Michael Pollen is an authoritative figure in the realm of food that, indeed, has portrayed some very interesting and beneficial perspectives. However, he also has a tendency to use his position of power to infiltrate societal views when it comes to agriculture and eating. In “Visible Farmers/Invisible Workers” by Sarah D. Wald, Pollen is dissected critically for his lack of attention paid to the workers that allow the United States to produce megatons of food each year.…
Michael Pollan’s purpose for writing this book was to inform the reader of the Omnivore’s Dilemma, the secrets behind what we eat. As omnivores, we humans have the a dilemma about our food, where it comes and what it comes from. Pollan informs the reader this because many people in America and around the world do not know where our food that we ingest comes from. After Pollan discovers himself the lies and truths of what actually happens through the process of our food, he shares the knowledge and information to many more in this memorable book. “I had to go back to the beginning, to the farms and fields where our food is grown. Then I followed it each step of the way, and watched what happened to our food on its way stomachs”(1.4) In chapter…
Wendell Berry, the author of “The Pleasures of Eating”, claims that we, as a society, should know and care where our food actually comes from, to be able to realize that the food that reaches our tables has been through a ride that we may not necessarily like. He also encourages us to grow our own food and to buy our produce and fruits from a farmer’s market. I agree with the point that Berry is trying to get across. Making our own produce, fruits, meats, dairy, etc. is better because not only will we eat healthier and not be dependent on importing products but we will actually know what we are consuming. Sure making our own food is hard and it does take time, but there is no doubt that making it is better than faking it.…
In almost every culture, one of the most cherished pass times is food. We eat to sustain or health, to celebrate, to morn, and sometimes just to do it. Yet, how often do we question were that food comes from? Most everyone purchases their meals from the grocery store or at a restaurant but have you ever wondered where that juicy steak grazed? How about how those crisp vegetables? Where were those grown? The Omnivore 's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, analyzes the eating habits and food chains of modern America in an attempt to bring readers closer to the origin of their foods. Not only where it comes from, but where it all begins, as well as what it takes to keep all of those plants and animals in production. In part two of the Omnivore’s Dilemma: Pastoral: Grass, Pollan gives background on what all produce and livestock need to be the best it can be. As simple as it may sound, it starts with the grass. Yet, Pollan makes it very clear it’s not always as simple as it sounds. After starting The Omnivore’s Dilemma I had a few expectations. Firstly, I enjoy a blend of humor and philosophy; I want what I read to make me think, for the words to flow nicely from one completely thought to the next, and for the overall of the chapters to hold my attention.…
The last hundred years in America and abroad, the farm and food production industry has revolutionized and been expanded past recognition of the simple entity it once was. It has been studied that the majority of food at the store, though seemingly varitous, is distributed by only a handful of monopoly companies (Food Inc.: great movie, it is eye-opening to the food industry). The result is that exotic, foreign food items are normal commodities to the middle-class (and above) diet. The implications of this new system of food production, transportation, and commercial resale has raised questions and inspired a local food promoting movement to combat such practices. Main goals of these “Locavores”…
The film, Food, Inc., argues that our food system has been corrupted by corporate interests; as a result, we are put in danger by very items that should guarantee our survival. We should reclaim our right to health by eating more locally produced organic food and ensuring all people have access to such food. The film wants the viewers to think negatively of the business of mass production of the foods that we eat on a daily basis. The logical fallacies allow the film to capture the attention and emotions of its audience by giving a reason for their concerns, but without any legitimate statistics or facts to back up their claims. The use of these logical fallacies in the film help strengthen its arguments by making the audience feel as if the corporations are exploiting the farmers and their traditions, causing families to go through avoidable obstacles, and making the companies and government look like the “bad guys” in this web that is called the food industry. However, the reality is that the food industry isn’t as evil as depicted by the fallacious arguments in the film.…
1). In Hungry for Change, a 2012 film from James Colquhoun, Laurentine ten Bosch, and Carlo Ledesma that posits that the processed food diet is the root of our ails, Dr. Alejandro Junger says, “The problem is that we are not eating food anymore, we are eating food-like products.” Ten years ago, according to the National Restaurant Association (2016), the top five food trends were bite-sized desserts, locally-grown produce, flatbread, and bottled water (p. 1). Local sourcing, gluten-free cuisine, ethnic cuisine, and nutrition were the top five of the fastest-growing food trend in the last 10 years (National Restaurant Association,…
