What Is Dinner: A Fictional Narrative

Profit-oriented leaders of new diet fads surely would be infuriated while reading the words of Michael Pollan in his work, Unhappy Meals—not necessarily because of his aim to disprove diet fallacies but, rather, the possible ramifications of Pollan’s words on their bank accounts. Explained in the article, the world’s understanding of diets and their effects on the human body has improved steadily—if not exponentially—throughout recent history. Here, the advocates of new diets claim the changing world and its understanding of health requires changes in diet; the human body will adapt to the new times. To counter, Pollan argues that is definitely true, but we have to be open to the idea of the death that occurs during the process.

The play Naked Lunch by Michael Hollinger focuses on the relationship between the two characters Vernon and Lucy. The two had previously had a romantic relationship, but for whatever reason ended it. In an attempt to get Lucy back, Vernon invites her to have a steak dinner with him. When Lucy refuses to eat the steak (due to the fact that she is now a vegetarian), things quickly take the turn for the worst. Throughout the play Vernon is controlling, demeaning, manipulative and abusive, and though it seems that Lucy tried to turn her life around and wants better for herself, she is submissive towards him. While telling the story of a previously estranged couple, Michael Hollinger uses metaphor, imagery and characterization in order to show

If I could host a dinner party and I could invite anyone. I would invite Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Huey P. Newton. Martin Luther King Jr. led the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and also in the 1960s Malcolm X was a national minister and spokesman of the Nation of Islam and Huey P. Newton led Black Panther Party in 1966 through 1987. I would invite these three men because they led different organizations to gain equal rights for African-Americans in the 1960s. They had different views on getting equal rights. For example, Martin Luther King Jr. believed in peaceful protesting and turning the other cheek but Malcolm X and Huey P. Newton believed by any means necessary that means they will do anything and everything to get equality. I would ask questions about how did they organization’s start and how they overcome all of the naysayers. I would serve roasted chicken and water served as a drink. We would talk about their deaths and did they felt they could have done more before they died. Also, we would talk about the current situations with African-Americans. I feel like we could use different tactics to get the job done. I think they will be upset how blacks are treated by society today. They probably thought after their deaths African Americans will be treated with more

Throughout essay “In the Kitchen,” Henry Louis Gates Junior recalls a time when he and his friends and family constantly tried to straighten their African American “kinky” hair. They did this to try to fit in with white people. The writer is using his personal experience as an African American straightening his hair to show how black people felt about assimilating into white society. It was very difficult for blacks to fit in with white people but he remembers how this difficult time brought the black community together.

“Unhappy Meals” written by Michael Pollan covers the unknown links between diet and our health. When reading the text, paragraphs 40 through 44 affected me the most. It had me think about how some surveys could be unreliable to due unrealistic questions used in the given survey. Previous to reading the article, I had assumed that information given to me about diets, especially the Western types, was correct. While reading the article I began to suspect that my previous assumptions were wrong. The results of this realization had lead me to be more open minded about new information. I began to take in that maybe surveys were not one size fits all. Pollan wrote this article to be persuasive. However, in my opinion, Pollan could benefit from changing

In many ways, food has been imperative to political and social influences on global human society. In chapters five and seven of An Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage, the importance of food and its effect on history is shown throughout the major themes of trading, the idea that food is equal to wealth, and the life-long sustenance that foods provide to people. In Standage’s book, middle-eastern botanists traded the spice of cinnamon, and potatoes were traded and seen as a valued food in all of Europe. Standage proves that food equals wealth when he wrote about the importance of spices across the Middle East. He says that people who owned spices were seen as “luxurious” because they could serve delicacies such as rare spices and could serve more flavorful food. Finally, the sustenance that spices, as well as maize/potatoes, provide is actually very similar to each other. Although spices could be seen as a more “secondary” source of sustenance, the rarity and high demand for spices allowed for trading and receiving nutritious food. On the other hand, maize was very important because almost anyone could grow maize and it could, therefore, be used as a major food supply.

“In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world, or you can just jump off it. In nineteen minutes, you can revenge” (Picoult). Those words are of the opening lines of Jodi Picoult’s best seller, Nineteen Minutes. Although this novel is heart wrenching, and cuts into the ‘grays’ of school shootings, it is anything but original. Lead character, Peter Houghton, is an almost perfect profile replication of 1999’s Columbine shooters, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris. A simple personaltiy analysis will reveal that both Peter and Columbine Shooters suffer from parental neglect, the violent virtual world, ruthless peers, as well as easy access to weapons.

