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American food culture
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As Americans influenced so much by pop culture, convenience, and the latest trends in society, we either pay too little attention to the foods we consume or obsess too much about every little thing that goes into our bodies. This often leads to our detriment as we drift farther and farther away from our cultural identities and lose pleasure in eating. In the novel, In Defense of Food, Michal Pollan criticizes this aspect of American culture, revealing fallacy after fallacy of the dietary ideas consumers, journalists, the government, and even scientists believe in and promote. The main idea is that Americans have been focusing too much energy nitpicking at an activity that is designed to come to humans as common sense, resulting in the opposite of what we desire: a growing epidemic where Americans have become “fatter, sicker, and more poorly nourished.” Every popular belief of food and nutrition is carefully analyzed and debunked by Pollan using various examples from cultural habits, basic scientific processes and relevant studies and experiments. The vast amount of information from numerous, and likely fraudulent, sources reflect the message he is trying to convey: that food is naturally too complicated to study and perfect in science. Each chapter flows smoothly into the next topic as explanations become clearer and more in-depth. His knowledge in the topic and history is strongly demonstrated as well, building his credibility with his audience. To emphasize his point as well as help readers understand his arguments, analogies are often used to compare diets to an activity or a way of thinking. This use of language guides readers to understand the complex names nutritionism has given the nutrients inside of food. Readers therefor... ... middle of paper ... ... the idea that one single nutrient or source can fix everything and Pollan criticizes this as well. Although the French and Greek eat very badly according to the guidelines made, they are one of the healthiest people because they retain their traditional diets and relationship with their culture. In addition to culture, family time and relationships built over spending time eating meals has largely been lost, replaced by eating in the car or snaking in between meals. All in all, this book is a great read for those seeking to learn more about food and how it relates to all aspects of life and history as well as find that extra push in taking the initiative in improving one’s eating habits and lifestyle. It serves as an easy to follow introduction into a healthy relationship with food including with simple guidelines that are not too forceful or complex to understand.
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.
Pollan used the technique of ethos in order to appeal his trustworthy to his audience. Michael pollen organized his argument very well. He builds the arguments, by going through and describing the facts and claims he made regarding the western diet, followed by reasoning which made his argument trustworthy, like first he made claim that “stop eating a western diet” After that he gave reason for his claim that why we should escape western diet. He mention that “We should escape the western diet because western diet is a processed diet which has more carbohydrates and less micro nutrients which are the cause of many harmful diseases in United States” Pollan explain that lack of micro-nutrients, omega-3 fatty acids are the main cause of many chronic diseases in our country. To support his view on issue, He also describe the neo-lipid, omega-3 and carbohydrates hypothesis. Pollan quoted Denis Burkett
Escape from the Western Diet describes Pollan’s primary occupation as an author of food and eating books, not a food scientist, however, Pollan bases his entire article off of his opinion of how Americans should eat (Pollan, 420). Pollan 's rules, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants,” might serve as a fine setup for a fad diet, but these rules don’t necessarily provide a reasonable solution for America’s obesity problem. The rules don’t provide a solution because they are too vague; you can’t solve a nationwide issue using a system that fails to acknowledge any other factors besides what Americans should supposedly eat. Logical fallacies pop up throughout Escape from the Western Diet and stunt its credibility, such examples being 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 healthcare industry...stands to profit more handsomely from new drugs and procedures to treat chronic diseases than it does from a wholesale change in the way people eat” (Pollan, 422) is a prime example of the Begging the Question fallacy, as this
There are many different beliefs about the proper way to eat healthy. People are often mislead and live unhealthy lifestyles as a result. Both Mary Maxfield and Michael Pollan explain their own beliefs on what a healthy diet is and how to live a healthy lifestyle. In the essay, “Escape from the Western diet” Michael Pollan writes about the flaws of the western diet and how we can correct these problems to become healthier. In the essay, “Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating”, Mary Maxfield criticizes Michael Pollan’s essay about eating healthy, and explains her own theory on how to be healthy. She believes that Pollan is contradicting himself and that what he is stating is false. Mary Maxfield ponders the
The Western Diet is basically processed food, which is foods that are full with hormones, refined grains, sweet food, and food that is high in saturated fats. This food method that America is following is the reason for the increased rate of obesity in the country and many chronic diseases, due to why many Americans are suffering from. Pollan wants Americans to take control and set goals for themselves and their health. As he states, “A hallmark of the Western diet is food that is fast, cheap, and easy.”(424) This is the reason why people tend to buy it this food. Pollan is right about how the Western diet is affecting the people’s health negatively because of recent studies have shown that most of the food that people consume are processed foods, which gone through a process letting most of its nutritional values. Also, the food is full of unhealthy nutrients that are added to it during the process. An individual cannot have assurance of what he/she is consuming from a fast food place or a cheap prepared meal from grocery store. Western diet needs to be taken away from American’s life. He states “Not Too Much”(pp.426) will be the focus from the foods themselves to the question of how to eat, the manners, mores, and the habits that go with creating a healthy diet, and pleasing culture of eating. This way it will allow Americans to live their life healthier and
Other countries rely on taste and what their mood is to decide what to eat. An example of this is when you look at the French eating habits. Pollan claims that we Americans refer to the French eating habits as the “French Paradox” (Our National Eating Disorder) but, we are the only ones that use this claim, if anything, we should be labeled as the American Paradox. The French eat in smaller portions, choose what they want to eat, and also make eating a gathering and an enjoyable event. The French are also overall thinner than Americans, have lower rates of heart disease and you could also say they enjoy the activity of eating more than Americans. It can be concluded that America's dietary exercises of choosing what to eat by the scientific information of the food is not working as well as the French way of eating, which is eating what they want. It can also be assumed that even though we Americans believe we are eating healthy, it actually negatively affects our health considering how obese America is compared to the
When we think of our national health we wonder why Americans end up obese, heart disease filled, and diabetic. Michael Pollan’s “ Escape from the Western Diet” suggest that everything we eat has been processed some food to the point where most of could not tell what went into what we ate. Pollan thinks that if America thought more about our “Western diets” of constantly modified foods and begin to shift away from it to a more home grown of mostly plant based diet it could create a more pleasing eating culture. He calls for us to “Eat food, Not too much, Mostly plants.” However, Mary Maxfield’s “Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating”, argues differently she has the point of view that people simply eat in the wrong amounts. She recommends for others to “Trust yourself. Trust your body. Meet your needs.” The skewed perception of eating will cause you all kinds of health issues, while not eating at all and going skinny will mean that you will remain healthy rather than be anorexic. Then, as Maxfield points out, “We hear go out and Cram your face with Twinkies!”(Maxfield 446) when all that was said was eating as much as you need.
