J. R. Simplot Company,” J. R. Simplot Company, 1997; and James W. Davis, Aristocrat in Burlap: A History of the Potato in Idaho (Boise: Idaho Potato Commission, 1992). Paul Patterson, an extension professor of agricultural economics at the University of Idaho, graciously explained to me how potatoes are grown, processed, and sold today. Bert Moulton, at the Potato Growers of Idaho, gave me a sense of the challenges that farmers in his state must now confront. I am grateful to Ben Strand, at the Simplot Food Group, and Bud Mandeville, at Lamb Weston, for giving me tours of their french fry facilities.

The reference books on flavor technology were a pleasure to read; they reminded me of medieval texts on the black arts. Among the works I consulted were Fenaroli’s Handbook of Flavor Ingredients , vol. 2 (Ann Arbor, Mich.: CRC Press, 1995); Henry B. Heath, Source Book of Flavors (Westport, Conn.: Avi Publishing, 1981); Martin S. Peterson and Arnold H. Johnson, Encyclopedia of Food Science (Westport, Conn.: Avi Publishing, 1978); Y. H. Hui, Encyclopedia of Food Science and Technology , v ol. 2 (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1992); Carl W. Hall, A. W. Farrall, and A. L. Rippen, Encyclopedia of Food Engineering (Westport, Conn.: Avi Publishing, 1986); Flavor Science: Sensible Principles and Techniques , edited by Terry E. Acree and Roy Teranishi (Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Scoiety, 1993); Biotechnology for Improved Foods and Flavors , edited by Gary R. Takeoka, Roy Teranishi, Patrick J. Williams, and Akio Kobayashi (Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society, 1995); Flavor Analysis: Developments in Isolation and Characterization , edited by Cynthia J. Mussinan and Michael J. Novello (Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society, 1998). I found many useful articles on the flavor industry in journals such as Food Product Design, Food Engineering, Food Processing, Food Manufacture, Chemistry and Industry, Chemical Market Reporter , and Soap‑Cosmetics‑Chemical Specialties (now published as Soap & Cosmetics ). A good overview of the flavor business can be found in Industry and Trade Summary: Flavor and Fragrance Materials (Washington, D.C.: U.S. International Trade Commission, USITC Publication 3162, March 1999). Ellen Ruppel Shell wrote a fine article on the work of flavorists more than a decade ago: “Chemists Whip Up a Tasty Mess of Artificial Flavors,” Smithsonian , May 1986. Terry Acree, a professor of food science technology at Cornell University, was a wonderful resource on the subjects of smell, taste, flavor, and the flavor industry. Bob Bauer, executive director of the National Association of Fruits, Flavors, and Syrups, outlined when and where the flavor industry settled in New Jersey. At International Flavors & Fragrances, I am grateful to Nancy Ciancaglini, Diane Mora, and Brian Grainger, who patiently answered many questions. The flavorists at other firms whom I interviewed shall remain anonymous.

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113 “gold dust”: Interview with J. R. Simplot.

“the Golden Age of Food Processing”: Levenstein’s chapter on the postwar era is entitled “The Golden Age of Food Processing: Miracle Whip Über Alles ,” in Levenstein, Paradox of Plenty , pp. 104–18.

114 “Potato salad from a package!”: Quoted ibid.

tableside microwave ovens: Cited ibid., p. 128.

Although Thomas Jefferson had brought the Parisian recipe: See “The French Fries,” a chapter in Elizabeth Rozin’s The Primal Cheeseburger (New York: Penguin Books, 1994), pp. 133–52.

“That’s a helluva thing”: Simplot interview.

“The french fry [was]… almost sacrosanct ”: Kroc, Grinding It Out , p. 10.

115 thinly sliced Russet Burbanks in special fryers: See Love, Behind the Arches , p. 123.

about 175 different local suppliers: Ibid., p. 329.

the typical American ate eighty‑one pounds: The figures on fresh potato and french fry consumption come from the USDA Economic Research Service.

