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A review by niniane
The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee's, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table by Tracie McMillan
4.25
The author first picked fruit and arlic in a field with laborers without work visas. The laborers wished they could make minimum wage but they're actually paid below $3 per hour. The company circumvented laws by converting it into hourly wage but untruthfully reducing the number of hours that they worked from 9 to 3.
The other laborers were so nice to her. She taught them English. It helped that she could understand Spanish and speak a little. They fed her food, gave her rides, and took her to sell prepared meals to other laborers.
Her slowness caused the entire group to make less money. Some were frustrated, but the foremen was really nice to her. The foreman was a woman who wanted to learn English.
The author had to live in a trailer because she was making so little money.
Then she went to work in the produce section of Walmart. They did so many things circumventing compliance to save money, such as letting a bird stay in the store touching fruit. They let fruit rot. They sold the oldest fruit first.
The author went to expedite at Applebee's and cook a few shifts. All the food was prepared elsewhere and shipped in mass to her restaurant. They didn't cook any fresh food. She said a decent cook could make all those meals almost as quickly at home if you count the driving time, but people often just didn't know what meals to make. Applebee's served the same role as Hamburger Helper in providing structure of what to make.
It bothered me that the author accepted all kinds of charity from people who are making much less money than she normally makes as an author. She decided to live off these wages during the experiment, and the other workers didn't know that. The laborers gave her all sorts of picked fruit so she could claim it as hers, fed her free meals, etc. I know she was doing this experiment and wanted to stick to it, but it pained me to here that she freely partook of their generosity.
This was eye-opening in terms of making me want to grow my own fruits instead of being part of this exploitative chain that also lets the food rot.
The other laborers were so nice to her. She taught them English. It helped that she could understand Spanish and speak a little. They fed her food, gave her rides, and took her to sell prepared meals to other laborers.
Her slowness caused the entire group to make less money. Some were frustrated, but the foremen was really nice to her. The foreman was a woman who wanted to learn English.
The author had to live in a trailer because she was making so little money.
Then she went to work in the produce section of Walmart. They did so many things circumventing compliance to save money, such as letting a bird stay in the store touching fruit. They let fruit rot. They sold the oldest fruit first.
The author went to expedite at Applebee's and cook a few shifts. All the food was prepared elsewhere and shipped in mass to her restaurant. They didn't cook any fresh food. She said a decent cook could make all those meals almost as quickly at home if you count the driving time, but people often just didn't know what meals to make. Applebee's served the same role as Hamburger Helper in providing structure of what to make.
It bothered me that the author accepted all kinds of charity from people who are making much less money than she normally makes as an author. She decided to live off these wages during the experiment, and the other workers didn't know that. The laborers gave her all sorts of picked fruit so she could claim it as hers, fed her free meals, etc. I know she was doing this experiment and wanted to stick to it, but it pained me to here that she freely partook of their generosity.
This was eye-opening in terms of making me want to grow my own fruits instead of being part of this exploitative chain that also lets the food rot.