The Pleasures Of Eating Analysis

In Michael Pollan’s essay “ An Ethic of Eating”, he talks about how ‘real’ food is disappearing from supermarkets and groceries and being replaced with “food-like substances.” He claims that the overly processed foods are taking over and that “ordinary foods” are becoming harder to find. He is also claiming that these “food-like substances” are confusing consumers into thinking that they are healthy for you and consumer should shop from the source, farmer’s markets.

He probes them to learn the what, where, and how of dinner – knowing what is going into the body, knowing where that food came from, and knowing how that food was made. By first knowing what is being consumed, people can make better informed decisions about their purchases. Nutrition, or lack thereof, is a key component in the battle against obesity. Food giants are hoping to hide the often unnecessary filler present in their products by use of dodgy claims and socially engineered advertisements. In general, most consumers probably couldn’t say where their food came from. This usually boils down to the fact that shoppers typically don’t think about it. Breaking this reliance on mass-grown foods is the second part of Pollan’s proposition. The third and equally important element is how the food is produced. More specifically, Pollan is concerned whether or not the food has been produced in a sustainable manner. Preserving the biodiversity of food, maintaining fertile land for future generations, and ensuring consumers receive food that does not compromise health are all factors of sustainability. Without informed consumers, what, where, and how will continue to be unanswered questions. Whether it is for nutritional or ethical choices, a particular food’s history is something that needs to once again become common

The food market nowadays has become a whirlwind of misleading claims and food packed with as many vitamins and nutrients as possible. In Michael Pollan's “In Defense of Food”, he argues that people are too obsessed with diets and focus too much on nutrients that they end up ignoring the fact that the “health food” they are eating is made up of many different chemicals and byproducts that can cause more harm than good. Pollan uses solid evidence to back up his claims by giving examples of the different ways cultures view food, explaining different studies that have been done relating to nutrition, and exposing the real meaning behind the labels that have been put on food.

“They (Food Production Corporations) may have salt, sugar, and fat on their side, but we, ultimately, have the power to make choices. After all, we decide what to buy. We decide how much to eat.” (Moss 346). In today’s society, junk food needs no introduction as everyone enjoys the taste of junk food because it is fast, tasty, and affordable but not everyone knows what all goes into their food. Over the years the food industries have drastically changed how food is produced and manufactured. Moss reflects upon the motivations and practices by the food industries which have transformed the American food supply by the use of the three key ingredients, salt, sugar, and fat. Through Michael Moss’s use of rhetorical appeals in his book Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, he discusses the extraordinary science behind what is considered tasty food, how multinational food companies use the key ingredients, salt sugar, and fat to increase sales and how other literary elements can help create trust between the author and audience thus increasing the effect of his arguments.

To address what distinguishes the food of a western diet, Pollan compares whole foods and processed foods. He quotes Gyorgy Scrinis and concludes to himself “instead of worrying about nutrients, we should simply avoid any food that has been processed to such an extent that it is more the product of industry than nature (Pollan, 438). Pollan agrees with Scrinis for avoiding processed foods, but he complicates it by mentioning that all whole foods are taken over by industrial processes. Again Pollan reminds the reader that escaping the western diet will not be simple,

In this article “The Pleasures Of Eating” by Wendell Berry he states that “Eating is an agricultural act”.  This article is mainly about how  industrial produced food is very unhealthy for people , animals and nature. The people who make these unhealthy food do not want the consumers to know how it's made or what's added into the product. Many people do not notice the taste and feeling of processed food and natural food. Berry’s  planned intending to be more mindful of the nourishment you eat and where the sustenance you are eating is originating from and the treatment of the nourishment items. He utilizes the redundancy of thoughts all through the whole piece to get his thoughts altogether beat into your head and make you think and see

In the essay, “The Pleasures of Eating”, Wendell Berry, a lifelong farmer and an expert on food production, claims that eating is an agricultural act. According to Berry, consumers have become passive and don’t really know what they’re putting into their bodies. All they know is that they’ve been persuaded to want it. The extent of their knowledge is that plants and animals are raised on farms. They don’t know where the farms are, what type of farms they are, or what knowledge of skills are involved in farming. He supports this claim by first bringing to light the ignorance of the passive consumer and how they as passive consumers have become victims of the food industry. Then, he discusses how one must willingly escape this by reclaiming responsibility