Ninety percent of those fries : Potato statistics, USDA Economic Research Service.

the most widely sold foodservice item: Cited in Lisa Bocchino, “Frozen Potato Products,” ID: The Voice of Foodservice Distribution, January 1995.

116 bigger than the state of Delaware: Delaware has about 1.6 million acres of land.

“It’s big and it’s real”: Simplot interview.

the J. R. Simplot Company supplies the majority: Interview with Fred Zerza.

117 Simplot, Lamb Weston, and McCain now control: This is a conservative estimate, based on discussions with a variety of industry sources.

a $70 million advertising campaign: See Constance L. Hays, “Burger King Campaign Is Promoting New Fries,” New York Times , December 11, 1997.

Idaho’s potato output surpassed Maine’s : Potato Statistics, Economic Research Service, USDA.

117 Since 1980, the tonnage of potatoes grown in Idaho: Figures for 1980 courtesy of Paul Patterson; 1999 figures from the National Agricultural Statistical Service.

Out of every $1.50 spent: A large order of fries weighs about one‑quarter of a pound. It takes about a half pound of fresh potatoes to make a quarter pound of fries. A typical farm price for fresh processing potatoes is $4 to $5 per hundredweight – or 4 to 5 cents a pound.

It costs about $1,500 an acre: Interview with Paul Patterson.

118 needs to receive about $5 per hundredweight: Ibid.

as low as $1.50 per hundredweight: Ibid.

Idaho has lost about half: Interview with Bert Moulton.

the amount of land devoted to potatoes : Idaho Agricultural Statistics Service.

119 roughly 1,100 potato farmers: Bert Moulton estimates there are between 1,000 and 1,200; Don Gehrhardt, at the Idaho Agricultural Statistics Service, believes there are about 1,100.

120 America’s agricultural economy now resembles: See Heffernan, “Consolidation in the Food and Agricultural System,” p. 1.

The taste of McDonald’s french fries: Since the publication of Fast Food Nation , the McDonald’s Corporation has been more forthcoming about the ingredients in their fries. For the origins of the new policy, see pages 278–80 of the Afterword.

James Beard loved McDonald’s fries: See Elizabeth Mehren, “From Whisks to Molds, James Beard’s Personal Possessions to Be Auctioned,” Los Angeles Times , September 12, 1985.

The taste of a fast food fry is largely determined: See Olivia Wu, “Fats and Oils in a New Light,” Restaurants and Institutions , January 15, 1997; and Candy Sagon, “Fry, Fry Again: The Secret of Great French Fries? Frying and more Frying,” Washington Post , July 9, 1997.

more saturated beef fat per ounce: A small McDonald’s hamburger weighed 102 grams and had 3.6 grams of saturated fat; a small order of fries weighed 68 grams and had 5.05 grams of saturated fat. See “Where’s the Fat,” USA Today , April 5, 1990; Marian Burros, “The Slimming of Fat Fast Food,” New York Times , July 25, 1990; and Michael F. Jacobson and Sarah Fritscher, The Completely Revised and Updated Fast‑Food Guide (New York: Workman Publishing, 1991).

A look at the ingredients now used: See “McDonald’s Nutrition Facts,” McDonald’s Corporation, July 1997.

About 90 percent of the money that Americans spend on food: See “Personal Consumption Expenditures Table, 1999,” Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce.

the area produces about two‑thirds of the flavor additives: Cited in Joyce Jones, “Labs Conjure Up Fragrances and Flavors to Add Allure,” New York Times , December 26, 1993.

122 six of the ten best‑selling fine perfumes… the smell of Estée Lauder’s Beautiful: Interview with Nancy Ciancaglini, International Flavors & Fragrances.

The aroma of a food can be responsible: Cited in Ruth Sambrook, “Do You Smell What I Smell? The Science of Smell and Taste,” Institute of Food Research, March 1999.

123 a rich and full sense of deliciousness: See Marilynn Larkin, “Truncated Glutamate Receptor Holds Key to the Fifth Primary Taste,” Lancet , January 29, 2000; and Andy Coghlan, “In Good Taste,” New Scientist , January 29, 2000.

