Relevance between Food and Humans with Rhetorical Analysis 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 1990, author Wendell Berry had a collection of essays released together in a book titled What Are People For?. Among these essays is one titled The Pleasures of Eating, focusing on the responsibilities of eating which includes self-awareness regarding what one’s consuming. Berry begins his essay voicing his solution on how city people can bring new life to American farming and rural life. Berry’s solution is simply to “Eat responsibly” (1). He elaborates on this stating that “Most eaters … think of food as an agricultural product, perhaps, but they do not think of themselves as participants in agriculture” (Berry 1).
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
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.
Culturally, people are fighting against statistics such as, “40 percent of Americans watch television during meals— viewing food as fuel rather than sustenance, discarding family recipes and foodways, and denying that eating has social and political dimensions.” (Pollan, FMR, ¶34), and are trying to make dining an experience rather than a primal necessity. Throughout this chapter, local farmer’s markets are continually used as an example of an open inviting atmosphere where the public can meet those that have harvested the ingredients essential for that night’s dinner. Instead of checking out of a grocery store with a monotone beep in the background with each new item added to their cart, conversations are buzzing in the background of a farmer’s market, “people have ten times as many conversations at the farmers’ market than they do in the supermarket” (Pollan, FMR, ¶24). Farmer’s markets also go hand in hand with the other standpoints behind the food movement that encourage people to eat fresher local foods and promote sustainable farming
Choi then quotes the Director of food studies at New York University, providing relevancy and authenticity to her work. The statement also establishes a link between what we eat and how it connects to particular memories and places in our minds. Moving on, the article is divided into six different subheadings. Each subheading explains the origin of indigenous food in different countries and what that denotes particular culture. Broadly speaking, food is necessary for survival, signifies status denotes pleasure, brings communities together and is essential for humanity.
Having an increased variety of foods available, as well as more diverse sources, allows a consumer to make educated and informed choices. As the community itself becomes more invested in the topic of food, there arise “ordinary, middle income folks who have become really engaged in food and really care about where their food comes from” (Source E). As such, they turn to local markets where they know the community members that produce the food and how the food is sourced. These individuals then promote the reasons for buying locally sourced food, as a blog dedicated to eating locally provides, saying that “produce that you purchase at your local farmer’s market has often been picked within 24 hours of your purchase” (Source A). Yet, for all its claims and popular support, the locavore movement also spreads false information.
Food sufficiency is a moral right, and it is astonishing that in a developed country like Canada, there are millions of people living with food insufficiency and have heavy reliance on Food Banks among other assistance programs. Since the first food bank opened it’s doors in Canada during the 1980s, this organization has changed dramatically. It is continuously faced with new challenges. Food banks are constantly adapting to the changing times and increasing the variety of food, increasing volumes and providing services beyond the simple provision of food (Pegg & Stapleton, 2015). Changes within the food bank are happening in response to the national economic position, and changing needs of users.
This documentary opens the publics eyes to what food insecurity really looks like. The documentary shows that people who live a poor quality of life often have issues with getting the right about of nourishment, the price of proceed food continues to decline. Making proceeded food more obtainable to people living in poverty. Most people in poverty are children, lack of nutrition in a child diet can have an impact on a child’s development. Processed foods tend to be more calorie dense and nutrient poor.
Though an immensely important aspect of food is a nourishing supplement; it is not the sole significance of food in human’s lives. Food is symbolic. Food connects people. It is a collective activity everyone must experience; thus meaning it allows people to relate more easily between each other. There is no universal type of food in each society due to the fact that the world is multicultural.
After watching the Food Inc. documentary film and participated to in class discussion, I realized that people are living in a world that is featuring a totally wrong image of the food that individuals are consuming. People are blindly following the path of an unhealthy life that leads them to death. Population is restricted from information and people are being victims of a dirty and contaminated food era. People are being lied about the food they are eating and the fast food industry is bigger than never. The process that food is produced today has drastically changed and some aspects to talk about are: farmers are being manipulated; fast food is being supported by the government and consumers always have the choice of living healthy.
The article written by Ashlie Stevens titled Stop Thinking and Just Eat: When 'Food Adventuring' Trivializes Cultures published on The Guardian website in year 2015 talks about how the popularization of food and lead an exposure of the origin of the food. On the other hand, the article written by Lavanya Ramanathan titled Why Everyone Should Stop Calling Immigrant Food ‘Ethnic’ published on The Washington Post website in the same year talks about how people stereotype ethnic food based on their origin. Both articles discuss the relationship between food and culture however, Stevens’ article is more credible as her credentials as a food journalist is more impeccable and her article was well-written with good grasp of knowledge, tone and language.
From 2007 to 2011, avocado production has increased around 20% in the world (Duarte et al. 747). And per the Globalization & the Avocado Supply Chain video, avocado consumption has increased over 1,000 percent in the past 40 years in the United States alone (Osmosis Films). Hence, these statistics show that the fruit which originated in Mexico has become a food that many people have come to enjoy. In the article, “Globalisation as Commodification”, it discusses how commodities become globalized, which can be applied to how avocados have become globalized (Lysandrou). For example, the world economy is growing and becoming globalized because avocados are being shipped from Mexico to all over the world as more and more consumers buy the fruit.
Everyone grows up eating what their family eats, and winds up enjoying the nourishment their family provides. Men, women, and children, raised from their heritage and food preferences, will continue on for generations. Yes, they will branch out and try new products, possibly adding them to their diet, but they will always find the food of their culture as comfort or ‘homey’ food. Therefore, food is a major part of cultures all over the
Food is everywhere in the western world, if you turn on the TV you will surely see an advertisement of Mac Donald’s that they have come up with a new burger, or someone showing off a delicious recipe, and it is not only the TV. if you read the newspaper or a magazine you surely will read a chef telling you how to cook, if you walk down the main road you will see a pizzeria, chicken cottage, zam’s or other takeaways and if you don’t see it you will smell it. But the worst part of being reminded of food is when we become
