Reflection

The most important thing that I will take away from this course is the knowledge that I gained from my own introspection.  We were forced to consider our relationship with food from childhood to today and the foods we want to eat tomorrow.  I learned a considerable amount from thinking about what I eat and the health standards I hope to achieve.  I've realized how important food is in contributing to health and began to understand its impact on all aspects of my life.  From this course and other major events in my life I've begun to contemplate opening a restaurant at some point in my life.  Maybe I will even switch from the business track of things to going to culinary school.  Regardless of my studies, I will employ my new found knowledge to eat healthier and live happier.  In addition, the writing and research that we did taught me how to build upon past work.  This course effectively had us build upon our writing throughout.

Final Manifesto

Writ 1133: Eric Leake

Extended Essay 2: An Eater’s Manifesto

April 24, 2012

-       Zach Quinn

All Natural and Balanced

Though exercise and stress free mind are important for health, the food that we eat has the largest impact.  It comes down to what you put in is what you’re going to get out.  Taking into consideration what I’ve learned from documentaries, articles, books and conversations with others on the subject, I have narrowed down my beliefs on what I consider healthy eating.  To maintain good health in an era where corporations and marketing teams have taken over the food industry is difficult. Regardless, many still achieve it.  To do so, it is necessary to eat a balanced amount of the right nutrients, intake the appropriate amount of calories for your weight and exercise routine, and eat the whole ingredients rather than the processed ones.

Finding balance is the most important step to creating a healthy lifestyle.  Too much of anything is not good for you.  Sticking to only fruits and vegetables, which are the healthiest part of a meal, would leave you out of the nutrients provided by grains.  Humans are not simple organisms and for us to live long healthy lives we need a good balance of nutrients from different sources.  The United States Department of Agriculture maintains a website devoted to nutrition and health.  Though a “MyPlate” has replaced the classic food pyramid, the same principles remain.  The emphasis is on balance, with sections of the plate portioned out for vegetables, protein, fruits, grains, and dairy.  It aims to represent how much of each food group should be on your plate. (Herring) This is quite different advice from what specific diets will tell you to eat.  It seems every year that there are new diets marketed to consumers that consist of avoiding a specific nutrient.  Eating too much bread won’t be good for you but not eating carbohydrates altogether will have a similarly negative effect. 

Ignoring the current diet fads is a good idea.  Though some might help you to slim down, they don’t support good health.  We should be able to base our diets off of calorie intake and output.  No one will call Michael Phelps unhealthy, however, his calorie intake is extremely high.  Jon Henley, a writer for the Guardian writes in his article that Phelps consumes around 12,000 calories per day.  If you saw an average sized male that exercises 3 times a week, eat 14 eggs for breakfast; you might then see him go to back to bed right after.  Henley tried eating what Phelps eats as a challenge in writing his article.  Midway through lunch he wrote, “Afterwards, six colleagues pile in and eat their fill for lunch, and it still doesn't look like a dent has been made in the insane, obscene, illness-inducing mountain of food that America's 11-time gold medal winner ploughs through every single day of his life” (Henley 3) Phelps can consume his daily 12,000 calories without a problem because he burns them off in a work out.  A balanced diet is of course relative to the individual.  If people want to lose weight they should eat less or work out more, not choose the non-fat or sugar-free version.

An imbalance in the nutrients we take in is the main cause of obesity, heart disease and other illnesses.  Eating too much sugar, fat, or salt is the main dietary problem that we face.  That being said, why are we setting ourselves up to eat these in high concentration?  Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish and meat all come from nature and their nutrients are balanced the same way that they have been for thousands of years.  Though apples and bananas have sugar in them, they are still good for you because the concentration isn’t too high.  Fruit Loops Cereal and Coca-Cola on the other hand, are made with high fructose corn syrup, a scientifically produced sweetener that contains high levels of sugar.  Eat too many apples or bananas and you’ll probably start feeling sick before you’ve consumed more than your recommended daily intake of sugar.  If you drink two cokes on the other hand, this can be accomplished easily because of the high sugar concentration.

It is important not to replace healthy foods with junk processed material for the sake of losing weight.  Take into consideration the words all and natural.  These are two simple words that in recent times have been taken over by marketing teams for the food industry.  They have been placed in bold lettering on cereal boxes, jars of peanut butter and chips.  But what do these words really mean?  The Food and Drug Administration takes no responsibility in regulating what is necessary for a food to be “all natural.”  It becomes difficult to derive their meaning when corporations place these words wherever they please on processed foods and on foods that have been genetically modified.  What they should mean is something far different than what they are currently being used to describe. Mike Adams writes, “Anything derived from plants, animals or elements found on planet Earth could earn the ‘all natural’ label. The key is in understanding that it's the process that's unnatural, not the source. When you chemically or structurally alter food ingredients into a form that no longer appears anywhere in nature, it's no longer natural” (Adams 1).  Natural should imply that something originated from nature and all natural should imply that its important genetic features were left unaltered.  Given this, “all natural” should mean that aside from being chopped up, spiced, flavored, cooked, steamed, fried, or broiled, a food item has not been altered.  A study done by researchers in Netherlands concluded, “The idea of ‘naturalness’ can be used to characterize organic agriculture and to distinguish it from conventional agriculture, but only if naturalness not only refers to not using chemicals but also to ecological principles and respect for the integrity of life” (Verhoog 29). Though foods appearance and flavor should be able to change while remaining “all natural,” its nutrients and genetics should remain the same.  Adams humorously remarks, “Claiming MSG is natural because free glutamic acid appears in tomatoes is sort of like saying cocaine is natural because it's derived from ingredients found in the coca leaf” (Adams 1). 

