Summary: Unhappy Meals

In the modern industrial society, being aware of what the food we eat come from is an essential step of preventing the “national eating disorder”. In Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, he identifies the humans as omnivores who eat almost everything, which has been developed into a dominant part of mainstream unhealthiness, gradually causing the severe eating disorder consequences among people. Pollan offers his opinion that throughout the process of the natural history of foods, deciding “what should we have for dinner” can stir the anxiety for people based on considering foods’ quality, taste, price, nutrition, and so on. In order to establish a stronger relationship between humans and food, and allow the humans to know what they are actually eating, Pollan uses different rhetorical analysis includes different appealing strategies and various literary devices, which contribute to persuade people to comprehend the deeper meaning behind the

“Food for us comes from our relatives… That is how we consider food. Food has a culture. It has a history. It has a story. It has relationships.” This quote was spoken by Winona LaDuke. Known for her work on tribal land claims and being an American environmentalist, Winona LaDuke discusses that food is culture. She also expresses how tribal relatives pass on their food recipes. Through generations, traditional foods are passed down to preserve culture. Consequentially, people have more respect for food when someone says, ‘This is my great grandmother’s recipe.’ Immigrants brought their culture, including their gastronomy, and recipes, from their homeland as a way to preserve and express their heritage and pass it on to their children. Moreover,

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. With that being said, most restaurants and grocery stores are declining industrialized foods, giving the name, “food-like substances.” Freedman feels that it is not a realistic way to stop this obesity epidemic by trying to persuade people into completely changing their habits of eating. Instead, Freedman believes that incorporating better ingredients in processed foods will

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.

As diets and health become more and more of a public concern in America. Two authors weigh in on their opinions on how the American public should handle the problem of obesity as well as their solutions to the overwhelming issue. In one article, “Against Meat,” published on the New York Times website in 2009, points out that the solution to obesity should be vegetarianism. Johnathan Foer who is a vegetarian, claims that his diet and way of living is his the way of improving health in the American public. Foer’s article provides a sense of humor as well as personal stories to attempt to persuade his audience for the ethical treatment of animals along with his personal solution for his own health and the health of his family. On a differing take on the solution, “Escape from the Western Diet” by Michael Pollan provides the complete change of our diet and way of life based around cooking and eating meals. however creates a more powerful and logical argument against the “Western Diet” in his article, He uses a combination of his credibility from his publications on health and foods, evidence against the practices of the medical community, along with his solution to the issue of obesity to create an article that draws in audience’s emotions and rationale.

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. In turn, he provides his own rules for escaping the western diet as well as the idea of nutritionist set forth by scientists.

In this assignment I am going to talk about the sociological imagination on food and the aspects it brings with it. Before starting that large process I firstly will explain what the social imagination is and what the key points of the imagination are in able to fully understand the topic; food and its history, biography, and the relation it has in society. This is my first assignment for the module understanding contemporary society so please bear with me as I will do my best to explain it in a logic manner so everybody can understand it.

Grandma quietly whispers a blessing over the food for her grandchildren. She believes that the combined power of her prayers and the food will nourish her grandchildren for success. In the Navajo culture, during a ceremony the Hogan (home) is filled with food to bless the medicine man and to nourish everyone in the family. Navajo women are taught to take pride in the meals they prepare because the feelings and attitudes they carry will be absorbed by those who eat the meal. Today food is still sacred among Native Americans, but historical events have influenced cultural degradation and given rise to various social issues that inhibit healthy eating across Native American communities. Communities that once thrived are now plagued by dietary related health problems like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Since cultural

In the article “Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating” by Mary Maxfield published in 2012 states that people’s knowledge about health, is more so based on culture or origin. Rather than what is actually healthy. She also claims that as a culture “we no longer discuss healthy eating without also discussing healthy weights. Due to Maxfield’s claim that as a culture, we do not make conscious dieting decisions about healthy foods and normal weight, I disagree with that for a few reasons. There are many people in America that are health conscious, and some people truly have their own knowledge about what is healthy weight and a healthy diet.

“Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food” (Hardy, 2006). The Greeks followed this idea by the philosopher Hippocrates, but today’s society does not take the message seriously. A majority of people eat harmful foods and do not receive the nutrition they need to stay healthy. There are a number of reasons why nutrition is lacking. A lot of teens and college students eat snacks that are not healthy such as chips, pop, candy, etc. The majority of people might only eat one meal that contains the nutritional foods because they are on the go or just simply do not care. There are three major reasons as to why people are lacking in nutrition: nutrition is not taught in school, marketing persuades public opinion about food, and

In the essay “Green monster” who do you believe is his intended audience and why?

Upton Sinclair, a socialist, and muckraker rallied public outcry for labor equity, he launched a consumer movement through the midst of a harsh stockyard strike from unfairly payed wage workers, socialist writer. He is best known for his novel, The Jungle which underlined the devastating exposé of Chicago’s meat-packing industry. A protest novel he published in 1906, the book as a result was quite the shocking revelation of incomprehensible labor practices and unsafe working conditions that were held in Chicago stockyards. The description’s spoken in Sinclair’s book issued the truths about diseased and spoiled meat processes that were not regulated until he exposed them. Sinclair wrote the novel to portray the harsh conditions and exploited

To support his claim, Pollan provides us with the reality of the current policies and public investments. By comparing what is, to what could be possible if a food policy were to be established. In doing so, he is using a scare tactic for readers to visualize the reality that is impacting Americans today. Pollan emphasizes the need to prevent deaths caused by unhealthy eating as a priority. Pollan's goal is aimed at "a food system in which healthful choices are accessible to all and in which it becomes possible to nourish ourselves without exploiting other people or nature." Pollan has earned respect by readers due to his concern for the greater good of Americans. He builds credibility in his knowledge of the situation and potential ways

Most Americans in contemporary society run on an automatic default setting, not bothering to question what they attest to on an everyday basis. A monotonous routine sets in that transcends into future generations. In this current fast paced way of life it’s not difficult to fall into the trap of the unregulated food industry. The least of many concerns is to worry about a couple of unpronounceable words on the back of the cereal box one has for breakfast each morning. Many of these ingredients and their derivatives are unknown to the common shopper. Therefore, the food industry must be regulated in order to keep society aware of what they are consuming, allow for a decrease in the dependence of fast food, and to prevent and control current and future health issues tormenting the nation.

Fast food is famous among the children.The research carried out by health food guide,discovered about the percent of the number of obese children in America increase base on the result of the fast food outcome.Not including the children at risk for obesity,the statistics show that between 10% and 15% of children are already obese nowadays.(Fast Food Effects On Childhood Obesity)