Fillet

Deep Frying
The American
Dream

Norm Schriever

A strange thing happens to one's thinking after gorging two pounds of low-grade hot, dead, animal flesh. Incoherent mumbling begins, then you ooze into a catatonic state termed a "food high" by doctors. Fortunately, for the over-six-gazillion people who are served daily, those symptoms are also the prerequisite for your average fast food meal. Americans love their edible equivalent of a quick fix and that's not about to change. We the people observe the right to pursue overindulgence and instant gratification to the point that it's our national modus operendi.

We demand bank machines on every corner, titanic shopping malls, big cars, big sports, Pamela Anderson, and, of course, huge hamburgers!

Even our quick and cheap history is a certain testament to our decadence. But whoever said the only American contribution to culture is a right on red never had a double cheeseburger with heaps of fries served in fine styrofoam. So this week Fillet has decided to put the top five fast food chains, McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's, Carl Jr.'s, and Jack in the Box under the microscope. We knew it would get ugly, so we went in with appetites a-blazin' and here's what we found....