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some of the meat used by Jack in the Box: See Terry McDermott, “The Jack in the Box Poisonings – Why Inspection of Meat Fails,” Seattle Times , January 31, 1993; Frank Green, “Foodmaker, Suppliers Settle E. coli Claims,” San Diego Union‑Tribune , February 25, 1998.

“This recent outbreak sheds light”: Quoted in “Meat Institute Urges Federal and State Agencies to Adopt Industry Guidelines Proven to Prevent E. coli 0157:H7 in Hamburgers,” PR Newswire , February 4, 1993.

“The presence of bacteria in raw meat”: Quoted in Fox, Spoiled , p. 252.

208 had waited a week before acknowledging: See Robert Goff, “Coming Clean: After Its Tragic Outbreak of E. coli , Jack in the Box Quickly Fixed Its Food Handling,” Forbes , May 17, 1999.

210 A study of campaign contributions: See “The Captive Congress,” a chapter in Safety Last , as well as the statistical tables, pp. 9–21, 76–90.

212 prosecutors claimed… Both men were later found innocent: See Scott Bauer, “Prosecutors: Former Hudson Foods Officials Lied about Meat Recall,” AP , November 10, 1999; “Tyson Unit Acquitted of Lying in Beef Recall; Hudson Quality Control Director Also Cleared,” Arkansas Democrat‑Gazette , December 4, 1999.

health officials in Nevada did not learn from the company: FSIS Recall Policy Public Meeting.

“had not been fully tested”: Quoted in Elliot Jaspin and Scott Montgomery, “U.S. Mum on Fast Food Recalls,” Cox News Service , August 18, 1997, Jaspin and Montgomery have written a number of fine investigative pieces on the USDA and the meatpacking industry.

“We live in a very litigious society”: Quoted ibid.

213 The USDA now informs the public: Interview with Elizabeth Gaston, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service.

“Its very frustrating for us”: Quoted in Allison Young and Jeff Taylor, “Stealthy Meat Recalls Leave Consumers in Dark,” Denver Post , May 13, 1999. See also Allison Beers, “Recalls Present Tough Decisions for Food Companies,” Food Chemical News , May 4, 1998; and Pan Demetrakakes, “Backlash: Recalls,” Food Processing August 1, 1999.

“Press releases will not identify”: Quoted in “Recall of Meat and Poultry Products,” FSIS Directive, January 19, 2000.

A recent IBP press release: “Ground Beef Product Recall,” IBP news release, June 23, 2000.

214 Nowhere does the press release mention: The story of the outbreak at Tiger Harry’s is based on interviews with officials at the Arkansas Department of Health, including Dennis Berry, an epidemiologist; John Kraft, a field investigator; and Dr. David Bourne, medical director of the Preventive Health Section. See also “21 Ill, 11 Hospitalized for E. coli ; Outbreak May Be Tied to Restaurant,” Arkansas Democrat‑Gazette , June 3, 2000; “266,000 Pounds of Bad Beef Recalled,” Capital Times , June 24, 2000; “Health Department Finds No Further Cases of E. coli Infection; USDA Investigating Ground Beef,” press release, Arkansas Department of Health, June 16, 2000.

“We can fine circuses for mistreating elephants”: Quoted in Carol Smith, “Overhaul in Meat Inspection No Small Potatoes, Official Says,” Seattle Post‑Intelligencer , January 29, 1998.

215 demoralized and understaffed: See Allison Beers, “Plant Staffing Shortages Exacerbated by Excessive Absences, Low Morale,” Food Chemical News , August 16, 1999.

the USDA had 12,000 meat inspectors: See Jake Thompson, “Meat Inspectors’ Role Scrutinized: Critics Say That Despite a New Safety Program, There Are Too Few People to Monitor Plants,” Omaha World‑Herald , August 24, 1997; “Industry Forum: State of the Union,” Meat & Poultry , March 1998; and “Beefing Up Inspection,” Government Executive , February 1999.

