The Omnivore's Dilemma Rhetorical Analysis

1119 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The Omnivore's Dilemma summary

During this chapter of The Omnivore’s Dilemma Pollan talks about fast food. This means that he is speaking to people who regularly eat fast food and those who are wondering what is in their food when they order out. As a part of this he asks biologist Todd Dawson to run fast food items through a spectrometer to see how much corn is in the food. His analyses concluded that “soda (100 percent corn), milk shake (78 percent), salad dressing (65 percent), chicken nuggets (56 percent), cheeseburger (52 percent), and French fries (23 percent)” (p. 117). This is part of Pollan educating his audience of what is in their food when they go through the drive through. Speaking of his audience, his main demographic is to the people that are truly wonder …show more content…

By doing this he is making his evidence reliable since he uses two different styles of research and stating where he got his evidence. You can analyze the rhetorical appeals of ethos by looking at where the author gets into his evidence and how he states it as well such as, “I asked Todd Dawson, a biologist at Berkeley, to run McDonald’s meal through his mass spectrometer and calculate how much of carbon in it came originally from corn plant.” (p. 116). This will show you what type of author he is and where his intentions are with his writing. As for pathos, he talks about his own experiences with him and his family when it came to fast food. What his relationship with fast food is and his son, who seems to really enjoy fast food and how it effects his relationship with food such as, “My eleven-year-old son, Issac, was more than happy to join me at McDonald’s;” (p. 109). This means that the author is trying to be relatable to the audience. Finally logos, Pollan has brought in a scientists that did research on the fast food. Therefore, bringing in logic and scientific evidence, which brings in unbiased point of

Show More
Related

  • Summary of the Chapter "Nutritionism Defined"

    548 Words  | 2 Pages

    Michael Pollan, an American author, journalist, activist, and professor of journalism at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism (Michael Pollan), writes in his book In Defense of Food, the dangers of nutritionism and how to escape the Western diet and subsequently most of the chronic diseases the diet imparts. In the chapter “Nutritionism Defined” Pollan defines the term nutritionism. Pollan’s main assertion being how the ideology of nutritionism defines food as the sum of its nutrients, and from this viewpoint Pollan goes on to write how nutritionism divides food into two categories, with each macronutrient divided against each other as either bad or good nutrients, in a bid for focus of our food fears and enthusiasms. Finally, Pollan concludes that with the relentless focus nutritionism places on nutrients and their interplay distinctions between foods become irrelevant and abandoned.

    Read More

  • Feeding Frenzy Rhetorical Analysis

    529 Words  | 2 Pages

    Diction is the author’s word choice. The magazine, “Feeding Frenzy”, from Sports Illustrated by Richard Hoffer shows many types of diction. The magazine is about Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield’s boxing match in 1997. The three types of diction that stood out to me was violent, circus, and sarcastic. The author, Richard Hoffer, uses these three types of diction to show how violent, circus like, and how sarcastic the fight was to the people who saw it.

    Read More

  • A Summary Of Michael Pollan And Michael Moss

    1204 Words  | 3 Pages

    Moss uses more real-life examples and understands how to appeal to readers to prove his point and figures out the perfect combination of ethos, pathos, and logos in the stories to build his case, a great example of this being Jeffrey Dunn’s story. Dunn worked as an executive for Coca-Cola in 2001 whose main goal was to drive Coca-Cola into poor areas and convince “heavy drinkers” of the soda to drink more. On a business trip to Brazil, Dunn realized that “these people need a lot of things, but they don’t need a Coke” and decided to push the company in a healthier direction. This choice led to Dunn’s eventual firing, and the tale ends with Dunn marketing baby carrots as a snack food (Moss, 491-494). This story not only appeals to pathos by getting to readers’ emotions, but also to ethos and logos because Dunn is a credible source and gives an authentic experience that adds to the credible feel of the article. Pollan’s article has a very different connotation than Moss’s article, and reads as an appeal to authority right from the start. Pollan’s primary occupation is described as an author of food and eating books, not food scientist, however, Pollan’s entire article is based off of his opinion of how Americans should eat (Pollan, 420). Pollan’s rules, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” might be a fine setup for a fad diet, but these rules don’t necessarily provide a reasonable solution for America’s obesity problem. Escape from the Western Diet is littered with logical fallacies that stunt its credibility, such as the False Dichotomy, Begging the Question, and the Hasty Generalization. In Pollan’s quote, “people eating a Western diet are prone to a complex of chronic diseases that seldom strike people eating more traditional diets” (Pollan, 421), the Hasty Generalization fallacy is apparent, as not every person who eats a Western diet is prone to chronic diseases. The quote, “the health care industry...stands to

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Lamb To The Slaughter

    100 Words  | 1 Pages

    Often people are not what they seem. According to Roald Dahl, in “Lamb to the Slaughter,” “But there needn’t really be any fuss. I hope not anyway. It wouldn’t be very good for my job.” When in public Patrick Maloney was the doting husband, but when the doors hid outside eyes Patrick revealed his true feelings. He wanted a divorce. He wanted to ruin his wife and soon-to-be child, but without anyone knowing. Thought the passage, the tone is revealed as condescending. The way Mr. Maloney talks to his wife is as though she is a small and unknowing child.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Michael Pollan's Escape From The Western Diet

    1159 Words  | 3 Pages

    In his essay, Pollan dives right into the subject of nutrition by pointing out that nutritionism focuses on individual nutrients

