From Seedling to Supermarket: Farming, Fast Food, and the Fabrication of Trust

Have you ever stared at the Golden Arches and asked yourself ‘how did all this come to be?’ This chapter traces the growth of McDonald’s while placing the fast-food industry into a wider setting of global agri-food chains. The activities of food trading companies—Archer Daniels Midland; Bunge; Cargill; and, Louis Dreyfus—are discussed. We visit the controversial issue of the genetic engineering of food. The evolution of the modern supermarket is explained, along with various food scandals that have occurred in the past. Trust is fabricated by the many celebrity chefs whose role is that of influencer of consumer behaviour. Food advertising is likened to that of the tobacco industry many decades earlier. Obesity is a socially undesirable outcome of the fast-food industry, with ultra-processed foods being blamed for weight increases. The health of people and the planet are being compromised by the activities of today’s global food industry.