We currently face a problem with how products are labeled but also with the processes behind them.  The industry is currently going on a binge of creating genetically modified plants and animals.  Imagine a scientist working to create avocados with less fat in them.  Maybe avocados contain too much of this nutrient but our response should not be to modify the genetics of avocados in an attempt to lessen its fat content.  If we take that route, we could potentially do something to ruin the avocado forever.  Instead people should choose to eat less of them or strive to get more exercise.  We’ve gotten to the point of reengineering the chicken to have bigger breasts so that the poultry industry can make more money.  A non-profit website working to defend animals states, “Broiler chickens are selectively bred and genetically altered to produce bigger thighs and breasts, the parts in most demand. This breeding creates birds so heavy that their bones cannot support their weight, making it difficult for them to stand. The birds are bred to grow at an astonishing rate, reaching their market weight of 3 1/2 pounds in seven weeks” (Katz).  It’s disgusting to think that a majority of the chickens that we consume were unable to walk in their lifetimes because their own bodies weigh them down.

So all of this begs questions about my eating habits and health.  If I believe people should balance their calorie intake and output, avoid non-fat and sugar free foods, eat real foods instead of processed foods, and avoid GMO’s, what do I do with my own diet?  I’m not perfect and can admit to the times I’ve passed through the McDonald’s drive through.  If I could create the perfect meal plan for myself it would look something like what I’ve witnessed in traveling to Italy or France.  Though supermarkets have begun to sprout up around Europe, most Europeans still have the options to buy meats from the local butchery, produce from an open-air market full of self-employed farmers, bread from the local baker and cheese from an experienced shop owner that makes it himself.  These are the raw materials, the food that will later be chopped up, sliced, sautéed and baked into what we call a meal.  This process has a feeling of balance to it.  It employs hard workers with specific skill sets rather than turning the creation of a meal into a job for an assembly worker.  It focuses on the aspects of foods that are inherent in their nature and emphasizes what makes them great.  It is the opposite of scientists meddling in a lab to change the genes of an organism.  That a majority of our food in the U.S. is processed, we eat so damn fast and we're obsessed more with nutrients than taste has always bugged me.  In the food industry I think Americans have it backwards, it's nice to know that someone agrees.  Michael Pollan remarks, "Oddly, America got really fat on its new low-fat diet — indeed, many date the current obesity and diabetes epidemic to the late 1970s, when Americans began binging on carbohydrates, ostensibly as a way to avoid the evils of fat" (Pollan 5).  In America's attempt at becoming healthy, it created far more health issues than it solved.  On the other side of the spectrum, you can look at French culture, which makes no attempt at being healthy, yet French people have ended up far healthier than Americans.

It is probably quite obvious that I belong far away from the brightly lit aisles of supermarkets filled with processed foods that brag about what scientists have put into them or taken away.  I’d much rather taste a peach or a tomato in a market sliced by the hands of the farmer that grew it than read a label on packaging with bold lettering about how few carbohydrates a product has per serving.  Have we become lab rats? We have allowed the innate act of eating a meal be taken over by scientists and marketers that think they know what is best for us.  Why are we more swayed by the colors and bold lettering on the packaging of a frozen meal or a cereal box than the color and smell of a ripe tomato?  Maybe in the past I haven’t followed exactly what I preach.  In fact, as I write this paper I look up to see the bright colors on a box of Lucky Charms sitting on my desk.  I’m a college student and healthy, unprocessed food is expensive.  Not to mention, what am I to make without a kitchen?  My health is left in the hands of restaurants surrounding campus and most of all, Sodexo.  I’m not a great eater, though I do choose to create a salad for myself with grilled chicken rather than picking up the ready to eat cheeseburger in the cafeteria.  I hope that my slip-ups in healthy eating are due to what is around me, that this state of affairs doesn’t remain the same for the rest of my life.  In fact, I can’t take Sodexo food much longer at all.  It remains to be seen whether or not I will make it to Europe for good and be able to stick to my “all natural” diet but for now I will try to do as Pollan recommends, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants” (Pollan 1).

Works Cited

Adams, Mike. “’All natural’ claim on food labels is often deceptive; foods harbor hidden MSG and other unnatural ingredients.” Natural News: Real News Powered by the People, Naturally. Natural News Network, 2012. Web. 30 May 2012. <http://www.naturalnews.com/‌005778.html>.

Henley, Jon. “The Need for Greed.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited, 14 Aug. 2008. Web. 30 May 2012. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/‌lifeandstyle/‌2008/‌aug/‌15/‌foodanddrink.michaelphelps>.

Herring, David. “Choose My Plate.” USDA Choose My Plate. United States Department of Agriculture, 2012. Web. 30 May 2012. <http://www.choosemyplate.gov/>.

Katz, Elliot M. “Factory Farming Facts.” In Defense of Animals. IDA, 2012. Web. 30 May 2012. <http://www.idausa.org/‌facts/‌factoryfarmfacts.html>.

Pollan, Michael. “Unhappy Meals.” The New York Times Magazine. The New York Times, 28 Jan. 2007. Web. 30 May 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/‌2007/‌01/‌28/‌magazine/‌28nutritionism.t.html?pagewanted=all>.