215 the new HACCP plans are only as good: For a strong critique of the current system from an unexpected source, see “Food Safety and Inspection Service: Implementation of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point System,” U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General, Food Safety Initiative, Meat and Poultry Products, Report no. 24001–3‑At, June 2000.

216 She routinely falsified her checklist: Gary Mickelson, a spokesman for IBP, told me that an employee who falsifies such documentation is subject to disciplinary action by the company. He also told me that IBP employees have in fact been terminated for such behavior.

220‑degree steam: The number comes from “SPS 400: Information Update,” a manual published by Frigoscandia Equipment, the manufacturer of steam pasteurization units.

by about 90 percent: Ibid.

“We have been informed that carcasses”: IBP memo from Dean Danilson to Leo Lang re: outrail cattle, May 19, 1997.

217 The dirtiest meat was to be shipped out: When the memo leaked in June of 1998, IBP denied that it was shipping contaminated meat to outside suppliers, claimed its unusual outrail policy had been devised solely to address shelf‑life concerns – and said that, in any event, the policy was no longer in effect. Gary Mickelson, an IBP spokesman, repeated the same assertions to me, adding that “IBP’s quality and food safety programs… are considered by many to be the ‘best’ in the industry. We will not sell any products – whether it be boxed beef or beef carcasses that we do not believe are safe for human consumption.” See also “Ground Beef Guidelines Are Insufficient, STOP Says,” Food Chemical News , June 8, 1998.

research for the Star Wars antimissile program: See “Titan to Put Whammy on Food Bacteria,” San Diego Union‑Tribune , May 18, 1999.

get rid of the word “irradiation”: See “Beef Industry Recommends Irradiation Rule Include Ready‑to‑Eat Meats,” Food Labeling News , June 23, 1999; Rick Lingle, “Food Irradiation Acceleration,” Packaging Digest , July 1, 1999; and Steven F. Grover, “Pasteurized Foods in Your Future?” Food Management , October 1999. Grover is a vice president of the National Restaurant Association.

A 1983 investigation by NBC News: For the story of Rudy “Butch” Stanko, see Wayne Slater, “Domestic News,” AP , September 19, 1983; “Agriculture to Investigate a Meat Plant in Denver,” New York Times , September 20, 1983; Judy Harrington, “Packing Company, Owner, Guilty of Selling Bad Meat to Government,” AP , September 15, 1984; and Neal Karlen with Jeff P. Copeland, “A ‘Mystery Meat’ Scandal,” Newsweek , September 24, 1984.

219 an eleven‑year‑old‑boy became seriously ill: For the Bauer Meat story, see Patricia Guthrie, “Government Says Bauer Meats Are Unfit to Eat,” Atlanta Journal , October 14, 1998; “Bauer Meat ‘Unfit for Human Consumption,’” Meat Processing , November 1, 1998; “Bacteria Wars: How 3 Processors Responded,” St. Petersburg Times , February 14, 1999; Robert Trigaux, “Tougher Standards Battle Meat Bacteria,” St. Petersburg Times , February 14, 1999; and “E. Coli Suit Principals Confer; Child’s Family Sues Florida Company,” Florida Times‑Union , May 15, 1999.

a dozen children in Finley, Washington: For the Northern States Beef story, see Elliott Jaspin and Scott Montgomery, “Feds Buy Bad Beef for Low Bid; E. coli Outbreak Results from School Lunch Program Supply System,” Atlanta Journal , March 28, 1999; and “Tainted School Tacos,” Seattle Times , May 8, 1999.

219 as much as 47 percent of the company’s ground beef: See Bill Lodge, “Dallas Beef Plant That Failed Salmonella Tests Challenges Screening System,” Dallas Morning News , December 10, 1999; and Tiara Ellis and Michael Saul, “Dallas Meat Processor Recalls Beef After USDA Detects E. coli ,” Dallas Morning News , December 26, 1999.

about 1.4 million illnesses: Mead et al., “Food‑Related Illness and Death.”

the USDA continued to purchase thousands of tons: See Scott Montgomery and Elliot Jaspin, “USDA Purchased Meat from Texas Plant after Contamination Cited,” Atlanta Journal , Decmber 4, 1999.

annually providing as much as 45 percent: Cited in “USDA Has a Valid Beef in Dallas,” Chicago Tribune , December 14, 1999.

