Category Archives: Week 1

Industry and Agriculture

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What I found interesting this week was the evolution of food systems, from it’s beginning to it’s present forms. The lifestyles of humans have evolved dramatically. In a hunter gatherer society, food was consumed as it was available, and groups would migrate to find more food resources once theirs become scarce. However, as these evolved into settlements and communities, humans began to deplete… Read more »

Initial Participation

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I am hoping this is the appropriate location for me to be making such a post. Holy classmates, I am well behind and catching up. Due to some sicknesses in the family, I have been distracted, but never fear, I will be running at pace beside you all soon. Until then here is my initial participation for week 1: I… Read more »

Eating more consciously

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Michael Pollan examines the rise of the concept of “nutritionism” and how it’s shaped our habits, attitudes, and relationship with food. He implies that this modern concept of eating stresses a reductionist perspective; that nutrition is not about a whole food, but it’s individual parts. Some of those parts are unhealthy, yes, but Americans do not need to shop only… Read more »

Sugar Addicts

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In Michael Pollan’s book, In Defense of Food, he makes a case for why we should get back to eating like our great-great grandparents.  The trendiness that has overcome the food industry has made us eat food that isn’t actually good for us just convenient for the food marketers and the journalists to promote.  One of the fads that he… Read more »

Farm Bill is more than just tractors, crops, and cows

This week’s explanation of our country’s Farm Bill touches on how our diet, welfare programs, and transportation are all directly effected by government administration. At first glance, one may notice that these characteristics make up a majority of this nation’s interests. Food for example, is more than just a life necessity, it’s also a social lubricant, thriving business, and leverage… Read more »

Regulatory Bipartisanship

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My primary takeaway from the course material this week was a greater understanding of the special interests and their interrelationships which have profoundly affected the American diet. The term “revolving door” comes to mind, interestingly so, as this term generally evokes images of the way industries such as finance and energy profoundly influence policymaking. In this case, however, the part… Read more »

Dogmatic Diets

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Michael Pollan suggests in his book In Defense of Food that our reliance on processed foods and obsession with fad diets is a kind of disordered eating – that we have become so far removed from the natural processes of creating food that we have lost touch with the need to consume whole, unaltered foods. His discussion of nutritionism posits… Read more »

A cultural conundrum

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Despite receiving some criticism on his book “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto”, Michael Pollan is quite passionate about the stance he has taken about food, nutrition, and the Western diet. Pollan points directly to unhealthy behaviors that many of us, to include myself, are guilty of, yet provides a straightforward solution. He says to, “Eat food. Not too… Read more »

Why Don’t You Eat Real Food?

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Almost everyone who has ever been a child in an industrialized nation can tell you that the above is not a question. It is the demand or encouragement, depending on your mother or maternal figure, issued to the dismay of all Cheetos deprived children at one point or another. But what is real food? Michael Pollan gives his answer in… Read more »