The Not So Hungry Soul by Leon Kass

Regardless the person, everyone still orders from restaurants, or they microwave a frozen dinner meal once in awhile. In contemporary society, it 's much more efficient to order take out rather than to cook and prepare your own food due to the lack of time. Sadly people even forget the taste of fresh, home cooked meals. Nowadays people don’t know what it’s like to sit down and enjoy a nice hearty home cooked meal, instead they’re always on the run grabbing a quick bite here and there. Unfortunately with such busy lives people don’t have the opportunity to watch cooking shows, go to cooking class, or even cook for their children. People just want to come home and relax they don’t want to have to worry about cooking and all the preparation that comes with it, they would much rather order take out and avoid all the hassle of cooking. In Berry Wendell’s Essay “The Pleasures of Eating”, we are given insight on how very little common people know about where their food comes from and what it goes through. “When a Crop Becomes King” by Michael Pollan reveals how corn, a single crop could be involved in such a wide array of industry and be used in almost everything. David Barboza’s article “If You Pitch It, They Will Eat”, focuses on how in modern society advertising is everywhere and it is taking a big role in everyday life. Through the work of Berry, Pollan, and Barboza we are shown that ignorance is a defining human trait.

The article “Don't Blame The Eater,” written by David Zinczenko evokes readers the crucial impact that fast food restaurants have in today's nation's youth causing them to be over weight and have type 2ndiabetes. Throughout Zinczenko's argument he makes the reader view the consumer as a victim yet on the other hand, what he is trying to persuade us to believe by using logos,pathos,and ethos in his argument is that the food industry is the one making the nation's youth to increase obesity. The capacity of impressive questions and personal experience, he composed in the text he is able to comprehensively argue against the fast food industry. The author persuades us right away by starting of with a question: “Kids taking on McDonald's this

In the article, “Don’t Blame the Eater, by David Zinczenko discusses about his childhood and how it has affected him. In addition, he explains thoroughly about fast food and the companies behind it. Zincozenko also talks about fast food companies have affected him and other in today’s world.

At some point of a kid’s life, they want to be picky about something. They want to have some control of their little world where adults are constantly telling them what to wear, what to do, and what to eat. Food, for instance, is an easy topic where kids will fight for some independence. Throwing, yelling, crying and even bribing were the essence of a battle at dinner tables. Because some parents would automatically give in to their children’s need, the kids often think they won the battle but technically they didn’t. In the story, “Picky Eater”, Julia Alvarez tells a story of her childhood experience of home meals where her and her sisters were also picky eaters, despite having healthy food served to them. Meals, she said, “at home were battlegrounds. Even if you won the dinner battle, refusing to clean your plate or drink your engrudo, you inevitably lost the war” (Alvarez 145). Battlegrounds at home can occur but it doesn’t have to end up being messy if the parents know how to handle the situation properly.

“Food is essential for life but what we eat is subject to a wide range of

Immigrating to America is a process in which many people all across the world entrust as their one way ticket to a better life. Whether they do so legally or illegally, coming to the United States ensures better opportunities, economically, politically, and so on, to people who would have otherwise been worse off in their countries of origin. Even so, the common understanding of being “better off” can be considered a misconstrued concept when it comes to living in the states. Many families that choose to immigrate to the U.S. fail to realize the cultural hardships that newcomers tend to face once on American soil. Anything from racial discrimination or bias at work, in neighborhoods, at school, etc., can all be challenges that people encounter when making a move to the U.S. Such challenges are described by Richard Rodriquez in his autobiography Hunger of Memory. In this passage, he explains how cultural differences between Mexican and American ways of life have shaped him into the person that he is today. He also chooses to highlights the problems that he faces growing up in a predominately white neighborhood, while attending a predominantly white institution. Much of his writing consists of the cultural differences and pressures he feels to assimilate to Western culture and how this process, in turn, changes him into the person that some may find to be unethical, but nonetheless, someone he is proud of.