The basic approach to American lifestyle and culture have changed drastically since the second world war. Because of the lack of men due to heavy drafting into the war, women were encouraged to join the workforce. Canning and freezing food became a cultural norm in order to cheaply stock up on food during the war. From the encouragement of both genders in the workforce and the prevalence of processed foods, society has now become accustomed to the ease of less-than-three-minute meals, gradually characterizing cooking as an archaic activity. Michael Pollan, a journalist who frequently contributes to the New York Times Magazine, has attempted to address the trend of processed food over home cooking, particularly in his article “The End of Cooking?”. He expresses the need for the revival of home cooked meals through his argument on how the fundamental views and practices behind cooking has changed since the end of French Chef with Julia Child to the present. Freedman, a journalist who has criticized Pollan in his article “How Junk Food Can End Obesity,” condemns Pollan’s views as glorifying cooking, and presents processed food as the solution to creating a healthier society. He contends that creating healthier processed foods can be the key to ending obesity rather than the praised wholesome foods. Though both make compelling arguments on which type of foods will help end obesity and improve overall health [what compelling argument], neither are willing to make a compromise or

Did you know there was a name for the nasty, icky, gross, unsanitary gunk that is in the bottom of your sink after you wash dishes? Well there is and the name of it is dinner dandruff just like the essay by Robert Fulghum. Fulghum wrote the essay Dinner Dandruff to entertain the reader along with relating to them about a problem that everyone that washes dishes has. In the essay he uses many different types of author’s style but the main three are diction, syntax, and imagery. Diction is the author's word choice while syntax is the author's sentence choice, and imagery is where you can picture what's happening while reading the story.

It was interesting reading you essay about your take on Thanksgiving. I enjoyed how you incorporated some history about Thanksgiving in your essay. I feel that taking a moment to remember why we have Thanksgiving, and to appreciate the history is significant. “Description may be defined as the act of capturing people, places, events, objects, and feelings in words so that a reader (or listener) can visualize and respond to them.” "(K. Flachmann M. Flachmann). I feel as though you accomplished the task by combining history with personal experiences to capture the reader and maintain their attention throughout the description of Thanksgiving. I did have a picture of all the food in my head and I felt that I could almost smell the food being prepared

If I were to have dinner with any of the revolutionaries, it would have to be with Phillis Wheatley. Besides her being one of the few woman listed as a revolutionary person, she deserves recognition. She is one of the most unheard of woman I have ever heard of in this period of time. Good for her to be one of the best known poets in history and the first African American poet at that. Her being a slave must have been hard enough, and to be documented is a miracle. To face oppression, prejudice, hate and the possibility of being taken back as slave, I am very glad to have heard her story. Since she got the chance to meet the President George Washington at a point in her life then I must have read one of her poems in

In the story In Praise of Fast Food the author is arguing how much better industrialized food is then natural food. Most believe eating natural is the way to go and processed foods is not good for the body. To our ancestors natural foods were not good. “Natural often tastes bad. Fresh meat was rank, and tough, fresh fruits incredibly sour, fresh vegetables bitter.”(Laudan 332) Our ancestors had it much harder than what we do today. Food is now more convenient leaving us more time and giving us more options then what our ancestors had.

Both Titus Andronicus and Grandpa’s soup serve the purpose of entertaining the reader in juxtaposing ways. Titus Andronicus is illustrative of the alarming horror that certain types of cooking and food reinforce, whereas Grandpa’s soup is representative of the warmth and affection that certain types of food and cooking can bring. Themes portrayed in these texts such as death, mortality, celebration, desperation, love and hate are looked at from completely different angles through the literary techniques displayed by both writers, which will be analyzed and discussed in this essay.

Linh Dinh a well-known Vietnamese poet whose work has been translated and read all over the world. In several works shows how lives are shaped by the interaction of politics and social classes. In the poem “Eating Fried Chicken” by Linh Dinh provides different literary elements such as symbols, comparison and concepts to help the reader understand the poem. Ambition causes individuals to turn against each other because of the need to accomplish a luxurious life.

Julia Robertson is a senior at Tech, and she's investigating different ways to finance her final year at school. She is considering leasing a food booth outside the Tech stadium at home football games. Tech sells out every home game, and Julia knows, from attending the games herself, that everyone eats a lot of food. She has to pay $1,000 per game for a booth, and the booths are not very large. Vendors can sell either food or drinks on Tech property, but not both. Only the Tech athletic department concession stands can sell both inside the stadium. She thinks slices of cheese pizza, hot dogs, and barbecue sandwiches are the most popular food items among fans and so these are the items she would sell.