Comparing The End Of Cooking And Why Mcdonald's Fries Taste So Good

The essays “The End of Cooking?” by Michael Pollan and “Why McDonald's Fries Taste so Good” by Eric Schlosser and the documentary Food, Inc. directed by Robert Kenner are all three very effective in how they get their message across to their audience, but each one is very different in how the material is presented. The End of Cooking? focuses on how pre-packaged food and the fast food industry have changed the way Americans cook and is told in a very conversational manner. Why McDonald's Fries Taste so Good feature is more in depth as it features how both artificial and natural flavors were both developed and used to enhance foods. Food, Inc. is a documentary about agribusiness and details how the industrial farms produce food that is unhealthy for people to eat, bad for the environment and how the companies are abusive to animals and the people hired to work on the farms.

Pollan and Schlosser's essays both deal with the food industry but the information given and the manner in which its presented is not at all similar.

Schlosser's essay starts off by telling us why McDonald's fries taste so good to us. Its an almost universal theme because who among us has never eaten a french fry from McDonald's. He then tells us how in an attempt to make them healthier the beef tallow used in the cooking oil was replaced and an artificial flavoring was added to the fries to make them still taste the same. Through the essay, he tossed in tidbits to keep our interest while presenting his evidence such as how grape flavoring was discovered. Pollan's essay is almost wistful as he details how he would watch Julia Child cooking on television with his mother and then is concerned that Food Network is “turning cooking into a spectator sport.” Schlosser's essay is informative whereas Pollan's is almost

confrontational.
In both essays and the documentary, the audience is clearly the American populace and I was most certainly one of the intended audience because quite frankly, I hadn't a clue that the things done to our foods, the way out of season vegetables are ripened, the way the livestock is abused, the effects of growth hormones on our children, how corn is in nearly every product we buy, how natural and artificial flavorings enhance our foods, sometimes to our detriment, and what all this is doing to the environment. I admit, I have sat with hunger pangs watching Guy Fieri's Diner's Drive-Ins and Dives, I have porked out on McDonald's in my mad dash from class to work, and “free range chicken” and “grass fed beef” were just empty phrases. Now I know; now I am aware. If I felt any exclusion at all, it would be that eating healthy is much more expensive but I am going to take strides to try to eat better and to present my daughter healthier choices.
I can honesty say that I had no preconceived notions about this topic, or towards either essay or the documentary. I was a clean slate and a virtual sponge to the material. In think I may have been aware, to some extent, about the conditions of the industrial farms but I had no concept of just how unsanitary and dangerous the conditions are. I don't really think Food Network is Big Satan like Michael Pollan does, and I think that often its helpful to aspiring cooks because the programs de-mystify cooking. You watch Giada making spaghetti bolognese and think “hey, I can do that!” And yes, Kitchen Stadium on Iron Chefs is high drama, but Food Network also has an feed the children campaign called “No Kid Hungry.”
My reaction to the essays and the documentary are easily summed up into one word – horrified. Schlosser was a little more entertaining in how he horrified, and Pollan used a conversational tone as he tosses around the names of Food Network programs and chefs . The matter of fact and soft-spoken way that Food, Inc. presented the almost unspeakable material, which was narrated by Pollan and Schlosser, was the worst. I had no idea I was being kept in the dark about something so important. I can see why industrial farms have no windows because if you could see what is going on inside the barns, you'd never eat meat again. I was not aware of the virtual “crap” that is finding its way into my food. I didn't know the true meanings of the phrases we see tossed around like “grass fed” and “free range.” I don't think I will ever eat another Smithfield product, and I didn't have a clue that McDonald's really started it all with their mass production of food.
As consumers we need to be more aware of what we're putting in our bodies and what the companies are putting into the environment. The essays by Pollan and Schlosser were informative about telling us how the concept of cooking has changed, and how in an attempt to make things better, we're often making them worse, but Food, Inc. actually ended its message with things we can do. As Springsteen mournfully sang “This Land is Your Land” blazoned across the screen were options including buying from companies that treat workers, animals and the environment with respect, buying foods that are in season, buying organic, reading labels and becoming familiar with what the list of ingredients are, supporting your local growers, buying from farmer's markets, and planting a garden – even if its a small one. I think these essays, and especially the videos and the documentary have changed my life, and I know it will be changed for the better.