Escaping nutritionism, the Western diet, and avoiding processed food is not as simple as it may seem. Factors that control what you eat include financial status, time, location, and knowledge. Financial status alone plays a large role in what people can and do eat on a daily basis. The food system in the U.S. is designed to increase yields to… Read more »
Something that Michael Pollan talks about in his book In Defense of Food, and something that I feel we don’t discuss enough is nutritionism, and what that actually is. Nutritionism is really just breaking down food into the little ingredients that make it up, and what you’re actually get from your food, such as protein, fat, sugar, etc. I find… Read more »
Nutritionism, a food ideology described in Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food, is an inaccessible notion of food justice that isolates middle and lower-class consumers. Pollan describes nutritionism as a relatively revolutionary new way of thinking about eating food, especially as this reductionist approach translates meals into scientifically calculated intake. Pollan even says nutritionism “might be the best thing ever… Read more »
Food: when you hear the word, what do you think of? A favorite food, or a reason to be social? Or do you instead think of food as a barrier to your health–do you view food strictly in terms of carbs and calories? Michael Pollan, a famous author, journalist, and professor, tells us in his book, In Defense of Food, we may… Read more »
What is food? Is food something made with purely natural ingredients? Can it just be a product with nutritional qualities? The sole definition of “food,” has drastically evolved throughout the recent years due to industrialization. Michael Pollan argues that the mass production of these fake food-like products ultimately damages the American food industry, hoping that we “avoid food products that… Read more »
I work at a bar, so I see how much the sugary drink tax affects consumers and business. We have to charge an extra $1 when people want a chaser for a shot. A cup of pineapple juice is $4 and a vodka redbull will be $9 (redbull on its own is $5!). Now, alcohol and drinking culture is… Read more »
Michael Pollan paints a comprehensive and convincing picture of the industrialized food system with his book “In Defense of Food”. However, despite his references to economic determinism, “Thousands of plant and animal varieties have fallen out of commerce…as industrial agriculture has focused its attention on…high yielding (and usually patented) varieties” (116); he offers no tangible or actionable solutions to the… Read more »
The integration of food and the economic market has made for an interesting paradigm within global food systems. To this end, food systems revealed themselves to be a more complex interaction between people and their environment (economic, ecological, or otherwise). Though I did not agree with all of Michael Pollan’s arguments throughout Part III, or the whole book for that… Read more »
One of the most striking aspects of the discussion surrounding nutrition and “buying green” was about how we are lulled into a false sense of security and fulfillment based on the products we consume. In Michael Pollan’s book, In Defense of Food, and in this article by Jennifer McNulty, the idea of how we consume is explored and there are significant connections… Read more »
Due to my experience growing up in the emerging fast food industry period in Vietnam. Nutritionism is not only the problem in the United States but also in developing countries, Southeast Asia, Vietnam. Recently, Vietnam’s first McDonald’s restaurant officially opened in 2014, a vast of people lined up to try the most iconic American meal. The McDonald restaurants also offer… Read more »