Babies like sweet tastes : See Julie A. Mennella and Gary K. Beauchamp, “Early Flavor Experiences: When Do They Start?” Nutrition Today , September 1994.

like those of the chain’s “heavy users”: See Jennifer Ordonez, “Hamburger Joints Call Them ‘Heavy Users’ – But Not to Their Faces,” Wall Street Journal , January 12, 2000.

124 annual revenues of about $1.4 billion: Interview with Nancy Ciancaglini.

Approximately ten thousand new processed food products: Cited in Susan Carroll, “Flavors Market Is Poised for Recovery This Year,” Chemical Market Report , July 19, 1999.

And about nine out of every ten… fail: Cited in Andrew Bary, “Take a Whiff: Why International Flavors & Fragrances Looks Tempting Right Now,” Barron’s , July 20, 1998.

125 Its annual revenues have grown almost fifteenfold: IFF’s sales were about $103 million in 1970 and about $1.4 billion in 1999. The first figure comes from “Company History,” IFF Advertising and Public Relations. The second is cited in Catherine Curan, “Perfume Company Banks on CEO’s Nose for Business,” Crain’s NY Business , June 26, 2000.

the dominant flavor of bell pepper: The chemical is isobutylmethoxy pyrazine. Its minute taste recognition threshold is noted in “Flavor Chemistry Seminar,” International Flavors & Fragrances.

The flavor in a twelve‑ounce can of Coke: An industry source, who shall go unnamed, provided me with the cost of the flavor in a six‑pack of Coke, and I did the rest of the math.

A typical artificial strawberry flavor: This recipe comes from Fenaroli’s Handbook of Flavor Ingredients , vol. 2, p. 831.

127 “A natural flavor”: Interview with Terry Acree.

“consumer likeability”: Quoted in “What Is Flavor? An IFF Consumer Insights Perspective.”

128 The TA.XT2i Texture Analyzer: For a description of similar devices, see Ray Marsili, “Texture and Mouthfeel: Making Rheology Real,” Food Product Design , August 1993.

the ones being synthesized by funguses: See Leticia Mancini, “Expanding Flavor Horizons,” Food Engineering , November 1991; and Kitty Kevin, “A Brave New World: Capturing the Flavor Bug: Flavors from Microorganisms,” Food Processing , March 1995.

McDonald’s did acknowledge: See Jeanne‑Marie Bartas, “Vegan Menu Items at Fast Food and Family‑Style Restaurants – Part 2,” Vegetarian Journal , January/ February 1998.

Wendy’s Grilled Chicken Sandwich: See “Wendy’s Nutrition/Ingredient Guide,” Wendy’s International, Inc., 1997.

Burger Kings BK Broiler: See “Nutritional Information,” Burger King, 1999.

6. On the Range

Sam Bingham, The Last Ranch: A Colorado Community and the Coming Desert (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1996), and Peter R. Decker, Old Fences, New Neighbors (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1998), are two fine books about the current struggles of Colorado ranchers. “The Rancher’s Code,” a chapter in Charles F. Wilkinson’s Crossing the Next Meridian (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1992), outlines the steps progressive ranchers are taking both to preserve and to remain profitably on the land. Among the many interviews I conducted in the ranching community, a number deserve mention. Dave Carlson, at the Resource Analysis Section of the Colorado Department of agriculture, helped me understand the economic forces now changing the state’s landscape. Dave Carter, president of the Rocky Mountain Farmer’s Union, outlined many of the development pressures and well‑entrenched political interests that ranchers now confront. Dean Preston, the Pueblo Chieftain’ s agriculture correspondent for nearly three decades, described the changes he’s witnessed in rural Colorado. Lee Pitts, the editor of Livestock Market Digest , helped place the experience of Rocky Mountain ranchers in a broader national perspective. Over the years his work for the Digest has represented independent American journalism at its finest.