Verhoog, Henk. “THE ROLE OF THE CONCEPT OF THE NATURAL (NATURALNESS) IN ORGANIC FARMING.”   (Apr. 2002): 29-49. SpringerLink. Web. 30 May 2012. <http://www.springerlink.com/‌content/‌r2uk524282088445/‌fulltext.pdf?MUD=MP>.

Rough Rough Final

Writ 1133: Eric Leake

Extended Essay 2: An Eater’s Manifesto

April 24, 2012

-       Zach Quinn

All Natural.  These are two simple words that in recent times have been taken over by marketing teams for the food industry.  They have been placed in bold lettering on cereal boxes, jars of peanut butter and chips.  But what do these words really mean?  The Food and Drug Administration takes no responsibility in regulating what is necessary for a food to be “all natural.”  It becomes difficult to derive their meaning when corporations place these words on processed foods and on foods that have been genetically modified.  What they should mean is something far different than what they are currently being used to describe.  Natural implies that something originated from nature and all natural implies that its important genetic features were left unaltered.  Given this, “all natural” should mean that aside from being chopped up, spiced, flavored, cooked, steamed, fried, or broiled, a food had not been altered.  Though a foods appearance and flavor should be able to change while remaining “all natural” its nutrients and genetics should remain the same.

An imbalance in the nutrients we take in is the main cause of obesity, heart disease and other illnesses.  Eating too much sugar, fat, or salt is the main dietary problem that we face.  That being said, why are we setting ourselves up to eat these in high concentration?  Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish and meat all come from nature and their nutrients are balanced the same way that they have been for thousands of years.  Though apples and bananas have sugar in them, they are still good for you because the concentration isn’t too high.  Fruit Loops Cereal and Coca-Cola on the other hand, are made with high fructose corn syrup, a scientifically produced sweetener that contains high levels of sugar.  Eat too many apples or bananas and you’ll probably start feeling sick before you’ve consumed more than your recommended daily intake of sugar.  If you drink two cokes on the other hand, this can be accomplished easily because there is a concentrated amount of sugar within.

Finding balance is the most important step to creating a healthy lifestyle.  Too much of anything is not good for you.  Even sticking to consuming only fruits and vegetables would leave you out of the nutrients provided by grains.  Humans are not simple organisms and for us to live long healthy lives we need a good balance of nutrients from different sources.  It seems every year that there are new diets marketed to consumers that consist of avoiding a specific nutrient.  Eating too much bread won’t be good for you but not eating carbohydrates altogether is crazy.  I disagree even with the idea that red meat is bad for you.  Too much may not be healthy but a little won’t hurt you.  We should be able to base our diets off of calorie intake and output.  No one will call Michael Phelps unhealthy but if you saw a normal sized person that works in a cubicle eating 14 eggs for breakfast you would assume that in a short amount of time that person would begin to put on weight.  Phelps can consume his daily 12,000 calories without a problem because he burns them off in a work out.  A balanced diet is of course relative to the individual.  If people want to lose weight they should eat less or work out more, not choose the non-fat or sugar-free version.

The next big problem that we face is creation of genetically modified plants and animals.  Sure avocados contain too much fat but our response should not be to modify the genetics of avocados in an attempt to lessen their fat content.  If we take that route, we could potentially do something to ruin the avocado forever.  Without guacamole and turkey avocado sandwiches this world won’t be the same.  Instead people should choose to eat less of them or strive to get more exercise.  We’ve gotten to the point of reengineering the chicken to have bigger breasts so that the poultry industry can make more money.  It’s disgusting to think that a majority of the chickens that we consume are unable to walk in their lifetimes because their own bodies weigh them down.

So all of this begs questions about my eating habits and health.  If I believe people should balance their calorie intake and output, avoid non-fat and sugary foods and eat real foods instead of processed foods, what do I do with my own diet?  I’m not perfect and can admit to the times I’ve passed through the McDonald’s drive through.  But even by my tough standards, a little bit of that won’t kill you as long as your balance is right.  If I could create the perfect meal plan for myself it would look something like what I’ve witnessed in traveling to Italy or France.  Though supermarkets have begun to sprout up around Europe, most Europeans still have the options to buy meats from the local butchery, produce from an open-air market full of self-employed farmers, bread from the local baker and cheese from an experienced shop owner that makes it himself.  These are the raw materials, the food that will later be chopped up, sliced, sautéed and baked into what we call a meal.  This process has a feeling of balance to it.  It employs hard workers with specific skill sets rather than turning the creation of a meal into a job for an assembly worker.  It focuses on the aspects of foods that are inherent in their nature and emphasizes what makes them great.  It is the opposite of scientists meddling in a lab to change the genes of an organism.

It is probably quite obvious that I belong far away from the brightly lit aisles of supermarkets filled with processed foods that brag about what scientists have put into them or taken away.  I’d much rather taste peach or a tomato in a market sliced by the hands of the farmer that grew it than read a label on packaging with bold lettering about how few carbohydrates a product has per serving.  Have we become lab rats? We have allowed the innate act of eating a meal be taken over by scientists and marketers that think they know what is best for us.  Why are we more swayed by the colors and bold lettering on the packaging of a frozen meal or a cereal box than the color and smell of a ripe tomato?

