Mary Maxfield wrote her essay as a response to Michael Pollan’s essay on the western diet. Maxfield does not believe we should see food as what we can or cannot have, but to trust our instincts that our bodies will know what they need, which is contrary to Pollan’s article. Maxfield says that she does not believe that there is a correlation between weight, diet and health, which is also contradictory of Pollan. She believes that the body will naturally crave what it needs and you should let your body have what it wants because of this. Maxfield is targeting those interested in the real diet issue (possibly writers) and the Americans looking to make a difference in their diets.
Throughout this novel, Laurie Halse Anderson incorporated seven vital foods that Melinda ate: Ho-Hos, Mashed potatoes, powdered doughnuts, Pop Tarts, the disgusting turkey soup, pizza, and the applesauce. Somes of these meals she ate alone, but other times she ate these meals with Heather and the other people in the cafeteria or even her parents. In the book How to Read Literature like a Professor, Foster claimed that food is used in novels to unite opposing sides in the chapter “Nice to eat with you: Acts of Communion.” This was shown in the book, Speak, as Melinda learned to become acquaintances and somewhat “friends” with Heather even though they have nothing in common. This type of situation was also emphasized when Melinda’s family ate
pton Sinclair What if you found out that your hamburger meat was sitting in the factory for three days rotting before it was packaged, or that your food had rats running around it? How would you feel, if you food was prepared in dirty unsanitary conditions? This is how the food industry used to be, before striked laws were created after Upton Sinclair and several others discovered the dark secrets of the food industry, and what they did not tell you about the food that many people ate. On September 20, 1878, in Maryland Baltimore Upton Sinclair was born.
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 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.
Put Down That Cheeseburger! “What incentive is there for me to put down the cheeseburger?” asks Radley Balko in his article "What You Eat Is Your Business." He argues that, obesity does not belong in the public health crisis. He claims that obesity is not a problem that should be dealt at the cost of public money but should be dealt at a personal level by every individual.
In the reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan and The Simple Life In A Nutshell (Biologic Living) by Dr. J.H. Kellogg, they both dig deep into the past to try and explain to us the readers what we should and should not be putting into our bodies, how to make the most of these foods, creating a sound body and mind, although they have the same goals they have vastly different ways of achieving these goals . “The doctor in the future will give no medicines, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the causes and prevention of disease.” –Thomas Edison. Both Pollan and Kellogg believe that the foods we eat are directly in correlation with the diseases most common to us. Pollan points out that we live off a Western Diet, high in saturated fats, red meats.
Michael Pollan in his novel “In Defense of Food” describes how the idea of healthy eating has shifted from focusing on wholesome foods to worrying about nutrients. In chapter one “From Foods to Nutrients,” Pollan outlines a makeshift history of the evolution of “nutrients.” Sometime in the 1980’s our view on health and food changed dramatically from previous generations. People began to focus on so called nutrients in a food—such as “cholesterol” and “fiber.” Soon, the amount of certain nutrients in a food became more important than the quality the food as a whole.
I prefer not to eat “The easiest way of life is the best”, Melville's lawyer, the narrator claims in the opening of Bartleby The scrivener : A story of Wall-street (1469). We can see the characters in the story are motivated by money and other provision such as food. These nicknames reveal who the characters truly are (1470). In melville's story we can see how much better the lawyer is financially then his employees. When re-reading the mysterious story something that struck me that gave me a new understanding of the text.
In Margaret Visser’s essay, “The Rituals of Fast Food”, she explains the reason why customers enjoy going to fast food restaurants and how it adapt to customer’s needs. Some examples of the most loyal fast-food customers are people seeking convenience, travelers, and people who are drug addicts. First, most loyal customers are people seeking convenience. The reason why fast food restaurants are convenient because longer hours of being open, the prices are good , etc. As Visser said in her essay, “Convenient, innocent simplicity is what the technology, the ruthless politics, and the elaborate organization serve to the customer” (131).
Unfortunately, it’s in our human nature to form judgments on people upon gazing at them. Although it’s not something that can be diminished in us, it is something we can rightfully control. A recent incident happened at the bank where a man, who was on the heavier weight side, came into the bank using crutches to help him maneuver. A co-worker saw him and made a comment on his looks which lead me to reply saying it’s unfair to make impertinent comments on random people. It’s imperative to remember that we are unaware of what an individual’s circumstances may be; what if the person has certain health conditions that cause them to be a certain way?
In “The End of Food,” Lizzie Widdicombe uses ethos, pathos, and logos to convince her readers that although they can can buy Soylent to save money and still obtain all the nutrients needed, there may be other factors to consider before eliminating food
“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 epidemic regarding nutrition may seem like it only affects poverty-stricken third world countries, unable to acquire food due to their monetary circumstances. This belief must be put to rest, because by turning a blind eye to the nutritional issues that we as Americans (or any other first world country) face, we’ll be unable to resolve nutritional obstacles and misconceptions. Although the connotation is ever changing, the term “nutrition”, as of 2016, is commonly associated with exclusively eating fruits and vegetables, while simultaneously excluding all types of gluten. sugars, and dairy.
The sociological imagination on food 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.