It’s amazing how many different places our food comes from. We don’t think about it because it’s so easy to take it for granted – we eat food every day. But the entire process is insane. Suppliers, producers, resellers, transporters, and more. (full size image here) Now look at the supply chain for Annie’s Mac n Cheese. (full size image… Read more »
In the 1940s processed foods began their rise to prominence in the American diet. Foods that used to be too expensive for the average consumer suddenly became readily available to them. Although Americans were better able to feed themselves, rates of malnutrition and other new illnesses began to rise. To combat this, producers started supplementing their nutrient stripped foods with… Read more »
Claims from nutritionists and scientists that our diets are missing key nutritional content is one of the largest factors driving the supplement industry. The supplement industry feeds off of these statements to push their alleged health claims on the public, and consumers often dogmatism approach to health makes it even easier to sell their supplement products (whether or not they’re… Read more »
My previous understanding of the holistic consequences of the Western diet was drastically challenged by Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food. Specifically, Pollan argues that analyzing the Western diet in terms of the chemical compounds of separate nutrients does not fully represent the habits and norms of the food culture itself. Often, the harmful effects of the tendencies of Western… Read more »
Sociology professor Andrew Szasz came up with the term “inverted quarantine” to describe people who seek to isolate themselves from exterior ecological threats by way of individualizing environmental responsibility. Similarly, according to Michael Maniates, Americans think that the environment can be spared as a result of smart consumer action done by individuals. Such an idea is also the main focus… Read more »
Apathy: one of the biggest issues facing the fulfillment of our shared civic responsibility. People don’t think that their vote or their action can make a difference, and thus they don’t utilize their individual power to spark change. That being said, this week’s readings and lectures have caused me to— rightfully so— question the individualistic rhetoric surrounding apathy. The juxtaposition… Read more »
In his book In Defense of Food, Pollan discusses the shift from food culture to food science in the Western world. Food culture is complex, and can have many different definitions largely revolving around the different perceptions of food. Food science jump-started in the US, which ties into mostly historical, and somewhat current, political, wealth, and socio-economic aspects. The combination… Read more »
We live in a very fast pace world and free time is often hard to come by. Most Americans are working up to 40 hours a week if not more. The process of purchasing and cooking a healthy whole foods meal as Michael Pollan the author of In Defense of Food suggests takes both time and labor. It is much… Read more »
Michael Pollan introduces the concept of “nutritionalism,” in his book In Defense of Food. Nutritionalism is the ideology of placing value on the individual nutrients of food vs. focusing on the food themselves. This modern wave of thinking has allowed the populous to be more nutritionally conscious, but also opened a can of new concerns. When we think about food… Read more »
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 »