Maybe in the past I haven’t followed what I preach now perfectly.  In fact, as I write this paper I can look up to see the bright colors on a box of Lucky Charms.  I’m a college student and healthy, unprocessed food is expensive.  Not to mention, what am I to do without a kitchen?  My health is left in the hands of restaurants surrounding campus and most of all, Sodexo.  I’m not a great eater, though I do choose to create a salad for myself with grilled chicken rather than picking up the ready to eat cheeseburger.  I hope this state of affairs doesn’t remain the same for the rest of my life.  In fact, I can’t take Sodexo food much longer at all.  It remains to be seen whether or not I will make it to Europe and be able to stick to my “all natural” diet but for now I will just try to eat off campus more often and frequent the grocery store for food items rather than processed goods.

Works Cited With Possible Quotes

http://www.springerlink.com/content/r2uk524282088445/fulltext.pdf

“The second sense of natural refers to pristine nature, unaffected by human interference. Then nothing humans do (including all agricultural activities) can be natural in this sense. So, either everything or nothing humans produce is natural.”

“We conclude that the idea of “naturalness” can be used to characterize organic agriculture and to distinguish it from conventional agriculture, but only if naturalness not only refers to not using chemicals but also to ecological principles and respect for the integrity of life.”

http://www.naturalnews.com/005778.html

“Claiming MSG is natural because free glutamic acid appears in tomatoes is sort of like saying cocaine is natural because it's derived from ingredients found in the coca leaf.”

“When you're shopping for groceries, watch out for the phrase "all natural" as claimed on the front of various product packages. It turns out that the phrase "all natural" can mean just about anything; it actually has no nutritional meaning whatsoever and isn't truly regulated by the FDA.”

“By that definition, anything derived from plants, animals or elements found on planet Earth could earn the "all natural" label. The key is in understanding that it's the process that's unnatural, not the source. When you chemically or structurally alter food ingredients into a form that no longer appears anywhere in nature, it's no longer natural, folks. Regardless of what the food manufacturers claim.”

http://www.acaloriecounter.com/breakfast-cereal.php

Le French Have Got Something Right

I've always thought that I belong more on a European lifestyle, specifically French.  That a majority of our food is processed, we eat so damn fast and we're obsessed more with nutrients than taste has always bugged me.  In the category of food I think Americans have it backwards, it's nice to know that someone agrees.  In fact, Pollan's conclusions are hilarious.  He remarks, "Oddly, America got really fat on its new low-fat diet — indeed, many date the current obesity and diabetes epidemic to the late 1970s, when Americans began binging on carbohydrates, ostensibly as a way to avoid the evils of fat" (Pollan 5).  In America's attempt at becoming healthy, it created far more health issues than it solved.  On the other side of the spectrum, you can look at French culture, which makes no attempt at being healthy.  French people have ended up far more healthy than American's without even trying.  Though I don't have a scientific background to back up my claims, I attribute this fact to the way that French people eat. (If I follow Pollan's argument correctly, maybe not having a scientific background is in fact better in this realm, science could be the real reason for our health problems) In eating slowly and socializing while eating, the French avoid shoveling food down their throats as fast as possible.  Forget separating out nutrients, just eat slowly, according to your level of hunger and eat the raw materials not the processed foods.  It seems what Pollan argues is that we need to make food simple again.  If we stick to the basics and strive to make eating pleasurable, we will end up being healthier than if we keep turning to science.  Dupuis article was far less interesting to read.  He looks at American's actual health and their obsession with reading about health.  A somewhat humorous question that he poses at the beginning of the essay is, "Why do middle-class Americans love to read advice about how to eat while mostly ignoring it?" (Dupuis 34)  He looks into where Americans turn to for food advice and ties that into our issues with health.  Like I said, he isn't as interesting of a writer as Pollan and I enjoyed Pollan's ideas more.

Topics on Health

I found it interesting that Ben wrote about binge drinking.  The quote he found on the percentage of teens with bac's over 0.08 that died in car accidents was surprising.  37 percent is a ton! As well, I found the facts about the importance of breakfast interesting.  I was surprised how many of my peers wrote about it. It's interesting how important even a meal consisting of cereal is for your health.

Snacks on Snacks on Snacks

Writ 1133: Eric Leake

Fifth Short Essay

-       Zach Quinn

Snacks on Snacks on Snacks

It’s only 3:30 but your stomach starts to growl, saliva accumulates in your mouth and the sight of someone else eating triggers feelings of jealousy.  Who knows what’s making you hungry, someone nearby may have been talking about your favorite food or even worse you may have fallen prey to an advertisement for a food you like.  You ate lunch at noon and you’re going to eat dinner at 7 so this is right in-between.  A meal would be too much so you give in and snack.  You might stop by the vending machine, or reach into your backpack to find that bag of chips you put in there in case of emergency.  The snack food industry includes over 500 companies and produces combined annual revenues of $27 billion. (Snack Foods Manufacturing) Their advertisements and influences are tough to avoid and they can initiate bad habits.

Snacking is not inherently bad for you, however.  In fact, eating 5 or more, small meals a day, is supposed to be better for you than gorging at 3.  This originated from Jorge Cruise’s book The 3-Hour Diet and has been supported and criticized by many in the dietary field. Cruise writes that the trick is, “If you eat the right foods every three hours, you will keep your blood sugar level stable, so you’re never hungry” (Cruise).  This isn’t the same as snacking, however.  The problem is that when people snack, not only do they eat junk food but also, they don’t decrease the size of their regular meals. This leaves them eating regular meals plus junk food in-between.  Few snacks are actually healthy.  Most foods that don’t qualify as meals and fall into this category are candy bars, bags of chips, fruit snacks, popcorn, beef jerky and pretzels.  In the right quantity, a few of these are good for you but most snacks come overloaded with sugar, sodium and fat.  To add to these unhealthy foods, most seasoned snackers pair their chips or candy bar with a soda, Gatorade or juice.  Nutritionally, this only adds more sugar.

