Factors That Should Be Determined When Planning A Meal

Thinking about the importance and significance of food respective to our health, ethnic culture and society can cause cavernous, profound, and even questionable thoughts such as: “Is food taken for granted?”, “Is specialty foods just a fad or a change in lifestyle?”, and even “Is food becoming the enemy.” Mark Bittman, an established food journalist, wrote an article called “Why take food seriously?” In this article, Bittman enlightens the reader with a brief history lesson of America’s appreciation of food over the past decades. This history lesson leads to where the social standing of food is today and how it is affecting not only the people of America, but also the rest of the world.

As a childcare provider I must ensure quality meals are served to children and that nutrition education is encouraged. I offer a variety of foods for our preschoolers and toddlers. Each meal has whole grain bread, a serving of vegetables, and a serving of fruit, with a meat or meat alternate, and milk is served with each meal. I believe that my menu meets all the requirement for a child’s nutritional needs according to the “National Standards for Child Nutrition Programs”

One does not necessarily expect books about food also to be about bigger ideas like oppression, spirituality, and freedom, yet Pollan defies expectations. Pollan begins with an exploration of the food-production system from which the vast majority of American meals are derived. This industrial food chain is mainly based on corn, whether it is eaten directly, fed to livestock, or processed into chemicals such as glucose and ethanol. Pollan discusses how the humble corn plant came to dominate the American diet through a combination of biological, cultural, and political factors. The role of petroleum in the cultivation and transportation the American food supply is also discussed. A fast-food meal is used to illustrate the end result of the

The essay “Eat Food: Food Defined,” from Michael Pollan’s 2008 book In Defense of Food was written to address the American general public about the food industry. Pollan focuses on relatable topics as examples, such as family, common food items, and common belief that everyone wants to be healthy. The essay brings across Pollan’s point by establishing his credibility, explaining why this is important to us, and telling us how to react to the given facts. Pollan makes the readers inquire how we define food by drawing our attention to the importance of examining our food before eating it.

The lunches consist of a national dietary guidelines, which includes the “plate model”, a meal that is presented to guide children’s self-service. While in America the lunches often cost for the students.

Food Waste is a major issue in the United States. It takes up much needed room in landfills, it is a financial burden, and it contributes to the rise in hunger.

Every day the average american can be seen throwing money at things. This is the relationship that can be made between america and food, as seen in “What We Eat”. Eric Schlosser talks about how food in general has made a noticeable difference on the American society. He does this by referencing how the amount of money the average american spends on food has surpassed numbers unimaginable. Schlosser says that the effect of fast food in america has made it so that “On any given day, about one quarter of the adult population visits a fast-food restaurant.”

In order to change the way the United States food system is operating at the moment, a change needs to be made in the education that people are receiving about the way their food is produced, manufactured, distributed and consumed. The U.S. food system has become increasingly reliant on mass production factories and multinational retail corporations while local farms and family owned food markets diminish. Economies of scale and opportunity costs represent barriers to change of the current food system because of the many different paths available, each creating different outcomes for consumers, sellers, large corporations and small farms, determining their profit, prices, capital and value. Educating the American people about the benefits of local food production and the downsides of large scale food production, such as nutritional value, disease and safety concerns, and economic advantages, will help to move our food system from “point A” to “point B”.

Food, Inc. is a documentary film made by Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser. In this documentary they took a look at the practices of food production in the United States. There are several things that I learned from this documentary that was horrifying to me. For this paper I will focus on the following three topics covered in the documentary: fast food to all food, the dollar menu, and hidden costs.

The food industry has a large impact on individuals and will affect wider communities in the future. The rush of today’s society has pushed food production to become more commercialized with prepackaged/premade based foods. For numerous reasons such as time, work and costs of living, people are wanting meals that are cheap, fast, easy and don’t require much effort. This is due to many obligations and priorities in life that are put above

The different sections of the book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” embody the flawed system that America is currently facing, particularly the food industry. There is a limited understanding of what constitute an ideal meal, and process of prepping one. It could be that the information available are not clear and direct, or most consumers are choosing to overlook the lurking dangers behind the accessible food products. Either way, it is evident that most consumers have fell out of touch with knowing what they eat. The book provides a precise, comprehensive, and intuitive summary of the elements on the definition of foods. “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” is written in a direct, clear, and informative manner for the general audience, including farmers, consumers, and those who actively involve with processing foods. Readers will be able to establish a deeper understanding of the evolution of collecting food, and how that has affected the choices of putting together a perfect meal.

In the documentary, Food Inc., we get an inside look at the secrets and horrors of the food industry. The director, Robert Kenner, argues that most Americans have no idea where their food comes from or what happens to it before they put it in their bodies. To him, this is a major issue and a great danger to society as a whole. One of the conclusions of this documentary is that we should not blindly trust the food companies, and we should ultimately be more concerned with what we are eating and feeding to our children. Through his investigations, he hopes to lift the veil from the hidden world of food.

Millions of Americans wake up every morning and make a decision about what they will eat for breakfast to jump-start their day. Some may reach for a bowl of Cheerios or multigrain cereal, while others may opt for yogurt, toast, or a pastry. Some people choose to wash down their breakfast with pulp-free orange juice, while some may drink a protein drink or an invigorating coffee to get them going. For lunch, many people will consume sandwiches piled high with meats and cheeses or perhaps a cheap meal from the nearest fast food restaurant. When it comes to dinner, this meal may vary from family to family, but most dinners consist of a starch or two, a kind of meat, some variation of a vegetable on a good day, and a dessert to finish out the day.

Another important element to look at for food is how our food is made and our options to food. Over time, Dan Barber explains that we have shifted our approach to eating from family style that consisted of a classic meal centered on a large cut of meat with a few vegetables. Later shifting to a cautious approach that we expect our meat is from free range animals and the vegetables are locally sourced. Whereas, today we are more of an integrated system of vegetable, grain, and livestock production that is fully supported by what we choose to cook for dinner. Since we experience no upper limit on the amount of meat we can consume. As a result from the industry becoming too good at producing a lot of animals too cheaply.

To many, Northeastern’s dining halls rank fairly well in comparison with other schools. Although there have been many complaints that the menu is rarely changed, Northeastern does tend to offer a varied selection of food. In a recent survey, students were asked to rate Northeastern’s dining halls on a scale of 1-5, 5 being the best. About 36 percent surveyed ranked the food a “3” and about 57 percent ranked it a “4.” In general, Northeastern students think decent things about the dining halls. Some of the complaints however, included that there are a lot of fried and fattening foods, repetitive menus, and that vegetarian food is not always readily available; you sometimes have to wait for it to be cooked for you (e.g., veggie burgers).