In Praise Of Natural Food Vs. Fast Food By Rachel Laudan

Natural Food versus Fast Food In her essay “In Praise of Fast Food”, Rachel Laudan discusses the differences between natural and processed foods and which are healthier. She also discussed her personal experiences with the topic. Laudan knows a great deal about this particular debate because she grew up on a farm eating “natural foods” as well as using natural recipes herself. “My culinary style, like so many people’s, was created by those who scorned industrialized food; culinary Luddites” (Laudan 331). She does not, however, completely agree that all natural foods are healthier than processed foods, using history as a large part of her argument. This essay had a very clear motive and made numerous key points about this debate, making it

The author tells the audience that she grew up being taught to “sweep our cupboards clean forever of the cluttering debris of commercial sauce bottles and all synthetic aids to flavoring.’” (Laudan 331). She tells us that she grew up around these “Luddites” but “as a historian”, she “cannot accept the account of the past implied by this (Luddite) movement: the sunny, rural days of yore contrasted with the gray industrial present.” (Laudan 332). Later in this paragraph, she comments “I believe, that the Luddites have it back

She argues that even to our ancestors, “natural was something quite nasty” and that “natural often tasted bad.” (Laudan 332). The author makes a good point in saying that “natural was often indigestible” and that grains “often had to be “threshed, ground, and cooked to make them edible.” (Laudan 332). Laudan makes the point that almost no food is all natural, saying “to make food tasty, safe, digestible, and healthy, our forebears bred, ground, soaked, leached, curdled, fermented, and cooked naturally occurring plants and animals until they were literally beaten into submission.” (Laudan 333). By saying this, Laudan makes a very strong point, naming process after process that even our ancestors used to make food not only desirable, but digestible. The author again relies on history when she says, “When the ancient Greeks took it as a sign of bad times if people were driven to eat greens and root vegetables, they were rehearsing common wisdom.” (Laudan 333). Laudan’s background as a historian immensely strengthens her