Food dominates the lives of people. It is used as comfort and fuel. But the controversy is, what should people consume? Burkhard Bilger 's piece, Nature 's Spoils, explores the abnormal way of eating, which is the fermentation of food. It is usually a safe practice, and also produces vitamins in the making. The Omnivore 's Dilemma by Michael Pollan expresses the problem of how humans select food. In How Do We Choose What to Eat? by Susan Bowerman she points out the influences on people’s life that affects their eating habits. By using Bowerman’s article as the keystone, Nature’s Spoils and The Omnivore’s Dilemma can be compared and contrasted. Since the food that people consume daily can affect them in the future, it must be chosen carefully.

In the article “The Pleasure of Eating”, Wendell Berry expresses his idea that in order for consumers to truly appreciate the food on their plates, they should know its origin and how it is produced. Berry was inspired by his realization that nowadays food productions are becoming more and more industrialized, and the consumers themselves are slowly transforming into industrial eaters. He states that there is a barrier between the people and the reality behind food production because people can purchase already packaged food at anywhere and anytime. This makes them ignorant to the hardship and the cruel conditions it went under to get on the shelves. He also criticizes the food industry, as it manipulates people to regard eating as a way of survival and not one of the many pleasures in life. Berry successfully appeals to pathos in order to further convince his urban consumers that eating is an act of pleasure. Therefore, people should take more into consideration on what they are eating and how it will affect them in the long run.

In today’s society a huge issue is that we constantly hear about the food industry in America. We often hear in the news that obesity rates have increased, or that Americans have many diseases that contribute to being obese. “What You Eat is Your Business” by Radley Balko expresses that people are at fault for making such unhealthy food choices. Others argue that the food industry is to blame for being so unhealthy. According to David Zinczenko in “Don’t Blame the Eater” he blames the fast food industry as well as the consumer. Zinczenko asks “shouldn’t we know better than to eat two meals a day in fast food restaurant’s?” (392). So, who is to blame for American’s eating so much unhealthy food? Should it be the consumers’ burden or the fast food companies? On one hand, as consumers we continue to purchase foods that we know are making us overweight. On the other hand, fast food companies continue to offer high in calories foods.

The Pleasures of Eating written by Wendell Berry offer us a very accurate perspective on our society and the influence the industry has on such a basic action as eating. Throughout this article the author expresses his dissatisfaction with

“Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion”, a chapter in How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster, begins with the claim that meals are commonly a source of symbolism in literature. Communion, as Foster defines, does not necessarily have to refer to something religious. Foster argues instead that in communion in literature, which is as simple as two characters eating and drinking together, is only worth including if it has a deeper meaning. The point an author is trying to impress upon the reader is that the gesture of putting something in your body is so personal that it is a symbol of trust and friendship among two people taking part in communion. This can be used in many different ways, as Foster demonstrates by contrasting

Michael Pollan in his book titled ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma’ takes a critical look at the food culture in the Unites States. According to him, the question that seems to bother most Americans is simply ‘What should we have for dinner today?’ To Pollan, Americans face this dilemma because they do not have a proper tradition surrounding food. ‘The lack of a steadying culture of food leaves us especially vulnerable to the blandishments of the food scientist and the marketer for whom the omnivore’s dilemma is not so much a dilemma as an opportunity; (Pollan). He cites the example of the Atkins diet and how an entire nation changed its eating habits almost overnight. A nation that had deep rooted food culture values would

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

In “The Pleasures of Eating” Wendell Berry wants the reader to recognize that eating is a cultural act. He believes we are eaters not consumers and that we should have more knowledge about the food we eat. Berry wants the reader to questions where the food is coming from, what condition is it produced in and what chemicals may it contains. He has found that the food industries blind us to what we are consuming and the effect it has on us. At last Berry believes that we must eat responsibly to live free.

Within the battle of opposing opinions about living a carnivorous lifestyle, there’s the underlying battle of judgment in human nature. We, as humans, have the conscious ability to choose a moral right or wrong. According to Scruton, “it is the residue of religion in us all,” that determines what is moral right and wrong (A carnivore’s Credo 259). This causes the essay to become applicable to every area of life where some moral controversy is present. There is no black and white anymore. The argument is not about what Scruton calls eating versus feeding or whether it's virtuous or vicious. There is a definite gray area. This calls for people to reconsider every action before it is even made. There is no need to “abandon habits” when they can simply be “remoralized” (A Carnivore’s Credo 264). In this example of carnivore vs vegetarian, neither one is more correct than the other. There merely is now an open discussion about what is truly moral.