220 the USDA resumed its purchases: See “USDA Satisfied with Changes in Meat Plant It Tried to Shut Down,” AP , February 15,2000.

Judge Fish issued a decision: For the implications of the Supreme Beef case, see Marc Kaufman, “Texas Ruling Threatens USDA Meat Inspections,” Washington Post , May 26,2000; Todd Bensman, “Judge Rebuffs USDA; Agency Tried to Close Dallas Plant,” Dallas Morning News , May 26, 2000; and John Taylor, “Court Ruling Won’t Alter IBP Methods,” Omaha World‑Herald , May 27, 2000.

much of the beef used… repeatedly failed USDA tests: See Allison Beers, “Meat Groups Petition USDA to Change HACCP Regulations,” Food Chemical News , January 10, 2000.

221 The meatpacking industry immediately opposed: See “AMS Says It Will Continue with New Standards,” National Meat Association Newsletter , August 7, 2000.

“You’d be better off eating a carrot stick”: Quoted in Usha Lee McFarling, “Homey Kitchens Become Killers Before Our Eyes,” Austin American‑Statesman , August 12, 1998.

sixty to one hundred other mutant E. coli organisms… Perhaps a third of them cause illnesses: Interview with Dr. David Acheson.

222 roughly 37,000 Americans suffer: Mead et al., “Food‑Related Illness and Death.”

A 1997 undercover investigation by KCBS‑TV: See Richard Martin, “L.A. County Cracks Down on Food‑Safety Violators,” Nation’s Restaurant News , December 1, 1997.

three teenage employees at a Burger King: See “Police Say Two Teens Tampered with Food,” AP, May 10, 2000, and “Burger King Employees Charged,” AP , May 11, 2000.

10. Global Realization

Few West Germans are familiar with the unusual history of Plauen, though it is abundantly detailed in a number of locally published books. Plauen: auf historischen Postkarten (Plauen, Germany: Plauen Verlag, 1991), by Frank Weiss, uses old postcards to illustrate the history of the city during its most prosperous era. Plauen: 1933‑1945 (Plauen: Vogtländischer Heimatverlag Neupert, 1995) is an oversized book, full of photographs, that traces the effects of the Great Depression and the rise of the Nazi Party. The Allied bombing of the city is vividly documented through before‑and‑after photographs in Plauen 1944/1945: Eine Stadt wird zerstört (Plauen: Vogtländischer Heimatverlag Neupert, 1995), by Rudolf Laser, Joachim Mensdorf, and Johannes Richter. For life near the East German border, I relied on Ingolf Hermann’s Die Deutsch‑Deutsch Grenze (Plauen: Vogtländischer Heimatverlag Neupert, 1998). Plauen’s 1989 uprising is chronicled in Rolf Schwanitz’s Zivilcourage: Die friedliche Revolution in Plauen anhand von Stasi‑Akten (Plauen, Vogtländischer Heimatverlag Neupert, 1998). Plauen: Ein Rundgang Durch die Stadt (Plauen: Militzke Verlag, 1992) gives a sense of the city after the Wall came down.