The goal is for people to learn how to snack appropriately.  A Consumer Reports Journal on Health featured a study on 15,000 English men and women.  The study found first found that eating “minimeals” could help people control hunger, calorie intake and thus lower their weight.  It went further, however, studying the cholesterol levels of those who at big meals and those who ate small meals.  They found that even participants who ate more calories snacking than eating normal meals, had lower cholesterol levels.  Among the participants who ate 6 or more meals a day, their cholesterol levels were about 5 percent lower.  Not only did the study find that snacking provided most consumers with a greater control over calorie intake but also that when they failed to do so, snacking kept them healthier.  The article recommends that for healthier snacking, consumers should, “Think of snacks as part of your whole meal plan, not as add-ons. So you may need to eat smaller portions at your regular meals. Keep healthy snacks on hand, such as flesh or dried produce and whole-grain products” (Snacking Cuts Cholesterol).  According to this article and many other sources, we don’t need to be afraid of snacking.  It can be a helpful tool to keep from getting to hungry and gorging at meal times.  It is simply important to stay observant of the calories you’re consuming, choose healthier snacks and of course keep your body active while doing so. 

Works Cited

Cruise, Jorge. The 3-Hour Diet. New York, New York: HarperCollins, 2005. Print.

“Snack Foods Manufacturing.” Hoover’s: a D&B company. Hoover’s Inc., 2012. Web. 16 May 2012. <http://www.hoovers.com/‌industry/‌snack-foods-manufacturing/‌1371-1.html>.

“Snacking Cuts Cholesterol.” Consumer Reports on Health 14.4 (2002): 7. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 16 May 2012. <http://web.ebscohost.com/‌ehost/‌detail?sid=ad7906e8-42c3-4606-afda-30e46d3465a0%40sessionmgr111&vid=1&hid=126&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&AN=6371188>.

Observations on Food Journals

I found that many people chose to eat sandwiches.  This is because they are easy to make, allow for the satisfaction of different tastes and are quick to consume.  I also noticed how off my meal times seemed.  Everyone seemed to be eating at normal times while I was eating my first meal at 2:00.

What I Eat... When I'm Sick

*Just an FYI: I've been sick this week so my eating habits are quite different than usual.

Thursday

o   12:00

o   Half of a Chicken Salad Sandwich: White Bread, Chicken Salad, Onions, Mayo, Tomatoes, Lettuce

o   3:00

o   Dugs vs. Cooking Club Cook-Off

§  Barbecued Ribs

§  Grilled Shrimp, Zucchini, and Squash

§  Philly Cheese Steak with Peppers and Onions

§  Mac & Cheese

o   9:00

o   Apple Cinnamon Nutri-Grain Bar

o   Naked Juice: Green Machine

o   Blue Gogurt

Friday

o   11:00

o   Apple Cinnamon Nutri-Grain Bar

o   11:45

o   Oreo Smoothie

o   Which Wich Buffalo Chicken Sandwich: Wheat Bread, Sliced Chicken, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Blue Cheese, Buffalo Sauce, Ranch Dressing

o   Potato Chips

o   8:15

o   Noodles Mac & Cheese: Noodles, Cheese, Steak, Mushrooms, Truffle Oil

o   Flat Bread

o   9:00

o   Blue Gatorade

Saturday

o   12:00

o   Apple Cinnamon Nutri-Grain Bar

o   Blue GoGurt

o   Chicken Flavored Ramen

o   7:15

o   Indian Food

§  Chicken Tikka Masala: Chicken in Curry Sauce

§  Saag Paneer: Spinach and Cheese Dish

§  Indian Naan Bread: Potatoes, Peas and Garlic in bread

§  Chai Tea

§  Rice Pudding

o   9:30

o   4 Tums

o   10:30

o   2 more Tums

Sunday

o   2:30

o   Turkey Sandwich: White Bread, Provolone cheese, Sliced Turkey, Mayo, Mustard

o   Potato Chips

o   Milk

Less Ignorant But More Angry

These readings brought to my attention facts about the food that our society is producing and what I am eating.  I can’t say that knowing these facts is a good thing.  Sometimes it’s better to be ignorant and able to enjoy Big Macs.  Even so, knowing this information won’t stop me from eating meat.  I’m not the type of person that will change my actions drastically upon knowing about some atrocity.  It would take having a window in my house that looked in on a slaughterhouse to get me to stop eating meat.  That said, I don’t like the system I’m living in.  It’s not just the way we raise animals and produce meat, it’s America’s entire relationship with food that is the problem.  If tomatoes don’t grow well in Florida, why are we growing tomatoes in Florida?  American culture has created some pretty cool stuff but the cases where it fails are disgusting.  If you go into a European market in the summer, the tomatoes you find look nothing like the product we have in our supermarkets.  They don’t even look like the organic tomatoes we have.  They are a completely different product and there is no arguing the fact that they are superior.  Americans have obsessed with appearance to the point everything else important has been lost.  Foods most important aspect is flavor but on a subway sandwich you can’t taste anything besides the mayo or other dressing heaped on.  Using the word bland for our produce is an understatement.  Our tomatoes literally don’t taste like anything, probably because their red color is a sham and they aren’t ripe.

