A Place At The Table Documentary Analysis

In “What You Eat Is Your Business,” Radley Balko tackles the issue of who is responsible for fighting obesity. Balko argues that the controversy of obesity should make the individual consumers culpable for their own health and not the government (467). As health insurers refrain from increasing premiums for obese and overweight patients, there is a decrease in motivation to keep a healthy lifestyle (Balko 467). As a result, Balko claims these manipulations make the public accountable for everyone else 's health rather than their own (467). Balko continues to discuss the ways to fix the issue such as insurance companies penalizing consumers who make unhealthy food choices and rewarding good ones (468). This forces the community to become responsible

In the world, there are one billion people undernourished and one and a half billion more people overweight. In this day and age, where food has become a means of profit rather than a means of keeping people thriving and healthy, Raj Patel took it upon himself to explore why our world has become the home of these two opposite extremes: the stuffed and the starved. He does so by travelling the world and investigating the mess that was created by the big men (corporate food companies) when they took power away from the little men (farmers and farm workers) in order to provide for everyone else (the consumers) as conveniently and profitably as possible. In his book Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System, Patel reveals his findings and tries to reach out to people not just as readers, but also as consumers, in hopes of regaining control over the one thing that has brought us all down: the world food system.

In both David Zinczenko’s “Don’t Blame The Eater” and “ Radley Balko’s “What You Eat is Your Business”, the argument of obesity in America is present and clear from opposing viewpoints. Both articles were written in the early 2000’s, when the popular political topic of the time was obesity and how it would be dealt by our nation in the future. While Zinczenko argues that unhealthy junk food is an unavoidable cultural factor, Balko presents the thought that the government should have no say in it’s citizens diet or eating habits.

Nicholas Kristof is a two-time Pulitzer prizewinning books and “Prudence or Cruelty” was feature in the New York Times in 2013. In “Prudence or Cruelty” it discuss the potential of ridding our society of food stamps to help boost our economy. Children everyday wonder when, not what, their next meal will be. As sad as it sounds, but “5 percent of American households have very low food security” (Kristof 172). This basically means the household can run out of food whenever, and this usually leads to a parent not eating to make sure their kids have enough to eat. This often leads to eating disorders as well due to the consistency of not eating from the lack of food.

In the United States there are many children and adults that go hungry, due to financial problems. With the economy and how high cost of living is, it’s hard to provide, food for the family. The results of hunger on children in America are not having the right nutrition, can have serious implication for a child’s physical and mental health. Also food insecurity is harmful to all people, but it is particularly devastating to children.

Who do you imagine when someone says food insecurity or hunger? Do you imagine someone severely underweight? Or maybe children in third world countries because surely hunger isn 't here in the United states. But, in fact, hunger is here in the United States, the documentary A Place at the Table defines someone who is food insecure as someone who does not know where their next meal is coming from, they have no idea how to manage, find, or afford food. Now who do you imagine when someone says food insecurity or hunger? Food insecurity is not just a lack of food, food insecurity can also mean someone has a lack of nutritious food. There are two types of food insecurity, there is food insecurity with hunger and food insecurity without hunger. Food insecurity with hunger is when someone goes a period of time without any food, while food insecurity without hunger is when someone has food to eat but it does not fulfill nutritional needs. A person who is food insecure without hunger may live in a food desert. A food desert is a place where there is no healthy food around so someone would have to drive to get healthy food. So how do we solve the problem of food insecurity? What are we doing to help? Well, In the discussion of food insecurity and solutions many arguments have been brought forward. One argument being, community gardens are the solution, while the other side saying food pantries is the best solution to food

In Wil Haygood’s essay Kentucky town of Manchester illustrates national obesity crisis he turns a spotlight onto how obesity is affecting the nation. He discusses what it is like for one family in particular to deal with obesity. Haygood also writes about a study done by Jill Day, and gives a plethora of facts on the matter.

The intake on “cheap” daily food are slowly killing the human race. As social incomes decrease, obesity increase. Fat is no longer a rich man’s disease (Saletan). William Saletan the author of, “Please Do Not Feed the Humans: The Global Explosion of Fat” tells a vivid story of how the human race allowed themselves to fall into the hands of a pig. His arguments stayed strong next to him side by side. Saletan gives more than enough information on how, when, and what is happening worldwide about obesity. Although he does not give a solution, he still made an eye opening experience while reading this essay.

Every individual is different and unique in their own way, may it be their body size or the color of their skin. No individual is similar, which is precisely the point that Cheryl Peck makes in her essay “Fatso”. The essay portrays Peck’s view of the conflicts that she goes through in her life as an overweight person. She makes a point by point contrast to her imaginary life, repeating the phrase “I have never”, and her real life where she faces discrimination because of her weight. Peck’s use of tone and word choice highlights the purpose of her essay, which is to raise awareness about discrimination against overweight people to audiences who are thin and have not experienced any judgment from others.

Junk food is responsible for the growing rate of obesity. This is outlined by David freedman in his article of “How junk food can end obesity.” David Freedman has credited the “health-food” motion, and followers of it along with Michel Pollan. Freedman claims that if the America desires to stop the obesity epidemic, or at least reduce its effects, they must shift to the fast meals and processed meals enterprise for assist, now not the “health-food” movement.

Nearly half of America’s food goes to waste every year. Feeding America is an organization that specializes in fighting hunger and helping people that don’t have food. 42 million people face hunger in the U.S. today including nearly 13 million children and more than five million seniors. Hunger knows no boundaries, it touches every community in the U.S., including your own. Volunteers power the Feeding America network.

In the discussions of food insecurity, one controversial issue has been the prevalent misconception of why people are suffering from obtaining nutritious food on a consistent basis. On one hand, Frank Eltman, a writer for the Business facet of the Huffington post, argues that university students are facing food insecurity due to college expenses exponentially rising within the past decade. On the other hand, Adam Appelhanz, a police officer featured in the documentary “A Place at the Table,” contends that due to budget constraints he has not received a pay raise in the last four years, and is now inevitably utilizing a local food bank in order to ensure that he has something to eat each month. Others even maintain that food insecurity is synonymous

Hunger is a serious problem throughout the world, but today I will be focusing on hunger in america. Just for reference, I don’t mean the time between breakfast and lunch. I mean people who don 't know where their next meal is coming from, or are starving. I will be delving into the problems that exist, systems set up to help people do, and what an average person can do.

In a western society that continuous to renounce communalism and embrace individualism, it is easily noticed that the problems faced by few are ignored by the many. This ignorance, intentional or not, is allowing communal problems to accelerate the pace. However, the issue at hand is one that affects you whether or not you are aware of it; if you are an American, or in any western society for that matter. It affects nearly twenty percent of the under eighteen population in the United States and costs taxpayers on average 14 billion dollars per year. As a Parent, it can tack $19,000 onto the total of raising each child. The issue is childhood obesity, and it is only accelerating as a percentage of children in both America and all western nations of the world. Childhood Obesity is an issue relevant to all who consider themselves part of American society and it has profound adverse effects economically, physically for those afflicted with the issue, and mentally for those who live an obese childhood or within the family unit of a household with at least one obese child. The scope of the issue is massive and the impact of the consequences dire in many accounts. There is hope to reverse course and change the way of American-western living, and it starts with understanding the size and

Fed Up is a documentary made in 2014 that is based on the issues caused by the American food industry. Fed Up, uncovers America’s true secrets about the food people consume every day. More specifically, it reveals the affect sugar has on people’s bodies. As a result, the amount of sugar in food, the bodies consent of glucose, and the satisfying taste it brings, too much sugar could cause certain sicknesses causing the body to not work the way it supposed to.