John Connelly, an assistant professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley, is one of the few American academics who has both visited and written about postwar Plauen. Professor Connelly shared his recollection of the city with me and sent me the fine article he wrote about its rebellion: “Moment of Revolution: Plauen (Vogtland), October 7, 1989,” German Politics & Society , Summer 1990. Thomas Küttler, the hero of that uprising, told me how it unfolded and shared his thoughts about its legacy. I am grateful to Cordula Franz for help in arranging interviews in Plauen and to Sybille Unterdoifel for introducing me to The Ranch. Frieder Stephan, the owner of The Ranch, helped me fathom the local youth culture and explained his musical journey from rock to disco to country and western. Christian Pöllmann, who helps run a theater company in Plauen, as well as the German Social Union Party, gave me a strong sense of life under Communism and of the hunger for all things American. The photographer Franziska Heinze and journalist Markus Schneider helped me gather information about their home town. Siegfried Pater – filmmaker, environmentalist, and author of Zum Beispiel McDonald’s (Göttingen: Lamuv Verlag, 1994) – described some of McDonald’s misbehavior in Germany. Barbara Distil, the curator of the Dachau Museum, spoke to me about the controversy surrounding the local McDonald’s. For the history of the camp, I relied on a book that she edited with Ruth Jakusch: Concentration Camp Dachau 1933–1945 (Brussels: Comité International de Dachau, 1978).

The Illustrated History of Las Vegas (Edison, N.J.: Chartwell Books, 1997), by Bill Yenne, conveys how the city has been radically transformed in recent years. The Players: The Men Who Made Las Vegas (Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1997), edited by Jack Sheehan, provides a good deal of insight into the unique culture that emerged there. Timothy O’Brien’s Bad Bet: The Inside Story of the Glamour, Glitz, and Danger of America’s Gambling Industry (New York: Times Business, 1998) explains precisely how the casinos make their money.

Much of my information on obesity comes from articles in Science , the Journal of the American Medical Association , and the New England Journal of Medicine . The nutritionist Jane Kirby placed many of the claims and counterclaims about diet into a calm and reasonable perspective for me. Greg Critser’s “Let Them Eat Fat: The Heavy Truths about American Obesity,” Harper’s , March 2000, is a provocative essay on fast food and the poor.

My account of the McLibel trial is based on interviews with the two principals, Helen Steel and Dave Morris, and on the transcripts of the trial (which were available, along with other interesting material, at the anti‑McDonald’s Web site www.mcspotlight.org). Franny Armstrong – the director of an excellent documentary, McLibel: Two Worlds Collide – was extremely helpful. John Vidal’s book, McLibel, tells the whole, extraordinary story of the trial. The essays collected in Golden Arches East: McDonald’s in East Asia (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1997), edited by James L. Watson, reveal some of the unpredictable ways in which fast food is now being embraced by other cultures.

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226 the city’s population roughly tripled: See Weiss, Plauen: Postkarten , pp. 3–4.

the most millionaires… and the most suicides: Interview with Thomas Küttler. Also cited in Connelly, “Moment of Revolution.”

the highest unemployment rate: In 1933 the unemployment rate in Plauen was 15.6 percent, the highest in Germany. Cited in Plauen 1933–1945 , p. 55.

227 More bombs were dropped on Plauen: About 63.2 tons of explosives were dropped on each square kilometer of Dresden; about 185.4 tons per square kilometer struck Plauen. Cited in Laser et al., Plauen 1944/1945 , p. 14.

about 75 percent of Plauen lay in ruins: Küttler interview.

lost one‑third of its prewar population: Cited in Weiss, Plauen: Postkarten , p. 4.

an “unusually low quality of life”: Connelly, “Plauen: Moment of Revolution.”

228 “We want freedom”: Küttler interview.

229 “McDonald’s and similar abnormal garbage‑makers”: Quoted in “Ban the ‘Big Mac’ from East Germany, Parliamentarian Demands,” Reuters , July 26, 1990.

“global realization”: Quoted in “Blue Chip Blues,” Economist , September 26, 1998.

Within the next decade: See “Some Things Old, Some Things New,” Franchising World , November–December 1999.

earns the majority of its profits: See “The McDonald’s Corporation 1999 Annual Report”; Charlene C. Price, “The U.S. Foodservice Industry Looks Abroad,” USDA Food Review , May–August 1996.

the most widely recognized brand in the world: See “McDonald’s wins top spot in global brand ratings,” Brand Strategy , November 22, 1996.

“McWorld”: See Benjamin R. Barber, “Jihad vs. McWorld,” Atlantic Monthly , March 1992.

when McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in Turkey: See Gulsun Bilgen‑Konuray, “Turkey – Franchising Market,” Industry Sector Analysis , U.S. Foreign and Commercial Service, U.S. State Department, August 24, 1999.

