Michael Pollan’s solutions to the industrialized food system are to turn inward focusing on individual action that insulates people from the larger and more problematic food supply chain. However, the choices that people can make about their food do not exist in a vacuum; there political and economic forces that constrain what individuals are able to do in terms of… Read more »
As a student, I don’t have the money to buy most of my food from farmer’s markets or small businesses that source their foods locally. I can get food from larger chains like Safeway, which sell food (especially produce) at a lower price because it’s part of a food system that relies on exploitation of labor and of the environment… Read more »
Michael Pollan claims that “the human animal is well adapted to a great many different diets, and the Western diet isn’t one of them” (Pollan 11) in his book “In Defense of Food”. The Western diet is another way of saying processed food. Pollan explains how a group of doctors visited different countries to get feedback on people who have… Read more »
President Trump has recently been considering the possibility of a U.S. involved Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which has surprised many domestic and international actors. Initially, Trump determined that the deal would hurt American farmers, but now that the U.S. is on the brink of a trade war with China, he feels pressure to reevaluate the TPP: “the president started to change… Read more »
Since the 2017 fall quarter, my friends and I have been working out regularly at the IMA, putting in about 1-2 hours every day. There, we often overhear conversations about fats, carbs, and proteins. We also talk about food a lot, and we never realized we acquired a different way of talking and thinking when it comes to food. What… Read more »
One of the solutions that Pollan gives in his book for eating better and living a more healthful lifestyle is to buy locally from farmers markets rather than from supermarkets. Initially, upon reading this, I felt as if I could make this change in my own life, as I’ve shopped at farmers markets in the past. However what Pollan and… Read more »
Food has meant many different things to me at different times in my life. It has been a joy as I gather around for birthday dinner with my extended family, an annoyance as I scarf down a Clif bar between classes, a wonder as I pull a baby beet from the wet earth. I had yet to view food as… Read more »
Buying products marked “green” or “eco-friendly” may promote our culture’s emphasis on environmental sustainability, ensuring demands placed on the environment do not surpass what it is capable of fulfilling for present and future generations, as a value. However, the result of purchasing based on environmental claims is often the opposite of an individual’s intent. Environmental claims for products are not… Read more »
Regardless of what foods we eat or diets we follow, we all have something in common: we’re all consumers. None of us are plants, we can’t survive off of sunlight (unless plants are pretending to be humans, in which case we have bigger things to worry about than our diets), we need food to survive, and you can bet food… Read more »
In his book In Defense of Food, Pollan talks about how Americans have lost faith in what their mothers are telling them to eat and are placing greater trust in food scientists. The relationship of breaking food down to its carbs, sugars, and nutrients is not proving beneficial for consumers of the western diet. Who can we trust when deciding what to… Read more »