What Families East in “Hungry Planet: What the World Eats.by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Alusio

Throughout the book “Stuffed and Starved”, Raj Patel, the author, makes connections between the current state of the world food system, and the Malthusian and Rhodes dilemmas, the first, proposing that the world population is growing exponentially, but the resources to feed this growing population are finite, whereas the second suggests that hunger leads to unrest, hence as long as people are kept fed, they won't revolt. Patel sections the system and points out to the defects at all levels—starting from the fundamental unit—the seed, going broader touching upon redistributors, consumers, corporations, and, above all, governments and policies. The five major areas Patel criticizes I would like to emphasize are: prevalent selection of desirable

The similarity between Where Our Food Comes From by Gary Paul Nabhan and My Life and Loaves by Andrew Whitley both showcase the importance of food throughout Russian history. The importance of food throughout Russian history is the only connection between the three texts but the ways in which food is described as or show as are manifested in different ways. For example, from page 162 to 198 in Where Our Food Comes From, Nabhan writes about Vavilov decision to leave the Soviet Union during Stalin’s Collectivization disaster that led to the deaths of millions of Soviets. The importance of food during this time in Russia history is that there was none and, in the result, millions slowly starved to death. This is probably, if not the most, ugliest

In Raj Patel’s novel Stuffed and Starved, Patel goes through every aspect of the food production process by taking the experiences of all the people involved in food production from around the world. Patel concludes by eventually blaming both big corporations and governments for their critical role in undermining local, cultural, and sustainable foodways and in so doing causing the key food-related problems of today such as starvation and obesity. In this book of facts and serious crime, Patel's Stuffed and Starved is a general but available analysis of global food struggles that has a goal of enlightening and motivating the general Western public that there is something critically wrong with our food system.

As the world expands through time and business, the natural process of developing food is forced to adapt to the growing demands of civilization. Henceforth, the modern-day food industry is capable of producing a plethora amount of nutrients that sustains mass populations. However, is the modern tradition and technique of mass food production hiding a burdened truth behind the curtains of society’s unawareness? Is such truth more sinister than productive? Filmmaker Robert Kenner directed a documentary in 2008 where the methods of processing meats and harvesting crops were analyzed with their effects. As a result, Kenner’s documentary, Food Inc., has revealed that the ways foods are processed have consequently made them perilous for society. Through the use of

Over the last several decades, the diet of society has been continually changing. This has resulted in different formulas for nutrition and the proper portions of foods that must be consumed. To fully understand the various arguments requires looking at numerous viewpoints. This will be accomplished by focusing on Michael Pollan's Escape from the Western Diet in contrast with Mary Maxfield's Food as thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating. These views will highlight how diet and nutrition is based upon individual opinions. This is the focus of the thesis.

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

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.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma, written by Michael Pollan, gives light to the question, “What should we have for dinner?” that he thinks Americans today cannot answer simply due to the fact that there are too many food options. This book serves as an eye-opener to challenge readers to be more aware and accountable of what is consumed daily. In order to understand fully where our food comes from, we must follow it back to the very beginning. Pollan goes on to discuss three different modern food chains in which we get our food: the industrial, the organic, and the hunter-gatherer. By tracing our food back to the beginning, we can understand that most of the nutritional and health problems America is going through today can be found on the farms that make our food and the government that can decide what happens. America deals with many food related illness such as, heart disease, obesity, and type II diabetes. Majority of a human and animals diet consists of being corn-fed leading to a high cause of obesity in the United States these are just some of the many diseases that come with over processed foods and diets we are unaware of. In this study, we will highlight the environmental and health issues and impacts related with modern agriculture and how these systems can be made more sustainable.

Raj Patel’s Stuffed and Starved analyzes the paradoxical content in its title statement. Patel demonstrates how the world food system has created two opposite, but inherently linked epidemics: obesity and crippling hunger. Throughout the course of this book, it becomes painfully clear that the majority of the world’s population is being manipulated by our global food system and by the corporations and their CEO’s who control it. Patel encourages his readers to make themselves politically responsible (313) and through Stuffed and Starved, highlights the discrepancies and major imbalances of our world food system, the small percentage of people who benefit from it, and the vast majority of humanity who does not. He does all this while

Fukuoka main point of this article is to inform people that there is more to eating than just the nutritional value and now the Western culture values the wrong ideas when it comes to fueling your body. He starts his article off by comparing the daily meal of ancient farmers to todays Western mothers. This comparison shows that even with out scientific facts the farmers were able to live long healthy lives with a simple diet of brown-rice and vegetables. The Western mothers he referred to force bad tasting food down their children’s throats because they believe that is the only way they will live long and strong. Another point Fukuoka makes is that the Western diet separates people from nature, “The diet that results serves to isolate human beings from nature. A fear of nature and a general sense of insecurity are often the unfortunate results” (72) this quote suggests the diet is pushing humans farther and farther from our roots. With this separation we are becoming more isolated and distancing ourselves from nature causing us to fear our very own

When the foods in eating the same food, all the time gets old but trying different styles of the food can be very different. Growing up Kothari was raised on Indian food. She only would eat the Indian food that her parents made, but when she went to India and tried the food there and it did not end will. It made her vomit. So, while everybody else in her family was eating just fine, she was throwing up. She was embarrassed by

Where does our food come from? Kathy Dummer in her article called How safe is our food? says that “The worldwide increase of food availability is due to technological advances in food production, pesticides, and genetically altered seeds, with 44 percent of the grains produced in the U.S. being genetically modified (GM). “ Most and if not all the food that America eats has grain in it. Which means that some of the food that we are consuming is genetically modified. They aren’t grow naturally they are produced by a factory then goes to a farm to grow. The farmers have to spray these pesticides on the seeds so that the bugs don’t eat away at the plants. But the bugs are starting to get stronger against the pesticides so they are adding more chemicals

In 1919 Mahatma Gandhi was heard saying “To deprive a man of his natural liberty and to deny him the ordinary amenities of life is worse that starving the body; it is the starvation of the soul, the dweller in the body.” Here Gandhi motions towards food being a basic necessity for all human life. The project shall portray just how much of a struggle that can be for most people surviving, not living in India. Markandaya portrays this as she writes, “There we were, the four of us, hysterical, released, rocking with laughter and gasping for breath which ran out as fast as we sucked it in. The hollow cheeks and bulging stomachs, the grotesque, jutting bones became matter for laughter already though

Life today in 2014 is vastly different to the period 1500-1800 as described by Blainey (2000). Survival no longer hinges on hunting and gathering food. In fact many people today give little or no thought to food production. Instead, we drive to a supermarket and buy whatever we want to eat. We have access to many restaurants and fast food outlets, so we not only have ample food at our fingertips, we don’t even have to prepare it if we choose not to. Advancements in production and using machines in place of humans (Henslin, Possamai and Possamai-Inesedy 2011, p. 139) mean food is now farmed and produced on a much larger scale (Macionis and

Eating food is essential for all of us, it keep us alive and also gives us enjoyment at the same time. Food can be defined as any substance that can be metabolized by an animal to give energy and build tissue. (ilearn) In ancient time, when people feel hungry, they eat. However, as human history keep developing and evolving, we have a higher standard on choosing food that we like to eat nowadays. In this paper, we are going to evaluate factors that are influencing our food habits and food culture. Those factors can be divided into two main categories, internal factors (individual preference and values) and external factors (geographical, religion, social, economic and political).