230 “Americana and the promise of modernization”: Watson, Golden Arches East , p. 41.

earning $200,000 in a single week during Ramadan: Cited in Bill McDowall, “The Global Market Challenge,” Restaurants & Institutions , November 1, 1994.

In Brazil, McDonald’s has become: See “McDonald’s Employs 33,000 in Brazil,” AP , August 1, 1999.

“Sorry, No McDonald’s”: Quoted in George Lazurus, “You Won’t Find a McDonald’s on Unspoiled Tahiti,” Adweek , January 13, 1986.

“A McDonald’s restaurant is just the window”: Quoted in Latha Venkatraman, “Keeping That Lettuce Crisp,” Business Line , July 5, 1999.

231 “It’s a great little country”: Simplot interview.

“Kids are the same regarding”: Quoted in “Barbie, McDonald’s Find Common Ground,” Selling to Kids , September 30, 1998.

231 the number of fast food restaurants roughly tripled: Cited in Richard Martin, “Special Report: Down Under’s Bloomin’ Dining Wonders,” Nation’s Restaurant News , October 7, 1996.

Ronald McDonald knew: Cited in Kay M. Hammond, Allan Wylie, and Sally Casswell, “The Extent and Nature of Televised Food Advertising to New Zealand Children and Adolescents,” Australian & New Zealand Journal of Public Health , February 1999.

“funny, gentle, kind”: Quoted in Golden Arches East , p. 64.

Coca‑Cola is now the favorite drink… McDonald’s serves their favorite food: Cited in “Developmental, Cultural Issues Key in Marketing to Kids Globally,” Selling to Kids , April 1, 1998.

“If we eat McDonald’s hamburgers and potatoes”: Quoted in Vidal, McLibel , p. 42.

In addition to being the McDonald’s Corporation’s partner in Japan, Den Fujita is the author of best‑selling books such as Stupid People Lose Money, How to Become Number One in Business , and How to Blow the Rich Man’s Bugle Like the Jews Do . See James Sterngold, “Den Fujita, Japan’s Mr. Joint Venture,” New York Times , March 22, 1992.

232 “For a child growing up in the turmoil”: Christa Maerker, “The Federal Republic of Germany: Second‑hand Culture with Borrowed Dreams,” Schatzkammer , Spring 1990.

Americans with German ancestors: Cited in Tim Bovee, “German‑Americans Largest U.S. Ethnic Group,” AP , December 16, 1992.

less than one‑third of the German foodservice market: Cited in Rupert Spies and Gretel Weiss, “Is Germany’s Traditional Restaurant a Dying Breed?” Cornell Hotel & Restaurant Administration Quarterly , June 1998.

the biggest restaurant company in Germany: See Richard Martin, “Germany Shows Appetite for ‘Fun’ Themes and Foreign Flavors,” Nation’s Restaurant News , April 17, 1995.

233 It battles labor unions: Interview with Siegfried Pater.

the number of franchised outlets: See “Germany‑Franchising Market,” Industry Sector Analysis , U.S. Foreign & Commercial Service, U.S. State Department, July 7, 1998.

“The partnership scheme will undoubtedly be”: Quoted in “German Wal‑Mart Stores to Feature McDonald’s Restaurants,” Evening Standard , August 12, 1999.

The McDonald’s Corporation denied: See Steve Nichol, “Protesters Lambaste McDonald’s; Picketers Say Restaurant Is Trivializing Holocaust,” Fort Lauderdale Sun‑Sentinel , January 28, 1997.

After the curator of the Dachau Museum complained: Interview with Barbara Distil.

“Welcome to Dachau”: Ibid.

The McDonald’s at Dachau is one‑third of a mile: According to the odometer on my rental car.

234 Las Vegas is the fastest‑growing major city: See “Metropolitan Area Population Estimates for July 1, 1998, and Population Change for April 1, 1990, to July 1, 1998,” U.S. Census Bureau, September 30, 1999.

