Op-Ed Summary
Summary: Don’t Blame the Eater The Op-Ed piece, “Don’t Blame the Eater,” by David Zinczenko talks about the issue of obesity in America and whose fault it really is, the eater or the people providing the food. His claim on the subject is that it is the industries fault for the obesity in America and not the peoples fault because finding an alternative to eating cheap food on the go is nearly impossible. He makes an example of himself right in the third paragraph, explaining how his mom had to work long hours to pay the bills and his choices for food were pizza hut or KFC because that was the only affordable choice for him. He also employs a lot of logos in the following paragraphs by mentioning statistics on the matter of diabetes, and the amount of money put into treating it as the years progress. Shooting down opposing arguments also plays a factor in Zinczenko’s essay when he asks the reader “shouldn’t we know better than to eat two meals a day in fast-food restaurants?” He states that this is one argument, but then makes the point of where are consumers, particularly teenagers, supposed to find alternatives. He also introduces the concept of not knowing any information on the food that we are consuming, and the misleading advertising in fast food products where certain “healthy foods” are really just masked by misleading serving sizes and lack of dressing and noodles and almonds for say a healthy salad. I believe he sums up his essay by saying that the companies should be sued for not having these warning labels the same way tobacco companies are. Overall it is their fault and not as ridiculous as it seems.
Summary: What You Eat Is Your Business “What You Eat Is Your Business,” is an Op-Ed piece on the same subject but from a different, and in my opinion more agreeable, perspective. His claim is almost opposite from Zinczenko’s in that he believes that it is our responsibility to take care of our own bodies rather than the food industries. He phrases it