Then, Chapter 2 explains how Wendell Berry is placed in relation to the agrarian economists that came before him. In addition to the key old agrarian, transcendentalists, and New Agrarian theorists, this chapter examines the theorists that Berry has mentioned in his essays that were influential on his thinking are: Louis Bromfield, F. H. King, Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Scott and Helen Nearing and their book Living the Good Life, and Stewart Collis’ In The Triumph of the Tree with its discussion of the historical movement between the “Era of Mythology”, the “Era of Economics” and the anticipated “Era of Ecology.” Because Wendell Berry has confessed that he has only done a bit of reading and research in the agrarian
Today’s consumers no longer consider where the food is coming from nor do they understand what it takes to prepare soil, grow food, and its logistic all the way to consumption. Some of his audience may understand the logistic or chain of events from soil to consumption, yet choose otherwise. Berry said: “Many people are now as much estranged from the lives of domestic plants and animals (except for flowers and dogs and cats) as they are from the lives of the wild ones”.
And they also knew how much to eat of a specific type of food. But now, standing “in our giant supermarkets, we feel more lost than someone standing in a forest ten thousand years ago” (Pollan 87). Right now, we’re not sure of which food is good to eat and which is not. Back then, simple rules helped maintain a level of understanding of what we were really eating. But thanks “to the food industry, we don’t even know what it is we’re eating” (Pollan 87).
“Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat”, is a famous quote by the well known philosopher Socrates, who believed this is the perspective we should take when we are eating food. Unfortunately, the times have changed and so has the way we eat. We no longer have to go hunting for our food, or grow crops to receive all of our fruits and vegetables. Because we have become a society that has grown into the new world of technology, there would be no need to rely on ourselves for what we need-- we can simply gather our resources from other people. In the book, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”, written by Michael Pollan, takes us on a journey full of concerns of the “Food Industrial Complex”.
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.
Sanford J. Ungar’s “The New Liberal Arts” discusses the common assumptions made about a liberal arts education and how they are often wrong. Ungar believes that a liberal arts education is important for all students and teaches them skills they will not learn elsewhere. He also insists other countries, such as China, should adopt America’s liberal arts system, he says, “The Chinese may be coming around to the view that a primary focus on technical training is not serving them adequately-that if they aspire to world leadership, they will have to provide young people with a broader perspective” (Ungar 231). In other words, Ungar believes only a proper liberal arts education can help students achieve an open mind. Though I concede that a liberal
In our society, political ignorance still today exists on a very large scale. Consequently, Even in highly developed capitalist countries like ours, a large amount of unemployment rate and instability of The economic system is often seen. Therefore, These issues and affairs have continued firmly despite rising education levels. In “what are people for?” Wendell Berry is attempting to persuade readers the government doesn’t know how to manage to the economy, and is the symbol of our ignorance of the fact that modern culture is destroying the agricultural culture.
These eaters ignore the politics concerning food rather looking for esthetics and quick service. Due to these disregarding’s, the industrial eaters won’t ever realize that eating responsibly is a way “to live free” (2). Berry then lists off seven points regarding how to eat more responsibly for the passive consumers. These points range from “[participating] in food production to the extent that you can” to “[learning] as much as you can, by direct observation and experience if possible, of the life histories of the food species” (Berry 4-5). Berry also believes that it’s important for the animals that meat comes from to have lived a pleasant life.
In the book, The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, Pollan claims we should be more knowledgeable about what we consume as omnivores. As omnivores we have a variety of food, we can choose from, however, we don’t regularly make the best decisions for ourselves. Pollan argues this by showing us where our food really comes from and how we can find many unwanted extras. Pollan shows us that we’ve evolved as humans from how we used to eat to how we eat now. Pollan argues this by introducing us to all the food chains we value today, some much more than others.
In “The Pleasures of Eating” by Wendell Berry’s main claim is that us people should be more connected to our food. Wendell uses pathos to make the readers feel guilty, and uneducated on what they are putting into their bodies. Wendell thinks that we do not understand the full concept of food for example he says, “for them, then, food is pretty much an abstract idea” (Wendell 231). Wendell thinks that us people just view ourselves as consumers and do not care about what has been done to our food or what is actually in it. The author uses a guilty tone to make the reader feel guilty and want to change.
Lastly, Pollan states that we should eat more plants, because they are the healthiest options available to us (Pollan 2015). The Western diet is very destructive to the health of someone who follows it, but many people would rather deal with the health issues caused by the diet than change the way they eat. The healthcare industry benefits from the poor decisions made by consumers. Rather than pushing people to try and improve their health, they create new drugs and procedures so that the healthcare industry makes a profit (Pollan 2015). While eating a cleaner and healthier diet might sound easy, Pollan warns consumers that many whole foods have been violated by industrial processes, and consumers should be hyper-aware of the quality of our food.
An Edible History for Humanity was written by Tom Standage which emphasis the history of food and farming used by man throughout history. This book takes us through different parts of the world and gives us examples of how food has changed their way of life. The first civilizations had to go on very little for food. But in the early civilizations,Standage has thought me that food drew everything together. Food wasn’t there just to eat,but was the driving force for the life style of civilizations.
Are we truly cruel people if we eat meats, that came from factories? Would people stop eating their food, if they knew how they were made?The author Wendell Berry from “The Pleasures of Eating” argued that the factories where we get our food, don't treat the animal properly and are really cruel to them. He also argued that he will not eat any kind of meat that he knows for a fact that had a miserable life. Finally, Berry uses a lot of emotion in his article to get his point across , he doesn't use any kind of fact to back it up. Everything that he discuss in base on his opinion alone.
Michael Pollan is the author of “Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual”. Throughout his career, Pollan has been investigating about the hazards that industrial foods pose to us, and how we can avoid them and replace them with a healthy diet. He believes that “The way we eats represents our most profound engagement with the natural world.” (Shetterly, Robert. “Michael Pollan.”
“An Entrance to the Woods” is an essay by Wendell Berry about the serenity and importance of nature in his life. In this essay, the author uses tone shifts from dark to light to convey his idea of finding rebirth and rejuvenation through nature. In the beginning of the essay, Berry has left civilization for the first time in a while, and finds himself missing human company and feeling “inexplicably sad” (671). This feeling of sadness is in part from the woods itself, and partly due to Berry leaving the hustle and bustle of normal life in the cities, and the violent change from constant noise to silence causes him to feel lonely in the woods. As a result of feeling alone in the woods, the tone of the essay is dark and brooding, as seen through Berry’s somber diction and mood, as seen on page 671: “And then a heavy feeling of melancholy and lonesomeness comes over me.
