Here's the short answer to why fast food is so successful: it's quick, cheap and tasty. Plus, you never have to leave your car. But like the reeking dumpster behind a brightly lit McDonald's, there's a nasty side to fast food success. It's quick because of an assembly line kitchen that relies on low-paid, unskilled workers. It's cheap thanks to subsidized agribusiness giants that control massive factory farms. It's tasty because fast food is loaded with three things humans crave: sugar, salt and fat…plus plenty of preservatives, dyes, antibiotics and growth hormones. And the drive-thru window is emblematic of the car culture and the sprawling development of American cities.

Eric Schlosser is the author of the widely acclaimed, best-selling books Fast Food Nation and Reefer Madness. He's an award-winning correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly.