Schlosser explains about one of the most famous and richest men, J.R. Simplot, who was born in 1909 in Idaho and grew up farming, helping and working with his family. He dropped out of high school at the age of fifteen and decided to leave home. When he left home, he soon found work in a potato house. He then became a potato farmer who worked for Lindsay Maggart who was the landlord and was quite good at what he does. He was buying and selling potatoes and he even became one of the leading transporters of potatoes in the West. He was selling potatoes from left to right. Simplot even bought a machine, “an electric potato sorter.” The machine was purchased by him and Maggart. When they decide to part ways in their business, hey flipped a coin to see who would have to keep it and it was him. Luck was definitely on his side. Simplot was making a lot of selling potatoes and during the World War II; he sold dried onions and dried potatoes to the American military during the time. Simplot who a smart man, who even started to invest in freezing food and began selling frozen fries to the company McDonalds. Since the taste was similar to the fresh cut fries in stores and also cheaper. McDonald’s very own Ray Kroc was amazed by it. Nowadays French fries are very popular. Today there are three potato companies Simplot, Lamb Weston, and McCain that controls about 80% of the American Frozen French fries. Even though there are much smaller independent potato growers, they have a harder
“Let Us Now Praise Famous Men,” was written by James Agee and Walker Evans. The story is about three white families of tenant farmers in rural Alabama. The photographs in the beginning have no captions or quotations. They are just images of three tenant farming families, their houses, and possessions. “The photographs are not illustrative. They, and the text, are coequal, mutually independent, and fully collaborative.” (87) The story and the photographs contain relationships between them; in the essay I am going to inform you about the interpretations of the relationships between the readings of James Agee and some of the pictures by Walker Evans.
After reading “the Innocent Man” by Pamela Colloff’s who write a long journalism about Michael Morton, who was found guilty for murdering his wife Christine was sentenced for fifteen years in prison. Later founding that Michael was Innocent after reinvestigating his case, capturing DNA testing and finding new evidence was able to help prove his innocence. The theme of this essay a widow husband who seek to fight for his freedom in prison and staying connected with his son. Michal son Eric gave him a reason to have hope that they would one day reunite and his son would know for himself that he did murder his wife. The point of view of this essay although a man is falsely accuse for a crime he did not commit he is self-determined to fight.
In the excerpt “Why the Fries Taste So Good” by Eric Schlosser, Schlosser deeply examines the process of one individual farmer and his process, not to mention takes it as far as going to the International Fragrance and Flavor facilities to see what truly does make the fries taste so good. He does a good job of hitting each individual appeal as a writer in order for us as readers to accept the information he’s handing out. Even in Ian Brailsford’s review of Schlosser’s excerpt, he finds little if any opposition whatsoever. At one point he even says, “By focusing on Ray Kroc’s empire McDonald’s – America’s biggest employer and real estate owner – Schlosser is covering well-travelled academic terrain” (Brailsford 118.)
In the book's first section, Pollan talks about the industry that is corn. Combined with oil, both make up the heart of the food industry. Pollan makes a trip to McDonald's and analyzes his lunch. The burger comes from a cornfield in Iowa in which the cows are fed corn instead of grass. The oil that was used to fry the fries also came from the use of corn. The milk shake and the soda used the high
When putting together historical accounts, historians can run into a lot of problems trying to discover the truth about an event. These problems stem from the fact that history was not often recorded from multiple or impartial sources, so as a result, historians often have to read in between the lines to decipher the facts about a historical event. One particular problem that historians will run into is the issue of gendering. Gendering is when an event is examined with an understanding of how gender can influence all aspects of a society, and in turn, historical events (Abina, p. 163-64). This problem was especially relevant to Trevor Getz and Liz Clarke as they assembled the graphic history of Abina Mansah in Abina and the Important Men. The story revolves around a young woman in the Gold Coast in 1876 bringing a man who had enslaved her to court. In this story, gender is the underlying driving force for many of the events that take place, and can be seen even in parts of the story that were created by the authors. Gendered issues can sometimes be subtle, as they are often unspoken aspects of society, reinforced by cultural norms and behaviors. As a result, gendering was the most important problem faced when constructing this narrative, because gender relations add a series of nuances to social interactions that are easy to overlook despite the deep impacts they can create.
The conquistadors eventually used potatoes as rations on their ships and took it back to Spain (Chapman, n.d.). From there, the potato spread to other countries. Unfortunately, the potato was “regarded with suspicion, distaste and fear.” (Chapman, n.d.) Only animals were fed the potatoes at first but as time went on, the aristocracy of Europe began to encourage the lower classes to begin cultivating potatoes. Potatoes, however, did not become a staple until roughly 1795 and the food shortages that came during the time of the Revolutionary Wars in England. (Chapman, n.d.)
Subsequently, Five Guys does not sell dehydrated French Fries unlike its competitors. Their potatoes are slowly grown in Northern Idaho, where the weather conditions are quite favorable for growing solid and tasty potatoes. Many of the competitors reduce their costs by purchasing potatoes from California or Florida, where they are grown fast and are a lot cheaper. Five Guys guarantees freshness by cutting the potatoes every morning while leaving slivers of skin on.
“John Richard Simplot, America’s great potato baron, whose seemingly inexhaustible energy and willingness to take risks built an empire based on french fries”
Potatoes became a staple in the diet of many as they were discovered around the world. They are still an important part of the diet of many today. ("International year of," 2008)
Introduced to Europe in the mid 1500s, potatoes were able to strongly impact European lives. They originally grew in Peru but spread throughout South America and later in Europe. Potatoes were able to thrive in Ireland, Scandinavia, Germany, and Poland. Potatoes were able to feed many people and improve food supply. The potato was able to supply a steady amount of calories and nutrients which was able to provide a better life for people of the Old World. Potatoes quickly spread throughout Europe and became an important crop. Today people still use the potato for food and other uses such as making stamps and soothing headaches. When growing potatoes today, many diseases can occur. Some include early and late blight, potato scab, and bacterial ring rot.
"Hello, I'm Johnny Cash", the well-known, traditional, and famous words used by Cash before every show he ever played. Johnny Cash was a musical icon who positively impacted not only country music, but other genres as well.
In his book, “Money and Class in America,” Lewis Lapham states, “The ardor of the American faith in money easily surpasses the intensity achieved by other societies in other times and places.” This notion is the reoccurring theme in Lapham’s book. America is so taken with the idea that without money your achievements do not mean as much as they would if they came with a large sum of cash. We as a society value money over more important qualities such as knowledge or integrity.
The report of Robert Reich: “Why the Rich are getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer,” is an eye opener and a warning for society regarding unemployment that it will be facing and is currently facing due to a lack of technology and education. It clearly articulates that the jobs of routine producers and in-person servers have vanished totally as modern techniques have replaced them. The author has stated that the only people whose jobs are on the rise are symbol analysts. As stated in the report, symbol analysts are the real problem solvers. Their skills are highly in demand worldwide because they are the ones who first analyze the problem and then solve it. The Hart Report, on the other hand, also states the same problem of unemployment
Known as the fast-food icon around the world, McDonald’s French fries have taken the world by storm. In Eric Schlosser’s essay, “Why McDonald’s Fries Taste So Good”, he uses the popularity of McDonald’s French Fries to begin his essay and to effectively capture his audiences’ attention to make them realize that there is a problem with our favorite fast-food meals. What is really put into the foods we eat and why it smells and tastes so good, specifically McDonald’s French fries, is effectively answered in Schlosser’s essay. The reality of what is really going on behind the scenes of fast-food restaurants is revealed through Schlosser’s facts, intricate detail, and personal experiences to effectively come to the conclusion that processed foods are
In the beginning was the potato. How it found its way from the South American highlands into those little sacks of McDonald's fries is a long, adventurous tale, involving Conquistadors, Marie Antoinette, and Thomas Jefferson. Millionaires have been made and millions more have died from dependence on that simple, innocent potato. Here, then, is the story of the spud, which reached its crowning achievement only once it had been paired with oil.