All around the world people have different opinions about what can be fixed in their lives. There are so many proposals that are given daily, in an attempt to “fix” every issue found. Writer and Director Michael Pollan, addresses the issue of contaminated food in his essay The Vegetable-Industrial Complex. His short paper provides excellent detail on his topic, and strong examples are provided, however there is no official solution to the initial problem. If a proposal is given it must contain details that will help readers understand the situation. Pollan’s writing begins strong, he gives an excellent example of what can occur within the various food industries. He begins by providing a small example with some statistics to show how many …show more content…
Pollan writes, “Yet perhaps the gravest threat now to local food economies is, of all things, the government’s own well-intentioned efforts to clean up the industrial food supply” (Pollan 450). This statement basically means that as the government spends more money in an attempt to improve the overall cleanliness of industrial farms the local farms are forced to spend money they do not have.
Local farming economies must maintain their farms as closely as they can to the government’s standards. This means they must spend large amounts of money improving their facilities. Local markets typically bring in less money than the average store or supermarket. The larger industries are able to keep up with the ever changing regulations, and local farm owners fall so far into debt they are forced to sell their property.
Pollan’s essay on the contamination of our nations’ food is very insightful. He has excellent examples, but far too much detail. As any writer knows a proposal writing must contain a solution. Pollan was unable to portray a good solution to the initial problem. If someone has an issue and they want to fix it, they find a
In Michael Pollan’s essay “Escape from the Western Diet,” he directly to Americans about the western diet and why he believes they need to escape from it. The reason Americans should escape the western diet is to avoid the harmful effects associated with it such as “western diseases” (Pollan, 420). To support his view on the issue, Pollan describes factors of the western diet that dictate what Americans believe they should eat. These factors include scientists with their theories of nutritionist, the food industry supporting the theories by making products, and the health industry making medication to support those same theories. Overall, Pollan feels that in order to escape this diet, people need to get the idea of it out of their heads.
With the help of appealing strategies and literary devices, guidance is provided to us which gives a clearer comprehension of the book itself. Especially the logos strategy gives the readers a sign that Pollan tries the best to get involved with the dilemma for understanding it better than just the obvious. Setting his unique tone throughout the book, Pollan provides his critical attitudes towards the phenomenon that the industrial farms are taking advantage of the ignorance of people’s knowledge of what they are eating, making large profits regardless the health and safety of people. The purpose of informing people what they are eating and what goes behind the food is reached with his investigation and observation expressed throughout the book, bringing the awareness of knowing the truth to the
Rhetorical Analysis of “Attention Whole Foods Shoppers” In “Attention Whole Foods Shoppers” by Robert Paarlberg, the main emphasis in the article is that there is a struggle to feed people, particularly in South Africa and Asia due to economic and population issues. His focus is on the lack of involvement of countries around the world that do have food. Throughout the article, Paarlberg talks about how organic agriculture is not going to feed the world and exposes myths about organic food and industrial scale food.
Although they agree on the negative impacts of industrial farming, they have different reasons for it. Holon farming, which Pollan discusses, creates a balance in the world, eliminating the need for any pesticides or chemicals. Holon farming is a lot of work and as Berry and Pollan both agreed upon; human beings are becoming lazier since there are effortless ways to complete the work. No one wants to work harder when they know they can do a task in a smoother way. Industrial farmers do not see the negative impacts of factory farming because all that seems to matter to them is the products manufactured.
However, this is not his only purpose in writing this essay. Additionally, Michael Pollan seeks to reassure the reader that this change will eventually occur and how it will happen. He argues that the food movement of our generation has been successful in changing popular consciousness. However, it has been struggling with shifting, in any impactful way, the “standard American diet,” which he purports has only gotten worse since the 1970s (Envision in Depth p.g
Intro: When people eat food they do not think about what is in it, or how it is made. The only thing people care about is what the food tastes like and how much they get. During the 1900’s the meat packing industry had not regulations of any kind. All that mattered to the industry was that they made as much money as possible with as little expenditure as possible. During this times people were often made sick and died either from working conditions or poor food quality.