Pollan believes that Americans rely on nutrition science, the study of individual nutrients like carbohydrates, fats, and antioxidants, to fix the Western diet because it is the best source that exists. However, scientists have developed conflicting theories that confuse people to conclude as to how the Western diet causes disease, such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Pollan disagrees with any type theory and instead blames the food and health industries who take advantage of new theories but do not to fix the problem of the Western diet. In turn, not only does he suggest people spending more time and money on better food choices, but he also proposes many tips to eat better, as well as a rule that will allow Americans climb out of the Western diet: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants (Pollan,
Proper nutrition is important in maintaining a long and healthy life. Most Americans are rushed due to their busy work schedules, and do not take the time to plan their diets properly. Like me, most Americans are unaware of the importance of eating a healthy diet and consuming too many foods without the proper nutrients. Throughout my life, I have been fortunate. I have not had any major health problems, and have been able to consume most foods without having to worry about gaining weight.
Nutritionism is an ideology that believes that the nutrients in foods are the key to understanding them. Nutritionism believers are so focused on the nutrients that food contains that they forget about all other aspects of food. The problem is that consumers rely on packaging to tell them what nutrients a food provides, since nutrients cannot be obviously seen, and they rely on science to tell us what nutrients are good and which are “evil”.
It is important to study diet of different cultures in anthropology because food is essential in human existence. Food is insufficient commodity and thus offers a good platform for debate and advancing anthropological theories and research methods (Hockett & Haws, 2003). In addition, the study of diet brings about light on societal processes like political economic value creation, social construction of memory as well as symbolic value creation (Dirks & Hunter, 2013). This topic has created a good arena for debating cultural and historical importance in relationship to structural and symbolic explanations of human behavior. Through this, it is possible to
The poor food choices that men and women make is the cause of many illnesses, disease and chronic health conditions. Men and women generally have different thoughts and choices on the topic of healthy food. People’s bad health may be genetically occurred or their exposure to their past nutritional education was not helpful, but their bad health is primarily based upon the poor choices that the individuals choose in daily life.
Many people in America, from toddlers to the elderly, have shown numerous signs of bad health. People have the desire to keep on eating due to more, new things being merchandised as “new and improved items” from the producers. For example, nowadays, people are eating pure junk that they find satisfying on the grocery food shelf. As, stated by Michael Pollan, in his article, “Eat Food: Food Defined” he affirmed that “real food is the type of things that our
Americans foster many different views about how we should eat: non-fat, low-fat, low-carb, Adkins style, etc. But which is the right way? The misconceptions vary greatly and spread across a large area. What has been ingrained in people as children may be wrong in its assumptions about diet. For example, is it surprising that non-fat diets are actually worse for you than eating a healthy amount of fat each day? The food pyramid teaches the method o...
The three paradoxes of what people consume which include pleasure-displeasure, health-illness, and life-death. The positive aspects include pleasure and health, which are surrounded by satiety needed for energy and the continuation of life. The negative aspects of the paradox include displeasure and illness, which entails the ending of death. The paradoxes of food decide whether or not the consumer gains nutrients from what they are eating, or what they eat kills them. The way of coping with the pleasure-displeasure paradox can be found in traditional diet that has a narrow diet that is stable and doesn’t vary to ensure life and pleasure as a result of consuming the food. Health illness is coped by traditional combinations and preparations. While life-death uses the rituals of killing and thanking the food source to cope with the paradox. Modern day food processing has brought the human race away from the above paradoxes. When discussing the changing landscape of changing the changing food system, the questions that arrive are how foods are best altered to positively affect the human race. These trans-scientific questions, questions that scientists raise, but cannot answer yet about the changing food system, is the driving force of research into food. However, the problems with these