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In Michael Pollan’s “The End of Cooking” shares the message of what we are losing something important in this day and age because of all our pre-made and processed foods. This can be compared with Kothari’s “If You Are What You Eat, What Am I?” and her argument that food is part of one’s own identity. By using the examples from these two texts you can analyze the state of food and culture in the United States today. All of the processed and pre-made foods are causing people all across America to lose their sense of Culture. We no longer know what it’s like to make one of our cultures specialty dishes from scratch which can help people identify with their culture. This process helped newer generations see what it was like for those before them to cook on a daily basis and could help them identify your sense of culture. …show more content…
For her food ended up being one of the most important parts of her own personal identity and was the source of distress for her as a child. As a child she wants to fit in with her friends at school by eating American foods and she has concerns as to whether she is really her parent’s daughter or not. However, later in life she finds that the she doesn’t like most of the American foods and finds herself wanting to cook the traditional dishes her mother used to make for her “One day, my parents will be gone, and I will long for the foods of my childhood”(Kothari
In Lavanya Ramanathan’s Washington Post article published in 2015 titled “Why everyone should stop calling immigrant food ‘ethnic’”, she discusses about people’s preconceptions on the type of food that should be labelled ethnic. Ashlie Stevens also touched on a similar topic in her Guardian article published in 2015 titled “Stop thinking and just eat: when ‘food adventuring’ trivializes culture”. She talks about how people assume that just by eating food from a certain culture, they are able relate to the culture as a whole. Both authors acknowledge the importance of appreciating authentic cuisines, but takes different approaches to convince the audience. Both authors establish credibility by using a wide range of substantiated evidences. While,
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.
Have you ever wanted something really badly, but couldn’t afford it? This is a common occurrence, but what about food? Have you ever went to be hungry because you couldn’t afford to eat? Unfortunately, Junior, the main character in the book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, felt exactly this way for food. Even though Junior didn’t have as many resources as the other “white kids,” he still chose to look at the positives. This novel shows that even in times of great hardship, people can still choose to have hope and look at the good in their lives.
Nutrition and health have become more popular in today 's society. Our generation is becoming more and more indebted to the idea of being healthy and eating nutritious meals. However, in “The American Paradox,” by Michael Pollan he argues that our unhealthy population is preoccupied with nutrition and the idea of eating healthy than their actual health. He also mentions the food industry, nutrition science and how culture affects the way we eat and make food choices. While Pollan is right about all these factor that affect our eating habits, there is more to it than that. Convenience, affordability and social influence also affects our food choices making them inadequate.
“Food as thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating,” is an article written by Mary Maxfield in response or reaction to Michael Pollan’s “Escape from the Western Diet”. Michael Pollan tried to enlighten the readers about what they should eat or not in order to stay healthy by offering and proposing a simple theory: “the elimination of processed foods” (443).
Establishing an identity has been called one of the most important milestones of adolescent development (Ruffin, 2009). Additionally, a central part of identity development includes ethnic identity (ACT for Youth, 2002). While some teens search for cultural identity within a smaller community, others are trying to find their place in the majority culture. (Bucher and Hinton, 2010)The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian chronicles Junior’s journey to discovery of self. As with many developing teens, he finds himself spanning multiple identities and trying to figure out where he belongs. “Traveling between Reardan and Wellpinit, between the little white town and the reservation, I always felt like a stranger. I was half Indian in one place and half white in the other” (p.118). On the reservation, he was shunned for leaving to go to a white school. At Reardon, the only other Indian was the school mascot, leaving Junior to question his decision to attend school he felt he didn’t deserve. Teens grappling with bicultural identities can relate to Junior’s questions of belonging. Not only is Junior dealing with the struggle between white vs. Indian identities, but with smaller peer group identities as well. In Wellpinit, Junior is th...
