The Golden Arches in Black America

What You're Eating

The good food movement, when it has talked about fast food, has focused on what’s wrong with the industrialized system that produces the burgers and buns and fries, or sometimes the food’s negative health impacts. Occasionally, criticisms have noted the deep ties between McDonald’s and the Black community, sometimes blaming communities of color for making bad food choices, sometimes blaming the fast food industry for being predatory with its advertising or store locations.

But the relationship between fast food and Black America is way more complicated. As Dr. Marcia Chatelain explains in her Pulitzer Prize winning book, “Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America,” fast food restaurants have represented a business opportunity for Black franchisees, an employment opportunity for community residents, and a dining opportunity for Blacks who were excluded elsewhere. In today’s episode we talk with Dr. Chatelain about the history of that multifaceted relationship.

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