Reading Pollan address Singer’s book, I was blown away.  Singer’s argument, which he rephrases, is so spot on.  Pollan is right in saying that there isn’t much to argue back; he lays it all out there.  The question is whether animals can suffer and knowing that the can, disregarding that fact and purposefully placing them in conditions that make them suffer is immoral.  Its appalling to think we have gotten to the point of genetically modifying chickens to have bigger breasts and more meat while not being able to walk more than a few steps.  No other species has inflicted these pains on another.  It’s a good defense for a meat eater to say that eating animals is just apart of the food chain.  I’ve even used that defense in the past but I realized that even if eating them is a normal process, the way we are raising and producing them is not and it is immoral.

Sense of Community

P6: Read Pollan’s “Our National Eating Disorder.” What does Pollan diagnose as the symptoms and / or causes of our national eating disorder? What do you find most interesting in his analysis? How do you choose what you eat?

Pollan discusses the America's obsession with eating healthy but seeming inability to actually be healthy.  He talks about the attack on the bread industry and how diets that we create cause companies to process their foods more.  It's interesting to me that in taking so much time to eat healthy we are actually working backwards.  Pollan says that many American's will stop at the gym just so that they can eat a pint of ice cream later that night.  No one in their right mind should eat an entire pint of ice cream.  American culture surrounding food is all about size, quantity and efficiency. This causes American's to eat excessively and then diet excessively.  If we had a better relationship with our foods, not having them be created in laboratories and eating the right amounts in balance, we would be healthier without having to diet.  Take a country like Japan.  Though recent times have proved economically difficult, the Japanese people have for a long time eaten well and had plenty of food.  Regardless of how much they eat, most Japanese are skinny and healthy.  Their average life expectancy is 82 years old, over four years longer than the Average American's life expectancy.  The foods that they are eating to live this long are simple and basic. Japanese people eat a ton of fish and rice.  Though you may have had a bad experience with food poisoning from sushi at some point in your life, it is really good for you and the food poisoning can be avoided with the right preparation.  Pollan talks about this same occurrence with French food culture.  They don't worry about dieting but are much healthier than Americans.  All of this reminded me of a book I read called Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.  One chapter he bases off of a small, isolated town in Pennsylvania that was only occupied by a group of people from Roseto Italy.  In the 1950's a scientist began to study this town because of the health of its inhabitants.  The rest of America was plagued by heart disease and other diet concerns.  The Rosetans on the other hand didn't have a case of heart disease with anyone under 60.  After studying all of the factors such as fat intake, foods consumed, the amount the people worked out and their genetics, the scientist couldn't find any differences.  In fact, the Rosetans still ate lard, and a lot of it.  What he found to be the variable that cause their great health was not dieting but rather the sense of community that they had.  Not worrying and stressing out made them live longer.

Americans Infiltrate the World…With Food!

Writ 1133: Eric Leake

Extended Essay 1: How We Eat Now

April 24, 2012

-       Zach Quinn

Americans Infiltrate the World…With Food!

As humans we cannot function without food.  Along with the necessity of eating, cooking and consuming it, food has now become a form of entertainment.  Some are in devastating accidents or get sick to the point that they require food in the form of nutrients through a plastic tube or IV.  The rest of us, however, intake food that is grown, raised, prepared, and served.  This process creates differentiation, flavor and texture.  These aspects create the experience that eating is.  With the opportunity for profit, individuals, groups and companies have created entertainment around eating.   The modern restaurant found its birth in Europe but American culture was remarkably influential on the restaurant industry.  American ideals and cultural values created fast food, which is now one of the most common ways to eat both inside of the United States and around the world.

In addressing the impact that America has had on the restaurant industry, we must start at the beginning.  Before the invention of agriculture, humans obtained their source of food by hunting and gathering. .  Food was caught and prepared in communities.  Since then, there have been obvious changes in the way we collect, prepare and consume food.  In the study of food consumption, arguably the most influential change was the transformation from hunting and gathering to agriculturally producing food.  It allowed for populations to stay in one place and brought the creation of stable communities.  By farming, humans no longer had to move constantly to find new sources of food.  The second largest change was the creation of the restaurant.  This invention got people out of their homes and brought communities together in a way that had never before been heard of.

The beginning of the modern restaurant was modest and simple.  Born in France in the 18^th century, the first restaurant served a massive stew for medicinal purposes.  (Spang 1) Over time, it began to serve a broader range of customers that sought to socialize with members of their community outside of their homes.  These communal gathering places known as restaurants began to spring up wherever there was a demand.  The restaurant began to broaden its menu from the simple stew quite quickly.  Customers had demands and entrepreneurs began to fulfill them in hopes of making a profit.  Today there are wide range of restaurants that cater to different customers and tastes.  Some are elegant and expensive; others have paper napkins, plastic forks and cater to lower socioeconomic classes. 

