Small farming communities in developing nations struggle to survive in a global system built around cheap food. Farmers are competing against large “corporate” farms who have the ability to spend more, can sell production at a lower cost, and have access to technological resources. Systems, such as the government, influence the production, marketing, and success of small farms. For instance,… Read more »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
The United States wastes about half of all its produce. Millions of dollars and thousands of pounds of perfectly good food is left to spoil or thrown out prematurely. At the same time thousands of people face hunger and food insecurity daily. How can both these things be true? How can we seemingly have enough food to throw half of… Read more »
The root of our consumption of processed foods leads us back to our historic drive to consume sugar, salt, and fats, in order to sustain ourselves in an environment that was characterized by scarcity. Although globally we still have a staggering problem with hunger and malnutrition, in developed and food stable developing nations we no longer have the same scarcity… Read more »
When I think of experiences that stand out above the rest it includes: family or close friends, sometimes an activity, but the consistent element is almost always food. Michael Pollan explains in his book, In Defense of Food, that food in America can be seen as an item on our to-do list that needs to be checked off. However, in… Read more »
The trends of food system industrialization and nutritionism outlined by Michael Pollan in In Defense of Food have not diminished in the decade since its publication. Neither have the global social, political and economic forces driving those trends. Pollan outlines the bodily and environmental dangers that our new food landscape presents, making a compelling argument that our food needs defending…. Read more »
The industrialization of food has brought along with it billions of dollars of food marketing to get the shopper to spend that extra few dollar on the newest product. Pollan mentions that the food marketing industry has an annual budget of about thirty-two billion dollars (4). Along with the marketing being shown on television commercials, on billboards, there are more… Read more »