I've just finished reading Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation" and was impressed with the range of different issues he contends with. Of course, having worked for Mackers (let's not even contemplate using the more exact name for fear of libels) back in my teenage years I was already aware of some of the abuses going on but the overwhelming extent such fast food franchises have on economic and sociocultural conditions around the world is staggering and scary. For some time now I have been trying to avoid the Western fast food chains here in Seoul and instead spend my hard-earned won at local ma and pa neighborhood restaurants where possible. It's not as easy here in Korea as it is back in Australia because there is a real lack of quality Western-style restaurants unless you are willing to fork out quite a lot of money at top-end hotels. Sometimes the craving for the taste of home makes me linger in front of a fast food restaurant door, my taste buds wanting a reprieve from the usual copious amounts of chilli paste, sesame oil, salt, garlic, and soybean paste that goes into most local dishes. From now on, I'm going to try harder at avoided the crap served up at Western franchises here and cook more often at home instead. Here goes...thanks Schlosser for the update - a must read, despite what all the Republican reviewers in the States are saying.