Shapin said in “ What are you buying when you buy organic?” that “ Pollan did his own taste by shopping at Whole foods for an all-organic meal: Everything was good, except for the six-dollars bunch of organic asparagus………..Pollan shouldn’t have been surprise that it tasted like “ cardboard” ( pg. 433). On his own word for this it looks like Shapin had disagreed with Pollan about whole foods are better for a person than any other products of food. Something the texture and flavor of the food can vary to the way it was taken care of. Here is another type of disagreement with Pollan, “ Two small doors in the shed opened onto a patch of grass, but they remained shut until the birds were five or six weeks old, and two weeks later Pollan’s “ free range” chicken was a $2.99-a-pound package in his local whole foods. This meal was better- the corn-and-soybean chicken was certified organic and didn’t contain antibiotics-but still not perfect( pg. 437). Here it looks like Shapin has also disagreeing with Pollan because the price can vary from store to store for example something the things that are organic may cost more than a meal that has been process. The final quote of when Shapin agrees with Pollan on whole foods is; “Whole foods was grown without synthetic fertilizer; no toxic pesticides or fumigants were used to

Berry begins the article by pointing out the consumer’s ignorance as they do not realize the connection they have with the agricultural cycle. Many believe that eating is an agriculture act, however, they do not associate themselves with this act because they do not have direct contact with the actual food production process. Berry explains that the reason why people think this way is because “they just buy what they want - or what they have been persuaded to want” without a second thought on the qualities and the states of the products (3). He appeals to the reader’s emotions as he describes the nature of the consumers because it demonstrates the reality of how little people nowadays care what they consume into their body. Berry further enforces his appeal on the audience’s emotions by claiming that “food is pretty much an abstract idea” to most of the urban shoppers (4). Shoppers understand that food is produced on farms, but have no knowledge on the locations of the farms, the type of farms, and the techniques that are involved in farming. This statement supports Berry’s claims on the consumer’s ignorance because it points out the important role that consumers actually play

In the an article called ‘The Pleasure of Eating’ by Wendell Berry talks about how consumers should know where the food they eat comes from and learning to adapt in producing their own food. His main idea is really focusing on the

In the article “Pleasures of Eating”, Wendell Berry opens up a new line of thinking with the statement “There is, then, a politics of food that, like any politics, involves our freedom.". Ultimately, a person has to wonder what exactly does this mean, and how can food have any correlation to politics and freedoms. What a person consumes, directly correlates to freedom. People have the right to question where the food came from, etc. How can one be free if they don’t have an understanding of what they are consuming and it is not placed before them? As a consumer knowing exactly what’s going on is essential to everyday health, and without this information people have become victims to the world pool of passive consumerist. Mr. Berry calls these

In the documentary Food Inc. The message is that the food industry does not want us to know about what we are eating. . This problem may be true however it is driven by the consumer’s continual interest in buying cheaper and cheaper products. The farmers way of life has been revolutionized. Modern farmers think faster, cheaper, bigger. It’s really not until when consumers demand

The organic food industry has seen a huge spike in growth that is expected to continue into the future due to an increase in consumption. This will provide Whole Foods Market with huge opportunities. In addition, a wave of ethical and responsible consumption has swept across America. Whole Foods’ decision to pursue sustainable activities will certainly give consumers an added incentive to purchase its organic products.

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

Inside the front doors of a grocery store, customers are presented with a diverse, vibrant display of fresh fruits and vegetables. With its inviting rainbow of bright colors, the produce section leads past the wafting, sweets smells of bread and pastries in the bakery and through winding aisles stocked with an assortment of goods. Linings the aisles and fillings shelves are rows and rows of boxes of pasta, pre-made meals, processed foods, and more snacks and sweets than one would know what to do with. Grocery stores present shoppers with a myriad of choices. The shelves and displays are filled with a variety of different brands and options to choose from, which offers customers a tough and potentially stressful decision when shopping. However, before a customer decides upon a specific brand or item, whether that happens to be a name-brand product, competitor, or store-brand, they are faced with an even more important choice; they must first make a decision on whether they want to buy whole foods and produce, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and other healthy choices, or more processed “junk” foods like sugary drinks and snacks or enriched breads and pasta. Not only must costumers decide between specific brands and deals, but they must also choose which of these types of food is best for them and their interests. Consumers must constantly weigh the different factors that are presented when comparing foods; between price, ingredients, health, availability, and overall