Book Review : Adventures On The Alimentary Canal By Mary Roach

Ann Hodgman starts the essay with rhetorical questions in order to draw the reader to learn about her experiment. From the Gaines burgers taste test, to Cycle 4 foods, Hodgman described the dishes in an attempt to create a feeling of disgust in the readers mind. The Gaines burger had a “horrifying rush of cheddar taste, followed immediately by the dull tang of soybean flour…” (8) – just the parallel description of ‘horrifying rush’ and ‘dull tang’ emphasizes the abhorrence in Hodgman’s writing. Her experience with tasting dog food seems like an odd and not a topic many can relate to. In order to connect to her audience Ann Hodgman compared the taste of Cycle 4, canned food for senior dogs, to baked beans. Using descriptive tactics, Hodgman was able to show the obvious issues that hide behind the labels.

“Gulp”, written by Mary Roach, is a book to educate the readers about the alimentary canal. The alimentary canal is a long tube which runs from the mouth to the anus; it is a part of the digestive system. Some of the organs include the mouth, stomach, intestine, and the anus. Roach makes a point that the nose is an underrated organ in the eating process because smell is where taste begins. This leads into a discussion about chewing and the taboo and ick factor of saliva. The act of not eating a plate of food after one has spit in it boggles the mind of Roach. The enzymes in our saliva prevent us from catching a cold when we drink from an infected person and breaks down food into the digestive system. Roach fills this book with interesting characters

Ann Hodgman, a freelance writer and former food critic, decides to write a review of various types of dog foods in her piece, “No Wonder They Call Me a Bitch.” The research aims to answer the questions that always puzzled her as a child. Questions about the ingredients in the dog foods and whether it taste like human food. The writer spends a week eating dog food to answer these questions. Her results, however, reveals a disappointing truth that dog food is not as glamorous as she once thought, instead it lacks the quality, health and taste it advertises.

Eating dog food may not be seen as the easiest thing to stomach because the smell, texture and by-products found within the mixture are thought of as awful and revolting. In Ann Hodgman’s “No Wonder They Call Me a Bitch”, although the title may suggest otherwise, different types of dog food are discussed. In this essay, Hodgman aims to inform her readers about the inequality in different types of dog food, as well as to entertain and amuse. Hodgman is writing to a broad audience, one of dog lovers and owners, as well as those that may be curious as to what is really in dog food, or more generally the packaging and processing of mass-produced food of any kind. Language, description and humor are

David Sedaris’s Tasteless is an essay filled with imagery and humor. His sarcasm and language really captures the reader’s mind. He takes you through his journey of his eating habits from a boy to an adult. He begins his story with discussing how cigarettes can affect one’s senses, blaming his lack of taste on his smoking fixation. He proceeds to describe his eating habits with elaborate details and analogies, poking fun at himself numerous times. Sedaris tells of a time where he tried to bribe his sister for part of her meal. Then he talks about a cookbook he received from his mother and how by high school he began making pizzas. Although he would be creative with his meals, he never applauded himself once on his abilities to create something

In previous studies, Frank and Byram’s article suggest that taste and smell interactions are dependent on taste and odor. In their experiments, they gave subjects strawberry

In The Omnivores’ Dilemma Michael Pollen’s objective is address, educate and convince the reader by analyzing our diets. He mentions we have become oblivious to what we are eating. Sometimes we wonder where our food comes from, and what ingredients are in it. Pollan states, “we would rather eat in ignorance”(11). The underlying message here is if people know what they are eating, they might not be able to eat comfortably again. Pollan uses this message to gain the reader’s attention. Pollan creates an illustration to help the audience visualize his experience. He also implements personal anecdotes and compare & contrast techniques to effectively persuade the reader, that what they are eating is unhealthy.

The digestive system is also known as the alimentary canal from the mouth to the anus.

Florida Atlantic University, Dept. of Psychology, Davie, FL 33314 USA [E-mail: wmckibbi@fau.edu, tshackel@fau.edu] The Omnivore’s Dilemma is the latest book by Michael Pollan, best known for his previous best‐ selling work, The Botany of Desire. Here, Pollan has crafted a well‐written and enjoyable  exploration of humans’ relationship with food. The book is written for a lay audience, but is  appreciable by all.    Pollan begins by focusing on a seemingly simple question,

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan brings to light the food choices Americans make on a daily basis. In chapters 1, 2, and 3, of The Omnivore's Dilemma, Pollan addresses the issues related to food to enlighten the reader of America's poor food production processes and its unhealthy consequences. After informing the reader where food really comes from, he educates the reader about healthy food options that one should take on a consistent basis. Near, the end of the book, the author takes a look into the past to demonstrate how food used to be processed.

In the Introduction, the author describes exactly what “the omnivore’s dilemma” is. Unlike animals, which have very specialized diets and know just from instinct what they are supposed to eat, humans have more options to choose from, and this choice can be difficult. It’s also no help that

The Omnivore’s Dilemma Summary The main idea of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, is to make the reader aware of where his food comes from, and what goes into his food. Pollan does this by breaking the book into four different types of meals: the industrial and processed meal consisting of food produced in factories or grown on large-scale farms, the organic meal created on industrial farms, the “grass fed” meal made of meat and produce created on mindful and smaller farms, and finally the meal containing food gathered, hunted, or grown by the person who will consume it. Pollan starts by explaining the origin of corn in Mexico and southwestern North America.

In Ann Hodgman’s essay, “No Wonder They Call Me a Bitch,” she elaborates in grand detail her experience eating dog food. Hodgman’s purpose is to inform her readers what it is like to eat food that is intended to be consumed by dogs. She uses as much detail as possible to get her point across as to how each of the foods looked and tasted.

The Love Canal disaster which resulted in a myriad of genetic mutations in upstate New York from 1979-1981 prompted civilian unrest and protests nationwide. Prior to public awareness of the environmental and health hazards occurring across the United States, radioactive waste was nonchalantly dealt with as medical conditions were unknown to public knowledge. In 1979, after residents of Love Canal unified and discussed the medical conditions that plagued their children and newborns, outcry began to spring as residents demanded governmental answers, response, and action. Prominent leaders among civilians became immortalized as the first environmental reformers in western society, specifically Lois Gibbs, who led numerous protests and

The process of tasting is happy for me, I enjoy the feeling that food melt in my mouse and the flavour disperse gradually. But it also exists some problems, I have the keen taste sense and smell over the average,