    Read More

  • Analysis Of How Junk Food Can End Obesity

    823 Words  | 2 Pages

    Published In his article “How Junk Food Can End Obesity”, David Freedman begins by talking about how misinformed people are about wholefood restaurants and stores. These stores are run by so-called health food experts. Freedman makes himself distinguishable himself from the position of Michael Pollan and his adherents. His adherents are known as Pollanites. They are the people who believe that processed food is the reason we have health and obesity issues.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Consider The Lobster

    1246 Words  | 3 Pages

    The state of Maine is a huge tourist spot known for it’s rocky coastline and seafood cuisine, especially lobster. Annually, the state holds the “Maine Lobster Festival” every summer, and is a popular lucrative attraction including carnival rides and food booths. The center of attention for this festival is, unsurprisingly, lobster. The author of the article “Consider the Lobster”, David Foster Wallace, mainly uses logos and pathos, and explores the idea of being put into the lobsters perspective by describing how the cooking process is done and informing us on the animal’s neurological system in a very comprehensible way. He effectively uses these persuasive devices to paint a picture for the audience and pave way for the reader to conjure

    Read More

  • The Logic of Industry and of Nature

    1229 Words  | 3 Pages

    Michael Pollan’s purpose of writing Omnivore’s Dilemma came about when he realizes that society is unbelievably unhealthy due to the abundance of food. The two conflicting logics that Pollan introduces are the logic of nature and the logic of industry; these two logics are reflected through various ways of raising livestock animals. The logic of nature consists of raising livestock animals in a pastoral environment where animals interact with one another and avoid the use of artificial chemicals; whereas, the logic of industry settles on raising livestock animals unnaturally. Growing cattle through the use of corn has allowed meat to be produced in large quantities and in a short time as described in the chapter “Feedlot: Making Meat”

    Read More

  • We Eat Fast Food Chapter Summary

    153 Words  | 1 Pages

    Here in this chapter Pollan takes us on a road trip to McDonalds. At the drive through window, Pollan gets a handout of the full serving of nutrition of the meals that are provided at their location. He raises an interesting question if chicken nuggets actually do taste like chicken but then comes to the conclusion that fast food just taste like fast food. The way that Pollan orders his food and his family is a bit interesting because he explains how he order the items that contain the most corn in it. Within ten minutes of eating fast food in the car, Pollan adds up the calories consumed added up to four thousand calories. Fast food is described as a comfort food throughout the chapter and a reminder of his childhood. He admits that as a

    Read More

  • Analysis Of What's Eating America By Michael Polla

    1196 Words  | 3 Pages

    He does this so that his readers experience a rude awakening and realize that the corporations have been lying to them all this time. He first establishes a heavily-controlled relationship with his readers, only showing them what he wants them to see, through cherry-picking and the subtle manipulation of facts. He wants his audience to answer his question, “What’s Eating America?” Pollan wants them to realize that these businesses and farms that claim to be revolutionizing agriculture and saving the world are only looking for short-term profit. In the long run, these corporations are what is eating America. They consume her land, her resources, her peoples’ minds and her environment, all in the name of a measly

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis On Don T Meat

    289 Words  | 1 Pages

    t meat”. The thrifty Irishmen would be able to make “admirable gloves for the ladies, and summer boots for the gentlemen” for the skin of the children that will be used to help others in need.

    Read More

  • Nutritionism Essay

    1615 Words  | 4 Pages

    Michael Pollan discusses two categories of food: one is real food (the kind our great-grandmother would recognize), while the other is “edible food-like substances”. The category that needs defending according to Pollan is the real food. This category of food is minimally processed, fresh (will eventually rot), and includes mostly things that are taken straight from the source (the ground, tree, etc.). When one walks into a store, they should look for and pick the foods that are more “quiet”such as fresh produce than the ones that have more labels that say they are more healthy, or better for you.

    Read More

  • The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

    1761 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan talks about 4 different models that we consume, purchase, and add it to our daily lives. Michael Pollan travels to different locations around the United States, where he mentions his models which are fast food, industrial organic, beyond organic, and hunting. I believe that the 3 important models that we need to feed the population are fast food, industrial organic, and beyond organic. Fast food is one of the most important models in this society because people nowadays, eat fast food everyday and it is hurting us in the long run. We need to stick to beyond organic or industrial organic food because it is good for our well being. Ever since the government and corporations took over on what we eat, we have lost our culture. In the introduction of the Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan states that we have lost our culture:

    Read More

  • Animal Farm Rhetorical Analysis

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    Manipulation of language can be a weapon of mind control and abuse of power. The story Animal Farm by George Orwell is all about manipulation, and the major way manipulation is used in this novel is by the use of words. The character in this book named Squealer employs ethos, pathos, and logos in order to manipulate the other animals and maintain control.

    Read More

  • Animal Farm Rhetorical Analysis

    1351 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The pen is mightier than the sword.” This is a popular saying that explains that, sometimes, in order to persuade or convince people, one should not use force but words. In Animal Farm, by George Orwell, animals overthrow the human leader and start a new life, but some animals want to become the new leaders. To make the other animals obey the pigs, they first have to persuade the farm’s population. Squealer is the best pig for this job because he effectively convinces the animals to follow Napoleon by using different rhetorical devices and methods of persuasion.

    Read More

More about The Omnivore's Dilemma Rhetorical Analysis

Open Document