The Revival Pt. 22: Fries & Their Delicious-ness

In Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation: Why the Fries Taste Good, Schlosser explores the wonderful world of potatoes in the potato capital of the world of course, Idaho. He visits the Simplot potato plant and interviews the founder and owner of the plant, Mr. John Richard Simplot himself. Simplot shares his life story of growing up in Idaho, dropping out of school at age fifteen, running away from home, and working at a potato warehouse to support himself. Simplot explains to Schlosser how he became to be a “land hog” and how he built his potato empire, even as an eighth grade drop-out.

Simplot explains how he became a dehydration company soon after the start of World War II and began to mass produce “gold dust” (as he liked to call it) or onion powder for the soldiers. Soon after Simplot began to show interest in the frozen food industry and is currently one of the largest frozen fry companies in the nation, solely supplying such companies as McDonald’s with their incredibly addictive, and some may say delicious French fries. Schlosser also shares that Simplot is still a “land hog” and is still “one of the nation’s biggest landowners.”

Schlosser, Eric. "Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation: Why the Fries Taste Good (Excerpt)." 26 March 2010. pbs.org. 26 November 2010 <pbs.org/pov/.../fastfoodnation_01.php>.