So you can see, Pollan backs up his claim that Americans aren’t connected enough to the food we eat. He shows us how fake fast food can be, he uncovers secrets behind the food we eat, and he exemplifies what a homemade meal should look like. In his book, Michael Pollan redefines food. He changes the reader’s perspective on what we eat. After all, everyone eats, so we’d better do it…
In The Pleasures of Eating by Wendell Berry, written in 1989 and published in the Center for Ecoliteracy, we are asked to question the things we do. The main audience of this article is for “City People,” otherwise known as people who use grocery stores like Walmart or Smiths. Our entire life we have become so accustomed to getting produce and groceries the fastest way we can, and the fastest way we get them is through a grocery store. We very rarely get food from the farm anymore and nobody questions why. We “city people” have become caught up in getting the cheapest food instead of going to the farm and getting the highest quality produce.…
One does not necessarily expect books about food also to be about bigger ideas like oppression, spirituality, and freedom, yet Pollan defies expectations. Pollan begins with an exploration of the food-production system from which the vast majority of American meals are derived. This industrial food chain is mainly based on corn, whether it is eaten directly, fed to livestock, or processed into chemicals such as glucose and ethanol. Pollan discusses how the humble corn plant came to dominate the American diet through a combination of biological, cultural, and political factors. The role of petroleum in the cultivation and transportation the American food supply is also discussed. A fast-food meal is used to illustrate the end result of the industrial food chain.…
Michael Pollan’s, The Omnivore’s Dilemma crosses paths with, “Fast Food Nation: The True Cost of America’s Diet.” Both works share similar ideas, themes, and lessons. “Fast Food Nation: The True Cost of America’s Diet” focuses on the average American diet, containing processed foods, fast foods, and more unhealthy products. Pollan, rather, wants to show the cycle from the farm to the food on the table.…
To those who share the same viewpoint as Berry will applause and commend this essay because it goes hand in hand with their sympathetic and bias views on the American food industry. However, the “Urban consumer”, which is his intended audience, will find the call to action that Wendell Berry so easy puts it a lot easier said than done. Berry’s approach to the issue puzzles me because he goes about in a way that is critical and extremely bias on the issue instead of being understanding and methodical about the problems his audience is facing along with failing to establish common ground with his intended audience. He criticizes before offering any solution to the problem. Throughout this essay, Wendell Berry will come across as illogical to the readers he attempts to persuade by overgeneralizing his assumptions and reasons in “The Pleasures of Eating” along with providing a lack of supportive evidence to solidify his assertions. This use of oversimplification broadens the categories within the essay which do not adequately qualify his ideas in a persuasive manner. This in turn distances and weakens Berry’s credibly to the reader. Therefore, he does an inadequate job in expressing his ideas and solutions to the “Urban…
Maxfield is a graduate student from Fontboone University who claims that the food industries, as well as prominent health journalists, are part of the growing health anxiety in our country. Her essay is a response to Michael Pollan, a well-known health journalist and is a name that Maxfield refers to a lot in her article. She suggests that Pollan is contributing to our cultural anxiety over food by using “eating algorithms” in which he backs up by his negative claims over American health. Instead of using a diet plan, or strict rules on food, Maxfield insists Americans should learn to trust their bodies, and they will meet their personal health needs, no more, no less.…
Author, Wendell Berry, in this article "The Pleasures of Eating," Discusses how us as humans don't pay attention to the things we eat. He writes this article to try to explain his answer to many people's question, "what can city people do?" This question refers to the decline of American and farming. After he's answered that question he's felt that there were many more things he could have said to the people ,He does that by writing This article, he adopts a strong tone in order to get others to understand his ideal feelings about the food we eat.…
In our everyday lives, we generally decide what we put on the table but we aren’t exactly sure where our food comes from, besides the store. Jamey Lionette and William Saletan have analyzed and questioned the origins of where our food comes from and what our food is. In the article “Please don’t feed the people”, William Saletan confronts the shifts in the human race in the increase of obesity as well as constructing an idea of how we became “unhealthy”. Jamey Lionette created “We Are What We Eat”, to examine and describe the corrupt injustice of supermarkets and their effects on society. These articles have provided many ideas as to what we think we consume and what we really consume and at the end of the day, we don’t eat the best…