The three essays assigned this week had several common threads running through them. The strongest core theme is the rapid change in the food cycle in America and the vast changes that have taken place in the way by which we grow, produce, and process the food that average Americans eat. The food we eat now is drastically different from what our grandparents grew up eating and the three essays each examine that in a different way. Another theme is the loss of knowledge by the average consumer about where their food comes from, what it is composed of, and what, if any, danger it might pose to them. “Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear” by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele is a harsh look at the realities of food production in a country where large corporations, like Monsanto, have been allowed to exploit laws and loopholes to bend farmers and consumers to their
In the introduction of Food Justice by Robert Gottlieb and Anupama Joshi they talk about how Hurricane Katrina ruined so many schools. They saw this as an opportunity to rebuild their school system. A group of middle schoolers want to voice their opinion and be heard they were called the Rethinkers. They wanted to fix their school system and that was including the meals that they received. They went to local shrimp producers who were also struggle after the storm and they said that major issue was development of industrially farms.
Worldwide, millions of people are consuming fast food, unaware of the mental and physical consequences it can cause to their body. The fast food industry lacks to label the food they advertise, leaving individual’s clueless and with little, to no choice. In the article An Equal Shot: Big Fat America the author claims that “The real solution here is to give people the choice to eat organic foods that are in season and are locally produced. But that can only work if people are informed, and that means more labeling.” On the other hand, if the fast food industry informed people about the ingredients they are putting into their bodies and labeled more of their food items, it would be no one, but the individual to blame.
The multifaceted issue of racism has been intensely explored by many, but it is Will Allen’s The Good Food Revolution that draws a staggering connection between discrimination and the United States’ obesity epidemic, offering solutions that tackle both monstrosities at once. Allen’s belief that access to locally grown produce should be a basic right stems from years of witnessing that right being strategically denied to the urban poor. The spread of chain business and the reduction of farms has created a crisis that Allen’s company Growing Power seeks to rectify. These claims are not only supported by the evidence presented by Allen in his experience, but also by circumstances in the reader’s life that mirrors what is described. It is unnerving to realize the after how far the United States has come, inequality is still being served at the dinner table.
However, this is not his only purpose in writing this essay. Additionally, Michael Pollan seeks to reassure the reader that this change will eventually occur and how it will happen. He argues that the food movement of our generation has been successful in changing popular consciousness. However, it has been struggling with shifting, in any impactful way, the “standard American diet,” which he purports has only gotten worse since the 1970s (Envision in Depth p.g
Food is a critical part to the environment that a community lives in, yet food is not always just. Food justice is an important part of environmental justice, and Robert Gottlieb studied how food impacts communities. Gottlieb explained how food justice has links to equity, empowerment, and social justice as well. This area of justice “addresses issues of health, globalization, worker rights and working conditions, disparities regarding access to environmental (or food) goods, land use and respect for the land, and ultimately, how our production, transportation, distribution and consumption systems are organized” (7). Food (in)justices and the other presented issues are all around in society today.
Through this curriculum, I anticipate gaining a comprehensive understanding of the intricate web of policies shaping our food systems. From zoning regulations to agricultural subsidies, I aim to dissect the mechanisms that perpetuate insecurity and inequity within our food system. Armed with this knowledge, I aspire to become a more effective advocate—a voice for Black/African and other oppressed communities whose struggles are often overlooked or
Also, people are beginning to demand locally grown organic food; however, the availability of fresh food is not universal. Furthermore, inequality exists, in terms of accessibility to healthful, affordable, and culturally acceptable
The trend to eat organic or natural foods has become so big that it is not hard to find a “natural” food store in most cities. People are starting to recognize the harmful things they are putting in their bodies. They are also recognizing the impact the food industry has on the environment, making healthier and more local food choices. Much of America has seen dry times and water shortages, most communities are aware of the need to conserve water. What most people don’t know is they could be helping conserve the nations water supply by changing the type of meat they buy.
The process of globalization in our food system has contributed to the steady rise in negative health outcome as discussed in Gabrielle O’Kane’s article, What is the Real Cost of our food? Implications for the environment, society, and public health nutrition. In Lori Dorfman and Lawrence Wallack’s article, Moving Nutrition Upstream: The Case for Reframing Obesity, the focus is on the negative ways in which we look at obesity and how it marginalizes obesity into one framework. Thomas Fullers Article, In a California Valley, Healthy Food Everywhere but on the Table, discusses migrant farmworkers not being able to afford the healthy food they harvest.
Food is all around us. Either you eat to live or live to eat; however, whichever one you live by, people from all walks of life love food. Eating food is an especially important routine that we enjoy multiple times a day either alone or with the company of friends and family. An essay by Michael Pollan in They Say/I Say states that Americans spend less than 10 percent of their income on food and that they also spend less than a half hour a day preparing meals and a little more than an hour enjoying them (425). Stephen Shapin opened my eyes to the concept of eating locally and organically in his essay in They Say/ I Say (428-441).
The rising health problems in the United States of America are caused by poor nutrition, people who are sedentary, the lack of healthcare prevention, and many more. As reported on the Tikkun website, “Of the many systems in our world today that need to be reimagined, none is more important for our future than our food system” (1). The lack of our food system is one of the many factors that has led the United States to its uprising dilemmas; one of the many factors are the food deserts across the U.S. Food deserts are geographic areas where access to affordable healthy and nutritious food are limited, or impossible to purchase, by residents in the area. Food deserts are prone to low-income areas that can’t afford transportation, and due to the lack of grocery stores and supermarkets that sells fresh produce and healthy food within convenient distance to resident’s homes, there is a difficulty in obtaining healthy food options which leads to countless health issues. According to the Diabetes Forecast website, “About 18.3 million Americans live in low-income areas and are far from a supermarket” (1).
It is said that 40 to 50% of food produced on farms in America don’t even leave the field. The food is either just left in the fields to rot, fed to the livestock or sent off to the closest garbage facility. When sent to the garbage facility the waste tends to just end up in a landfill. If the food is lucky enough to make it off the farm it will be shipped either to a manufacturer or to the consumer-facing businesses to be sold. This step is fatal for the food trying to make it to our tables for dinner.
The film “Tossed Out: Food Waste in America” has shed light on the fact that people are up against numerous food waste in Americans and global, offers many examples and statistics in the film. Regard the film, 20% of what goes to landfills is food each year, 35 million tons food wasted by Americans each year, which equals 100 Empire State Buildings made of food, include vegetables, fast food containers and coffee boxes. From farmer and consumers, fruit and vegetables made of 30% food to the landfills, and dairy products made of 20%. The general attitudes about food come down to abundant food available in the America, to juxtapose when our parents grow up, the new generation don’t know the value of it, they think food is a given rather than resource.
In today’s society, the goal of eating local has blown up from across the country, or the world rather. Supporting the local movement not just benefits oneself, but the environment as well. The debate whether or not eating local is beneficial or necessary, comes down to the value of time and money. Many Americans go towards what's cheap and won’t hurt their wallet. However, they do not realize all the benefits of eating food grown and produced locally.
