Argumentative Essay : Food, Something That Brings People Together

America is known as the fattest country in the world. Is fast food the culprit? According to the article, "F as in Fat 2005," America's obesity rate in 2005 was a whopping 60%. Many people believe that this is due to the increasing popularity in fast food. It is much easier to go through a drive through and pick up a meal than making the food yourself. When eating out, people are more likely to eat more than when they cook. Meals at fast food and restaurants have become popular, in America the size of each meal is significantly bigger than any other country. According to Christina Sarlch, author of “Guess How Many Calories Are In A Typical Fast Food Meal” the amount of calories in a fast food meal is a gouging 1100 calories with a drink .The average number of calories needed for a person is 2000-2500 calories . Split between 3 meals that averages out to 666.67-833.33 calories a meal. Of course not many people follow that suggested calorie intake.

When Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma was published, many readers began questioning him for advice on what they should eat in order to stay healthy. In his more recent book, In Defense of Food, he responds with three rules, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants"(Pollan 1). This seven word response seems too simple for a relatively complicated question, but as he further elaborates these rules into specific guidelines, this summary turns out to be surprisingly complete. Using inductive and deductive reasoning, he debunks the ideas behind nutritionism and food science, and proves that the western diet is the cause for food related diseases. Inductive reasoning is when a

Children are taught that you should not be prejudice against a certain group or society that is different to theirs. All children are given the opportunity to take part in all activities as, well as their parents and these activities reflect different cultures and societies. Children are also taught that regardless of what your culture or the group you belong to is no child or family should have to suffer any form of abuse or unjustly treatment. Every child has rights and this is made clear to all children through books and pictures, posters and via the teacher. Having activities on different cultures helps children to learn that they are part of the world and it gives them the opportunity to get the most out of life. We avoid stereotyping and provide children with positive images through different materials such as books, puzzles, computer and board

The children who live in your neighborhood are the ones that will be playing with your children. Wouldn’t you want to know where that child’s family is coming from? We need talk to those around us who are from dissimilar cultures and ethnicities. Awareness of other cultures also helps to endorse personal growth by making you confront conventional typecasts about other cultures and learn how to interconnect with people of different cultures.

In Jessica Harris’s “The Culinary Season of my Childhood” she peels away at the layers of how food and a food based atmosphere affected her life in a positive way. Food to her represented an extension of culture along with gatherings of family which built the basis for her cultural identity throughout her life. Harris shares various anecdotes that exemplify how certain memories regarding food as well as the varied characteristics of her cultures’ cuisine left a lasting imprint on how she began to view food and continued to proceeding forward. she stats “My family, like many others long separated from the south, raised me in ways that continued their eating traditions, so now I can head south and sop biscuits in gravy, suck chewy bits of fat from a pigs foot spattered with hot sauce, and yes’m and no’m with the best of ‘em,.” (Pg. 109 Para). Similarly, since I am Jamaican, food remains something that holds high importance in my life due to how my family prepared, flavored, and built a food-based atmosphere. They extended the same traditions from their country of origin within the new society they were thrusted into. The impact of food and how it has factors to comfort, heal, and bring people together holds high relevance in how my self-identity was shaped regarding food.

Most Americans love the low cost, prepackaged, great tasting food that is convenient to buy and prepare. These prepackaged or processed foods are normally made to be faster, cheaper and usually taste great but they are loaded with bizarre, unpronounceable chemicals that, if you saw them in their pre-processed state, you would never consider putting in your mouth. Emulsifiers, preservatives, colorants, stabilizers, artificial sweeteners, texturizers and even bleach can be found in most processed foods. On average, Americans spend 90% of their food budget on these types of foods which is found to contribute to the leading causes of obesity, auto immune disease, diabetes and even cancer.

The benefits of promoting and valuing cultural diversity within a school setting is extremely important as children and young people will learn to understand all the different cultures and respect them. Learning about different cultures and religions helps a young mind broaden and see that no matter what culture, race or ethnicity another person is they still have equal rights and opportunities and can achieve the same goals as each other. For example, many people see all Indian/Pakistani adults as doctors, this is a common form of stereotyping and if an English child is lead to believe that this is only the case then they may not want to follow that career path due to feeling that they are not allowed. Within my setting we promote cultural diversity within our resources, this means that when we show our pupils books or home-made resources to help assist them with their learning we always try to ensure that all ethnic backgrounds and abilities are shown

I believe that adolescents would benefit from learning about different cultures. Since we live in America, there are a wide variety of cultures and ethnicities that are in each school. I think that teachers should teach their students about different cultures. This will give students a better understanding of where other children come from and their beliefs. This will allow students to become better educated about their peers and hopefully be more understanding of their differences. Even schools that do not have a wide range of diversity, should still learn about other cultures

Food, has a specific meaning to all of us; for some it is a form of nourishment, for others it is a cultural act,

This paper will discuss the multifaceted relationships among food, and culture. I will be looking at the relationships people have with food, and explore how this relationship reveals information about them. Their food choices of individuals and groups, can reveal their ideals, likes and dislikes. Food choices tell the stories of where people have travelled and who they have met along the way.

According to Delaney (2004) suggests that food is not biological, it is cultural. The food that is consumed shapes culture and culture shapes food and intern shapes our identity (Delaney, 2004). Counihan (1999) agrees and suggests that food is a “product and mirror of the organisation of society…it is connected to behaviours and meanings” (p. 6). The way in which food is produced, distributed and consumed illustrates power relations, gender and sex within societies (Counihan, 1999). She explains that each society has a distinct food way which structures the community, personalities and families within the society (Counihan, 1999).

Food can teach how cultures developed their cuisine. Sometimes poverty forces people to utilize strange ingredients. Sometimes certain crops are more abundant than others, thus the brunt of their food composes of that crop. Necessity forces people to improvise their cuisine; in the earliest times, people cooked food to survive, not to entertain their taste buds. People can also learn how each culture savors its food. For example, the French eat their food quickly. People can also learn about the community through food, how families, schools, and religious institutions eat. Food is essential as it is “where culture and ecology intersect”, and the act of eating teaches people humanity. Someone can refer to this source’s many points on what food teaches to build an argument on how food is cultural

Food brings everyone together no matter what culture you are in. Culture is a way of life shared by a group of people, beliefs, customs, symbols and etc. Many families can spend time with each other by preparing and eating dinner at the table, going out for dinner or just celebrating holidays.

The way we eat food has changed drastically in the past few decades. When I think of the process of how our food is made and produced, I typically think of a farm with animals laying around, eating grass, content with everything. Also, I picture ripe red tomatoes, apples, and sweet smelling fruit being pick right when it is ripened so it can get to our grocery stores. This is typically how most people picture our food coming from a farm. It is how they want us to picture it, because it is a happy image: but, it is far from the reality of how things are.

As you walk to through the aisles in your local grocery store to buy your weekly groceries would you think of placing chemicals in your cart to make dinner? That is essentially what is being put in your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Genetically modified organism are found in our food, animals, and bacteria. Genetically modified organism should be labeled on all products globally because they go against nature and they have a negative effect on the human body and the environment. This method is a modern way to increase the production of food in the United States. As we are devolipng this new for of production the question of the safety of this consumption began to arise to the public.