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Importance of organic agriculture
Importance of organic farming
Importance of organic agriculture
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The second our spoons come near our mouths, we instantly start to think about indulging in the deliciousness that is our food; however, we don’t tend to think beyond the taste of our food as we should. Nearly all of us do not take a moment out of our dinner to think in depth about all the details of what went into producing our food. Wendell Berry and Michael Pollan would agree that when people look at their food, they do not stop to think about the life it had, the ingredients that went into it, the effects it may have on our health and the environment, or the shady business behind it all. We have become a prey in this society as we don’t realize how we are being fooled and unknowingly participating in the destruction of the world and ourselves. …show more content…
You can start out by looking into the ingredients of the foods you are eating and ask yourself if you are familiar with the ingredients; if you aren 't familiar then perhaps it is an exceptional idea to not eat it anymore. A rule of thumb, according to Michael Pollan, is that if it has more than 5 ingredients, then it must be nowhere near as pure as it should be (12). Don’t eat anything your great, great, great grandmother wouldn’t recognize (Pollan 12). We should all try to eat as many whole foods as possible and one way that will guarantee that you are eating as simple as possible is by going to your local farmers markets and purchasing your foods there (Pollan 15). It is an excellent way to avoid unwanted artificial ingredients and preservatives and push yourself to cook your own meals. Berry would agree that it is an excellent idea to grow your own food so that you know exactly how it is grown and if any chemicals were sprayed onto them. When it comes to the lives of the animals, it is important that you sympathize for them considering they are essentially living creatures, as you and I, who are killed for you to eat them. Whenever possible, try to obtain your meats from farms you know where these animals lived a blissful, healthy life. If you take all these tips and follow them through, you are sure to create a
In the article by Wendell Berry titled “The Pleasures of Eating” he tries to persuade the readers of the necessity and importance of critical thinking and approach to choosing meals and owning responsibility for the quality of the food cooked. He states that people who are not conscious enough while consuming products, and those who do not connect the concept of food with agricultural products, as people whose denial or avoidance prevents them from eating healthy and natural food. Berry tries to make people think about what they eat, and how this food they eat is produced. He points to the aspects, some which may not be recognized by people, of ethical, financial and
Michael Pollan states in his article “Escape from the Western diet”, three simple rules to follow to obtain a healthy lifestyle, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants” (426). The food industry and medical community manipulate us to believe we are escaping the Western diet but to only find out that we are right back to where we started. Pollan provides some easy rules of thumb so that we aren’t caught up in the latest trends or diets but instead develop some eating boundaries that seem simple to follow on an everyday basis. Personally for me, following these rules can seem hard in some aspects but also easy in others because factors like role models when I was a kid, living situation and cooking skills effect my ability to follow the three
In the documentary, Food Inc., we get an inside look at the secrets and horrors of the food industry. The director, Robert Kenner, argues that most Americans have no idea where their food comes from or what happens to it before they put it in their bodies. To him, this is a major issue and a great danger to society as a whole. One of the conclusions of this documentary is that we should not blindly trust the food companies, and we should ultimately be more concerned with what we are eating and feeding to our children. Through his investigations, he hopes to lift the veil from the hidden world of food.
In the book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan challenges his readers to examine their food and question themselves about the things they consume. Have we ever considered where our food comes from or stopped to think about the process that goes into the food that we purchase to eat every day? Do we know whether our meat and vegetables picked out were raised in our local farms or transported from another country? Michael pollen addresses the reality of what really goes beyond the food we intake and how our lives are affected. He does not just compel us to question the food we consume, but also the food our “food” consumes.
He says this has partly stemmed from the fact that food is so heavily doctored in media and advertisement that we fail to appreciate the individuality of it. He also states that most consumers wouldn’t want to know where their food came from as it would just make them feel bad. He then goes on to start providing solutions for the problems we face. One major way to eat responsibly is for one to grow their own food. This allows one to become acquainted with how food is really produced and really appreciate it as a labor of love. Another key thing Berry mentions is the preparation of one’s own food. One should be able to cook as it is cheaper and again makes one closer to what they are eating. A last main point is one properly learning the history of their food. He states this is all important because one can then truly enjoy all parts
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
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.
“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).
Pollan states that food is not just a necessity to survive, it has a greater meaning to life. Pollan explains how food can cause us happiness and health by connecting us to our family and culture. Warren Belasco, in “Why Study Food”, supports Pollan’s idea that food is something social and cultural. In Belasco’s description of a positive social encounter food is included, whether it involves a coffee date with a colleague or a dinner date with a loved one. Belasco states that food forms our identity and brings our society together.
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In the book, “Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals” by Michael Pollan, Pollan writes about the mad-made problems associated with our food chain that compromise the quality of the food we eat. The journey was from the industrial farms of Iowa and feedlots in Kansas to organic farms and slaughter houses in Virginia to finally, the supermarkets in which we all shop at. Pollan not only traced the ecological path of food from cultivation to consumption but also the evolutionary path of our diet over the years. His points show how we as humans have so many dietary options but so little information about what we should eat and where our food comes from.
As obesity and medical problems due to diet become a larger issue within society, it is imperative to educate humans on the importance of maintaining a healthy diet. This is exactly what Hungry for Change does. One of the key points made in the documentary is that humans no longer eat a natural diet like their ancestors did; when humans first began to inhabit the Earth they lived off a diet of fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, and meats. During these periods famine and disease was rampant, so humans adapted to store nutrition more productively. Now that humans live in a more developed society, they have a (practically) unlimited supply of food. However, much of this food is processed and manipulated to have a better flavour and a longer shelf life, and though this sounds like a positive situation, it has become a huge problem. According to best-selling women’s health author Dr. Christine Northrup, “We’ve lived on Earth for a millennium where there was a food shortage. You’re programmed to put on fat whenever there is food available. Now there’s a lot of food available, but it’s the wrong kind.” (Northrup, as cited in Colquhoun et al., 2012). This is a logical and widely accepted theory as to why humans continue to overindulge on foods despi...
In Wendell Berry’s “The Pleasures of Eating,” this farmer tells eaters how their separation from food production has turned them into “passive consumers” who know nothing about the food they eat, or their part in the agricultural process (3). They are blindsided by a food industry that does not help them understand. Berry argues that the average consumer buys available food without any questions. He states consumers that think they are distanced from agriculture because they can easily buy food, making them ignorant of cruel conditions it went through to get on the shelf. Humans have become controlled by the food industry, and regard eating as just something required for their survival. Berry wants this to change as people realize they should get an enjoyment from eating that can only come from becoming responsible for their food choices and learning more about what they eat. While describing the average consumer’s ignorance and the food industry’s deceit, he effectively uses appeals to emotion, logic, and values to persuade people to take charge, and change how they think about eating.
Whenever I go out to eat, I always comb through the menu for specific words: shark, snake, grizzly, etc. It 's not that I don 't like more standard dishes. I love a good steak as much as the next guy, but that sort of thing just doesn 't excite me anymore. If I’m going to commit murder by eating meat, as the animal rights people say, I want my murder to count. I hunger for danger foods. By my definition, a danger food is any animal that can take me in a fair fight. The way I see it, if it could have killed me when it was alive, I get to eat it once it 's dead. In fact, it 's my civic duty to do so. For example, a shark could rip me apart with its rows of razor sharp teeth. Thus, I get to turn it into poop. The circle of life continues. A cow,
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