The most recent change in the restaurant is the emphasis on being promptly served and finishing a meal fast.  Due to the fast pace of society, fast food restaurants place a large emphasis on speed and efficiency. George Ritzer writes in his article on the McDonaldization of Society, “A wide-ranging process of rationalization is occurring across American society and is having an increasingly powerful impact in many other parts of the world. It encompasses such disparate phenomena as fast-food restaurants, TV dinners, packaged tours, industrial robots, plea bargaining, and open-heart surgery on an assembly-line basis” (Ritzer 13).  Though Ritzer talks about the McDonaldization of many segments of society, he focuses on saying that fast food is the root of the movement.  Enter almost any big city in the world and you will find an American fast restaurant.  Eric Schlosser writes in his book Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, “Over the last three decades, fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American society.  An industry that began with a handful of modest hot dog and hamburger stands in southern California has spread to every corner of the nation, selling a broad range of foods wherever paying customers may be found” (Schlosser 3).  Fast food chains can be found everywhere and there isn’t an end in sight.  The industry has grown even more with the recession, providing inexpensive food to its customers.  Hoover’s Inc., a business research company prepared a report recently stating that there are more than 200,000 fast food restaurant locations in America.  The industry produces total annual revenues of 190 billion dollars.  In comparison, the entire industry that includes all types of restaurants produces annual revenues of around 400 billion dollars. (Hoover’s)  The fast food section of the industry produces around half of the total annual revenue.

Fast food likely would not have been created in a cultural atmosphere outside of the United States.  America has a massive influence on the world’s political atmosphere, but most importantly American companies control the economic markets.  McDonald's and Coca-Cola have emerged on every single continent and almost every country besides Vietnam, North Korea, the Vatican City and others that aren’t involved in the international markets.  American companies have revolutionized both the foods people eat and how they eat them.  Jamie Horwitz talks about how American’s revolutionized the food industry through the TV dinner in his journal “Eating on the Edge.” Horwitz quotes British sociologist John Urry as saying, “The increased significance of grazing, not eating at fixed meal times in the same place in the company of one’s family or workmates,” as one of many signs of a “de-synchronization of time-space paths” (Horwitz 42) The point Horwitz makes is that American culture demanded more efficiency than the long family meal time could provide.  To take that even further, it is necessary to talk about how America has revolutionized food in the restaurant industry.  Though the restaurant was created in France, American culture has arguably had the largest impact on the restaurant industry today.  Today the world is obsessed with what American companies have to offer. Along with other American cultural symbols, movie stars and products like Coca-Cola, fast food restaurants were exported to the world.  Though other cultures initially opposed fast food restaurants, they have accepted them today.  Brian Richards wrote an article “Here’s Where McDonald’s Makes Money” based off of McDonald’s 2010 annual report.  McDonald’s reported making 66% of its total revenue in international sales.  Domestic sales were only 8.1 billion dollars of the 24.1 billion dollars of revenue. (Richards) Without the American desire for a fast paced lifestyle, those restaurants would never have been created.

Aside from being fast, fast food has a few other key aspects.  Ritzer writes that fast food restaurants have created a machine that works with five main goals.  He says, “Emphasis is placed on efficiency, predictability, calculability, replacement of human by nonhuman technology, and control over uncertainty” (Ritzer 18).  McDonald’s is the best of the best when it comes to the machine that fast food is.  In 1955, Ray Kroc founded the McDonald’s Corporation; in the three years following he sold his 100 million hamburgers. (McDonald’s) Kroc accomplished this amazing feat by revolutionizing the way a restaurant was run.  Though he didn’t create the first hamburger stand or even the first McDonald’s, he introduced the idea of efficiency, predictability, calculability and control into the equation. (Ritzer 18) American’s were living fast paced lifestyles and Kroc played right off of that.  He knew that customers would come in droves if they knew what to expect and that they would get it fast.  McDonald’s may not have the best burgers but customers can expect the same product almost all of the time.  Knowing what you are going to get and that you are going to get it fast gives American’s the thing they want most, control. 

Today McDonald’s isn’t the only company that provides this predictable and efficient food.  Companies like Burger King, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Dairy Queen and Arby’s have copied the same techniques.  Though they provide different foods, the same principles remain.  Customers don’t have to wait to be served, tip waiters or break the bank.  People in a hurry can get partial sized meals as snacks, choose off of simple menus with pictures and in many cases order from and eat in their cars.  Fast food is excessively convenient in these ways.  It changed the way that people viewed eating outside of the home.  For the first time, it was cheaper and faster to go out to eat than cook and eat in your house.  Horwitz writes, “Rethinking menus and restaurants to serve what John Urry describes as the ‘de-synchronization of time-space paths’ takes eating in ‘the space of flow’ far beyond trail mix” (Horwitz 46).  By this he implies that American fast food companies created places to acquire foods of substance without disrupting their daily activities with allocated meal times.

Despite the fact that the modern restaurant was created in Europe, American culture had arguably the largest impact on what it is today.  It is no surprise that a country like France opposed the new manner of consumption at first.  In fact, it’s remarkable that a country, which focuses on slow cooking and socializing during a meal, has accepted the method of pushing down a cheeseburger in five minutes.  Without the cultural environment that demanded efficiency and the American desire for control, fast food would not have been born.  Some may argue that a world without fast food would be a better world to live in.  They could be right but it has its benefits when walking underneath the golden arches can mean escaping a horrendous night hugging the toilet in a foreign country.

Works Cited

“Fast Food and Quick Service Restaurants.” Hoover’s: A D&B Company. Hoover’s Inc., 2012. Web. 30 Apr. 2012. <http://www.hoovers.com/‌industry/‌fast-food-quick-service-restaurants/‌1444-1.html>.

“History.” About McDonalds. McDonalds Corporation, 2012. Web. 30 Apr. 2012. <http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com>.

