The Omnivore's Dilemma Summary

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Food plays a pivotal role in our everyday lives, yet so much about the production of it goes overlooked. There is plenty of literature that attempts to shine a light on these secrets. From Belasco’s Why Study Food, he lays out the premise of a “food triangle” highlighting identity, convenience, and responsibility guiding our food-related decisions to Micheal Pollan’s detailed description of the processes of our popularly produced items, these informative resources are often not encountered. Most people are blissfully unaware of all that goes into their classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich and Tastykake lunches. Educators deal with the effects of food choices, like this lunch staple, every day. Receiving proper education about the food industry …show more content…

Taking a look at any snack label, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, or maltodextrins are likely to be listed under the ingredients. In Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, he dives deeper into the process of corn from the plant to the processing factory. A crop that started as a sacred piece of the Mayan heritage has now turned into a genetically modified commodity for today's farmers. Taking on these newest innovations in corn kernels has become necessary for farmers to produce more and more yields that can then fuel our many food options. The “golden river” of corn is so immense, and, after a certain point, off limits to public scrutiny. Large corporate companies that handle corn choose to keep their processes secretive, which can only lead one to infer unfavorable outcomes from such processes. These are the secrets that are filling lunch boxes across the country. Knowing both the guiding pillars of our food choices and the means of processing our meals, educating more people on this subject is so important. Teachers are dealing with classrooms full of children that are consuming these secrets every …show more content…

Although not all students may not have the ability to make healthier food decisions, informing students about all of the ingredients that go into their favorite foods that they cannot even pronounce is already a monumental step in informing a larger population on this topic. Even a quick lesson within a gym or health course does enough to familiarize students with the dangers of overly processed foods. Guiding students towards making more nutritionally beneficial decisions, like opting for fresh produce and limiting processed foods, is invaluable to guiding them towards a healthier life overall. Educators encounter the effects of nutrition everyday in the classroom without the proper knowledge of healthy eating. Across cultures, ages, and locations, three basic pillars of choosing food remain the same: identity, convenience, and responsibility. These guide us to pick up a snack or make a meal whenever hunger strikes. Then, looking deeper into the food that we picked, it all boils down to the simple ingredient of corn. As we stuff ourselves with corn based calories, the students of today are consuming this as

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