235 Over the past twenty years the population: In 1980, the population of the Las Vegas metropolitan area was 528,000; today it approaches 1.5 million. See “Large Metropolitan Areas – Population: 1980 to 1996,” Statistical Abstract of the U.S ., p. 41; “Metropolitan Area Population Estimates… Population Change.”

235 legally protected against the workings of the free market: For a fascinating account of the Nevada Gaming Control Board and its powers, see “A Peculiar Institution,” by Sergio Lalli, in Sheehan, The Players , pp. 1–22.

236 about two‑thirds of a typical casino’s profits… a profit rate of as much as 20 percent: See O’Brien, Bad Bet , pp. 40–44.

“Those who hope we shall move”: Mikhail Gorbachev, Perestroika: New Thinking for Our Country and the World (New York: Harper & Row, 1987), p. 36.

237 “And the merry clowns”: George Cohon, To Russia with Fries (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1999), p. xi.

He reportedly earned $160,000: Cited in Maura Reynolds, “Russians Watch Gorbachev Pizza Ad,” AP , December 23, 1997.

“all my money is gone”: The German publication was Bunte . Quoted in James Meek, “How Last Soviet Leader Lost His Roubles,” Guardian (London), December 30, 1998.

a fee of $150,000 and the use of a private jet: Cited in Margaret Coker, “Siegfried and Gorby?” Business Week , February 15, 1999.

“As if things weren’t good enough”: The executive was Bob O’Brien, president of NPD Foodservice Information Group.

“sensory evaluation specialist”: The speaker was Richard Popper, vice president of Peryam & Kroll Marketing Sensory Research.

238 “A growing number of groups”: Mr. Nugent’s speech, as well as all the others, was recorded by Convention Tapes International, Miami, Florida.

240 the highest obesity rate: Cited in Elizabeth Gleick, “Land of the Fat,” Time International Edition , October 25, 1999.

More than half of all American adults and about one‑quarter of all American children: Cited in James O. Hill and James C. Peters, “Environmental Contributions to the Obesity Epidemic,” Science , May 29, 1998.

The rate of obesity among American adults… among American children: See Gary Taubes, “Demographics: As Obesity Rates Rise, Experts Struggle to Explain Why,” Science , May 29, 1998.

“We’ve got the fattest, least fit”: Quoted in Maggie Fox, “U.S.: Obesity Will Be Hard to Treat, Experts Say,” AAP Newsfeed, May 29, 1998.

about 44 million American adults are obese… 6 million are “super‑obese”: The adult population of the United States is about 200 million. Twenty‑two percent of the nation’s adults are obese and 3 percent are super‑obese. See Jeffrey P. Koplon and William H. Dietz, “Caloric Imbalance and Public Health Policy,” Journal of the American Medical Society , October 27, 1999; “Resident Population Projections, by Age and Sex,” Statistical Abstract , p. 17.

A recent study: Ali H. Mokdad, Mary K. Serdula, William H. Dietz, Barbara A. Bowman, James S. Marks, Jeffrey P. Koplon, “The Spread of the Obesity Epidemic in the United States, 1991–1998,” Journal of the American Medical Association , October 27, 1999.

when people eat more and move less: See Hill and Peters, “Environmental Contributions”; Eric Ravussian and Elliot Danforth, Jr., “Human Physiology: Beyond Sloth – Physical Activity and Weight Gain,” Science , January 8, 1999.

241 per capita consumption of carbonated soft drinks: Cited in Jacobson, “Liquid Candy.”

During the late 1950s the typical soft drink order: Cited in Judy Putnam, “U.S. Food Supply Providing More Food and Calories,” USDA Food Review , October 1, 1999.

more fat than ten of the chain’s milk shakes: See “Nutritional Information,” CKE Restaurants.

