Industrial Food System

A Living System at Each Level

Image Source: http://www.rnl3.net/ILSDWeb/images_videos/Drawings/Relationships__2.gif

Each component of the global food system depends on a healthy planet. What is a healthy planet? It is not just the absence of air pollution, global warming, landfills, deforestation, oil spills, etc. A healthy planet, and therefore a healthy global...Read More »


Making Aquaculture Sustainable…

 

“Aquaculture is a rapidly growing, highly valued and extremely important sector of the seafood industry. It is predicted that by 2030 it will account for more than 60% of global seafood production” (Dowle et al.).

There are two basic forms of aquaculture, extensive systems and intensive systems.  Extensive systems are powered...Read More »


Industrial Farming

Industrial farming has had an enormous impact on our environment and the world food system. In Leo Horrigan’s chapter in the May 2002 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives he stated, “Industrial agriculture depends on expensive inputs from off the farm (e.g., pesticides and fertilizer), many of which generate wastes that...Read More »


Feminism and Food

It might seem a bit random, but the reading that we have done thus far in class has actually brought to mind for me feminist issues. One might not think that feminism and food have much to do with each other, but I see a direct link to it in...Read More »


Industrial Meat Production

The current model for industrial meat production is not sustainable and severely damaging to the environment. At the current time about 30% of the world’s ice-free surface is used to grow crops that support industrial livestock (Time).  Most of this feed is grown using mono-cropping techniques on large...Read More »


The definition of order, and buying bread

 

One of the most interesting parts of this week’s readings was the video on order. The video described order as the less information it takes to describe something the more ordered it is. For example, in the video there are two metal bars one hot and one cold....Read More »


Does "Voting with Our Dollar" Really Make a Difference?

Both Michael Maniates’s “Individualization: Plant a Tree, Ride a Bike, Save the World?” and the book from our previous lesson, Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food grapple with issues covered in systems theory- albeit in very different ways. Pollan’s book dismantles the reductionist theories that are ever-so-present in “nutritionism,” saying...Read More »


Thoughts on In Defense of Food

 

This was a very interesting lesson, I have been trying to eat healthier and learn about nutrition this past year. After reading the book many of the questions I had about health became clear. For example, why are there so many differing opinions on health? Because...Read More »


Got Milk, Anyone?

I was a child of a single father whose signature dishes included boxed mac’ and cheese with hotdogs and ramen noodle stir-fry. McDonald dinners were a regular occurrence. I carried this diet into my young adulthood. After taking a nutrition class during my first year in college, I...Read More »


A Relationship Worth Saving

“Kale for Sale” – Photo by Michael Kostors

As a professional chef, avid world traveler, and conscious global citizen, analyzing the industrialization of food is of particular interest to me, and equal parts fascinating and disturbing. Humans’ relationship to the food they eat, for...Read More »


The Sustainability of Food that We Miss

Food is one of the basic needs of everyone. The problem here is when food becomes so integrated into the industrialized process, people forget to understand the ethics behind what they are doing. While I appreciate how the industrialization process as an important notion in providing for the many, I...Read More »


Planting a Seed of Truth

You’d Think It’s Butter!

Consciously or unconsciously, science, like a religion, requires a leap of faith to be allowed to guide our life. In the case of food culture, the public has been blinded by food science; what we really need is the nutrients...Read More »


What is in a Meal?

The past couple weeks of our lessons have inspired me to think about how much of our current diet is necessary. I have wondered if we need all the food we are eating and if we do, are we even get enough nutrition from the food in an average American...Read More »


Constraints

When starting this course, I had a rough understanding of the food culture and how it has been changing over the years.  After reading Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food, I quickly realized that we are in the midst of a change that is leaving population of the world more...Read More »


Why Should We Fear Fake Food?

The industrialization of the world food system evolved the way we produce food on a large scale and has shaped the modern day perception of the Western diet. Since the creation of preservatives we have been able to keep more food on shelves for much longer periods of time, if...Read More »


Reductionist Science in Nutritionism

In analyzing this week’s materials what stands out the most for me is the concept and practice of reductionist science in nutritionism. While I recognize in myself a belief and/or trust in science and it’s processes, I am concerned about the limited nature of reductionist science, or the breaking down...Read More »


The Economics Of Food

“Apparently it’s easier, or at least a lot more profitable, to change a disease of a civilization into a lifestyle than it is to change the way that civilization eats.” Michael PollanIn Defense Of Food

Read More »

Late to the Game

Like many Americans, I too spend a lot of time considering my food intake, and our collective food systems. I look forward to focusing my pondering, and hearing from peers, on  the topics of nutrition education and food politics.

...Read More »

Back to the farm

Figure 1 “Click Americana: Memories and Memorabilia.” This is Click Americana. Synchronista LLC. Web. June 24th, 2017. http://clickamericana.com/topics/food-drink/have-a-summer-spree-with-lipton-onion-soup-mix-1966

What was my grandmother eating? This is the question posed by Michael Pollan’s book, and is a query I found myself investigating. For me, I transposed the question...Read More »


Blog Post 1

During this week’s crash course in the industrialization of food there have been a few things that have given me pause to consider. I graduated high school at the age of 18, weighing 310 pounds, with absolutely zero idea of nutrition. Currently at 28 I stay around 215 pounds,...Read More »