From a vivid account of working as the "flour boy" breading chicken
on the line to a detailed expose of the human rights abuses of "Big
Chicken," Striffler's concise text offers a perspective fans of Fast
Food Nation will appreciate. Though aimed at a scholarly audience
(parts of the book were presented at a conference on chicken at Yale),
Striffler's fast-paced narrative, rich with personal detail, will be
enjoyed by readers outside of the university setting.

Striffler, an associate professor of Anthropology of the University
of Arkansas, worked for two summers at a Tyson plant. "Look, we're
all Mexican here. Screwed-over Mexicans," explains a co-worker as
Striffler eats fried chicken with a group of diverse line workers,
many (but not all) of whom emigrated from Mexico to work in
processing plants. Rural southern communities have responded to
the shifting racial makeup of their towns in often reactionary ways
(Siler City, the town where Striffler worked, was the site of a KKK
rally in 1999), yet the factory provides both a quasi-family for
workers as well as an exploitive work environment. Striffler expands
upon the current arguments for organic or sustainable chicken
production to include human-friendly chicken with strict production
guidelines, but he seems to have just scratched the surface with
this slim volume.

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