“Consumers savor the flavor”: Kate MacArthur, “Fast Feeders Find Sizzle by Bringing on the Bacon,” Advertising Age , March 27, 2000. See also Michael Pearson, “Lower Production, Higher Demand for Fast Food Bacon Restores Profitability to Hog Farming,” AP , April 20, 2000.

A decade ago, restaurants sold about 20 percent: Ibid.

second only to smoking: See Koplon and Dietz, “Caloric Imbalance.”

about 280,000 Americans die every year: Cited in Joyce Howard Price, “Fat Chance: The Goverment’s War on Obesity,” Washington Post , January 30, 2000.

242 now approach $240 billion: See Maggie Fox, “Obesity Costs U.S. $238 Billion a Year – Survey,” Reuters , September 15, 1999.

$33 billion on various weight‑loss schemes: Cited in Robert Jablon, “Studies Show Obesity on Rise in U.S.,” AP, October 26, 1999.

Obesity has been linked to: See William C. Willett, William H. Dietz, and Graham A. Colditz, “Guidelines for Healthy Weight,” New England Journal of Medicine , August 5, 1999; Aviva Must, Jennifer Spadano, Eugenie H. Coakley, Allison E. Field, Graham Colditz, and William H. Dietz, “The Disease Burden Associated with Overweight and Obesity,” Journal of the American Medical Association , October 27, 1999.

A 1999 study by the American Cancer Society: See Katherine Webster, “Study: Obesity Can Shorten Lifespan,” AP , October 6, 1999.

“The message is we’re too fat”: The researcher is Eugenia Calle, quoted ibid.

Severely obese American children: See Dennis Michael Styne, “Childhood Obesity: Time for Action, Not Complacency,” American Family Physician , February 15, 1999.

the number of fast food restaurants in Great Britain: Cited in Gleick, “Land of the Fat.”

and so did the obesity rate among adults: Cited in Gary Taubes, “Demographics: Weight Increases Worldwide?” Science , May 29, 1998The British now eat more fast food: Cited in Kate Watson Smyth, “Britons Eating 7M Pounds of Fast Food Every Day,” Independent , May 13, 1999.

They also have the highest obesity rate: Cited in Gleick, “Land of the Fat.”

less of a problem in Italy and Spain: Ibid.

where spending on fast food is relatively low: See Smyth, “Britons Eating 7M Pounds”; “Fast Food Is Taking Over the World,” USA Today Magazine , May 1, 1999; Dita Smith, “What on Earth? Fast‑Food Feast,” Washington Post , May 27, 2000.

In China, the proportion of overweight teenagers: Cited in Simon Pollock, “China’s Biggest ‘Little Emperors’ Struggle to Tone Up,” Japan Economic Newswire , August 18, 1999.

In Japan, eating hamburgers: For a good account of how eating habits were transformed in Japan, see Mark Hammond and Jacqueline Ruyak, “The Decline of the Japanese Diet: MacArthur to McDonald’s,” East West , October 1990.

242 the sale of fast food in Japan more than doubled: Ibid.

the rate of obesity among children: The statistic comes from the Japanese Education Ministry. Cited in “Western Fast Food Is Blamed for Overweight Children,” Food Labeling News , May 13, 1998.

about one‑third of all Japanese men in their thirties: See Joseph Coleman, “More Japanese Men Are Overweight,” AP , June 15, 1998; “Time to Trim the Fat of the Land,” Japan Times , November 14, 1999.

243 a study of middle‑aged Japanese men: The Ni‑Hon‑San Study is described in Hammond and Ruyack, “MacArthur to McDonald.” See also Jeanette G. Kernicki, “A Multicultural Perspective on Cardiovascular Disease,” Journal of Cardiovascular Nurses , July 1997.

American children now get about one‑quarter: Cited in Janet McConnaughey, “Chips, Fries Big Part of Kids’ Diet,” AP , September 5, 1999.

A survey of children’s advertising: See “A Spoonful of Sugar – Television Food Advertising Aimed at Children: An International Comparative Survey,” Consumers International, London, November 1996; “Advertising to Children: UK the Worst in Europe,” Food Magazine , January/March 1997.