The director’s assertion, in the film, is also that food companies are in control of what goes in our food and how is it produced. The documentary investigates
The three essays assigned this week had several common threads running through them. The strongest core theme is the rapid change in the food cycle in America and the vast changes that have taken place in the way by which we grow, produce, and process the food that average Americans eat. The food we eat now is drastically different from what our grandparents grew up eating and the three essays each examine that in a different way. Another theme is the loss of knowledge by the average consumer about where their food comes from, what it is composed of, and what, if any, danger it might pose to them. “Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear” by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele is a harsh look at the realities of food production in a country where large corporations, like Monsanto, have been allowed to exploit laws and loopholes to bend farmers and consumers to their
In “How Junk Food Can End Obesity,” by David H. Freedman, he claims that processed foods can help fix the obesity crisis in a more realistic manner, rather than whole-some foods. The popular opinion emphasizes whole-some foods because they aren’t informed about the similitude between processed and unprocessed foods. The essence of the essay is that people believe processed foods are bad and unhealthy for us, therefore whole-some foods are highly recommended for the health of an individual. Freedman mentions many prominent authors who wrote books on food processing, but the most influential voice in the food culture Freedman makes a point of is, American journalist, Michael Pollan. The media and Michael Pollan indicate that everything should be replaced with real, fresh, and unprocessed foods, instead of engineering in as much sugar, salt, and fat as possible into industrialized foods.
World hunger has always been a problem that has plagued humanity, and through the years, it has remained an almost impossible problem to solve. However, industrialized agriculture has become a possible solution to world hunger with its ability to produce more food on less land than traditional methods. Industrialized agriculture is the solution Robert Paarlberg offers in his article, “Attention Whole Food Shoppers” which first appeared in April 2010 edition of Foreign Policy. Paarlberg attempts to use specific criteria to demonstrate the benefits of industrialized agriculture, such as its impacts on world hunger, the income gap, and global politics. Paarlberg was to an extent successful at proving his points and persuading his intended audience.
Explain why Pollan has a problem with the way the American government subsidizes farms, particularly those that grow corn. Pollan does not agree with how the government is just paying off the farmers and not helping the situation of subsidies and falling prices. Pollan does not like how the farmers are treated different from any other food processors or exporters in the food business. The farmers are the ones that are taking the beating with the bad economy and instead of fixing it; the government just pays them off. 4.
In the infamous prose “Attention Whole Foods Shoppers” Robert Paarlberg, a Harvard international affairs expert divulges on the ongoing warfare with the issue of sustainability. Paarlberg focuses on how the rise in global starvation increases in less developed nations, but it is often ignored by those in developed countries because of their fixation with the green revolution. He asserts many claims as to why Africa and Asia still have high food deprivation rates, which quite contrary to popular belief has nothing to do with overpopulation. This stems from lack of investment into agricultural infrastructure and investments. His criticism of whole foods shoppers seeks to bring awareness to the issue of world hunger and how the quest to eat organically
Upton Sinclair’s, The Jungle is a novel, which affected the food industry in 1900’s but also in America today. People have learned over the years the truths about the food industry, revealed through Sinclair’s detailed evidence. Sinclair meant to aim at the public’s heart but instead he shot straight at their stomachs. One would easily be convinced to never again buy or eat meat again. Fortunately, people have seen changes from 1906 and have been currently trying to repair the Food Industry.
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.
Since the animals carry diseases and we are eating it, human health has potentially decreased due to the increase of disease being spread. Additionally, factory farms are having negative impacts on our environment. “Hog, chicken, and cattle waste has polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and contaminated groundwater in 17 states” (Organic Consumers Association). It is shown how these factory farms are contaminated the land around us due to the waste produced by these animals and the unsanitary dispose of such