Geeta Kothari’s “If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?” shares a personal story of a young woman’s efforts to find her identity as she grows up in a culture different than her parents. Kothari retells memories from her childhood in India, as well as her experiences as an American student. Kothari uses food as a representation of culture, and she struggles to appreciate her parent’s culture, often wishing that she was like the American children. Kothari’s tone changes as she comes to realize the importance of maintaining connections to her Indian culture. Originally published in a Kenyon College magazine, Kothari’s main audience was originally student based, and she aimed to give her young readers a new perspective to diversity. Through the
In this book, Pollan focuses a lot on the culture that surrounds the eating habits of today’s society in America. He talks about how we come from a culture that was primarily dependent on the hunting and gathering of our food. Pollan explains that through the years, Americans have turned away from providing for themselves in exchange for quicker and more convenient meals. I believe that America has evolved into a fast paced way of living. This has inhibited today’s society from having optimal time to prepare and even sit down to enjoy their meals. These cultural changes have led to a higher consumption rate of processed and fast foods. Almost anywhere you go, you can find a find a fast food restaurant or chain. With all of these arising opportunities, today’s culture has created a very unhealthy nation filled with sickness and disease. Pollan states that three out of every five Americans are overweight and one out of every five is obese. When compared to American culture before processed and fast food were ever an option, issues and diseases related to weight were almost non-existent. The people that lived before our modernized culture had to expend a greater amount of energy on hunting and tracking their prey, sometimes even ending up empty handed. However, when compared to today’s culture a surplus of food is available to people in exchange for much smaller energy expenditures.
Eric Schlosser’s best-seller, Fast Food Nation: The Dark side of the All American Meal, was first published in 2001. The main dilemma of the book is whether we are what we eat, and the author approaches this issue in a rather interesting way.
Food has always been a large part of identifying an individual in US history. Food is something that we can’t live without because we need it to maintain life and growth. Within a larger country such as America, many different ethnic groups come in and are able to bring their own cultural ways and practices regarding food. It doesn’t matter whether it was voluntarily or involuntary for the individual or group to come into the nation they are still able to declare their identity with food. It is not a secret that America has many different groups of people living in the country, with that in mind foodway deals greatly in shaping identities of many Americans. Through foodway people can show their identity to their ethnic and racial groups. Ever since the first immigrants came to the America the idea of America having one particular foodway to shape their identity was no more. Native American and African enslaved people food traditions are linked to American’s food identity.
I was born in one of the countries in Asia, and our staple food is rice. Rice is always at the center of the table, and the rest of the viand surrounds it. Here in the United States, my household still eat rice every day, accompanied by cooked vegetables and meat. My food choices are influenced by culture and family. Vegetables and fruits of my choice are abundant at the International Market and other Asian grocery stores. Vegetables are also available for a cheaper price at the farmers market. I myself buy these foods to ensure its freshness, prepare and cook them for my entire family. Inspired by Asian and American cuisine, our food is prepared with variety of cooking styles; such as dry like barbecues, baked and fried, with sauce
Food is an important part of popular culture, and the beliefs, practices, and trends in a culture affect its eating practices. The proportion of money spent on food eaten away from home, as well as the number of restaurants, has been increasing since the second half of the twentieth century. People may dine at formal, sit-down restaurants, at fast-food eateries, at cafes, or they may purchase food from street vendors. There has been an “Americanization” of diets through the growth of fast-food restaurants.
American culture is changing dramatically. In some areas it’s a good thing, but in other areas, like our food culture, it can have negative affects. It is almost as if our eating habits are devolving, from a moral and traditional point of view. The great America, the land of the free and brave. The land of great things and being successful, “living the good life.” These attributes highlight some irony, especially in our food culture. Is the American food culture successful? Does it coincide with “good living”? What about fast and processed foods? These industries are flourishing today, making record sales all over the globe. People keep going back for more, time after time. Why? The answer is interestingly simple. Time, or in other words, efficiency. As people are so caught up in their jobs, schooling, sports, or whatever it may be, the fast/processed food industries are rapidly taking over the American food culture, giving people the choice of hot
Is American identity and food a blessing or a curse? Do you know what’s in your food before it goes in your child’s mouth? Do you know what G.M.O’s are? Today, there are so many avenues to get something to eat from fast food, food trucks, and even restaurants. People are finding new way to eat healthier, be more aware of what they eat, and changing their lifestyle when it comes to food. In mainstream culture, celebrities like Beyoncé, Prince, and Ariana Grande have glamorized this new diet, creating a fad behind this movement. Vegetarians and vegans are the characteristics best associated with the divine food ideology of treating animals with respect. Similarly, our origin of food is formed
However, as humanity is changing, humans are reshaping the way they define themselves. Consequently, today, people are defining their identity more from the food they consume other than past social responsibilities as they used to do generations ago (Morawski, 2008). For centuries now, food refinement is continuing to occur, which has inspired innovative researchers to engage in more refinement of food, which has led to the development of food science and technology to measure and the instrument nature of the food (Morawski, 2008).