Horwitz, Jamie "Eating at the Edge." Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture. Vol. 9, No. 3 (Summer 2009) (pp. 42-47)

“Our History.” McDonalds. McDonalds Corporation, 2012. Web. 30 Apr. 2012. <http://www.mcdonalds.com/‌us/‌en/‌our_story/‌our_history.html>.

Richards, Brian. “Here’s Where McDonalds Makes Money.” The Motley Fool. The Motley Fool, 2012. Web. 30 Apr. 2012. <http://www.fool.com/‌investing/‌dividends-income/‌2011/‌02/‌28/‌heres-where-mcdonalds-makes-money.aspx>.

Ritzer, George. “The McDonaldization of Society.” Getting Started in Sociology 3rd Edition (2008): 13-18. Print.

Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2001. Print.

Spang, Rebecca L. The Invention of the Restaurant: Paris and Modern Gastronomic Culture. Cambridge, Massachusetts : Third Printing, 2000. Print.

Rough Rough Rough Draft

Writ 1133: Eric Leake

Extended Essay 1: Advertising and Experiences Relating to Food

April 24, 12

-       Zach Quinn

EE1: How We Eat Now

1,500 words minimum

Write a researched argumentative essay concerning food and culture. You might think of your essay as an argument for understanding how “we” eat now. You may incorporate and / or expand upon any of your previous writing from this unit. Include at least three sources in your essay. Those sources may include articles we read in class. The best essays will make a specific argument or observation concerning food and culture and will support that argument with well-reasoned analysis and research.

Thesis:

As humans we cannot function without food in one of its many forms.  Some are in devastating accidents or get sick to the point that they require food in the form of nutrients through a plastic tube or IV.  This way of eating pays no attention to taste, texture or experience.  The rest of us, however, intake food that is grown, raised, prepared, and served.  This process creates differentiation, flavor and texture and these aspects create the experience that eating is.  Humans place eating food as an important part of daily life.  With this, there are individuals, groups and companies that have long thought to profit off of such an activity.  These people and groups have created atmospheres for people to congregate, socialize and eat at the same time.  The food industry has created entertainment around the simple activity of eating.

At one point in the era of hunting and gathering, food was caught and prepared as a community.  Since then there have been large changes in the way we collect, prepare and consume food.  Rebecca Spang writes in her book The Invention of the Restaurant: Paris and Modern Gastronomic Culture, “In the past 230 years, the restaurant has changed from a sort of urban spa into a ‘political public forum, and then into an explicitly and actively depoliticized refuge” (Spang 3).  The earliest form of the restaurant known existed in Pompeii before its destruction.  Archeologists figure that over 158 of these L-shaped counters served people cold and hot food along with drinks throughout the day. (Ellis)  What we know as the restaurant today was born in France in the 18^th century.  The first served only a massive stew for medicinal purposes.  (Spang 1) It led to serving a broader range of customers over time and became a communal place for socializing.  The industry has come a long way since then and we see it through how restaurants look, the foods they serve and how they advertise.

America has had a huge influence on food around the world.  McDonald's and Coca-Cola have emerged in markets on every single continent and almost every country besides Vietnam, Iran, the Vatican City and a few others.  American companies have revolutionized the way people eat food and changed the foods people eat.  Jamie Horwitz talks about how American’s revolutionized the food industry through the TV dinner in his journal “Eating on the Edge.” (Horwitz) To take that even further, it is necessary to talk about how America has revolutionized the restaurant industry.  Though the restaurant was created in France, American culture has arguably had the largest impact on its existence today.  From the creation of fast food like McDonald’s and Burger King that French people opposed it can be assumed that without the American desire for a fast paced lifestyle, those restaurants would never have been created.

Works Cited

Ellis, Steven J. R. (2004): "The Distribution of Bars at Pompeii: Archaeological, Spatial and Viewshed Analyses", Journal of Roman Archaeology, Vol. 17, pp. 371–384 (374f.)

Spang, Rebecca. Book

Horwitz, “Eating on the Edge”

America and Food

America has had a huge influence on food around the world.  McDonald's and Coca-Cola have emerged in markets on every single continent and almost every country besides Vietnam, Iran, the Vatican City and a few others.  American companies have revolutionized the way people eat food and changed the foods people eat.  "Eating On the Edge" by Jamie Horwitz tells how the way people eat food has changed inside the United States.  In talking about the invention of TV dinners in 1954 he says, "I recall being dazzled by the tv dinner on a tray table. It was the taste of freedom" (Horwitz 42).  Before the late 1950's in America, an importance was placed on the family dinner.  With the invention of TV dinners, however, things began to change.  As Horwitz states, meal times became less about sitting face to face with another person and more about staring at a screen today.  We see this as the norm today with many people eating meals or snacks in front of the computer or TV.  Meals are no longer a time for socializing but rather about convenience.  From the time I've spent abroad I can understand how this disgusts Europeans and others around the world.  France is a place where a family might spend two or three hours on a meal before its completion.  The emphasis is not on finishing the food as quickly as possible as in America but rather to appreciate the food and time spent with close family and friends.  Horwitz talks about the difference in emphasis placed on meal time in relation to the international space station.  He quotes an journal by NASA nutritionists Helen W. Lane and Dale A. Schoeller, “Some American crew members are content to eat ‘on the run’ and by themselves, whereas many European crew members prefer eating a complete meal as a group” (Horwitz 44).  There is an obvious difference in the way that American's view the importance of meal time.  It is hard to say which came first, the products like TV dinners from American companies or the desire for convenience in eating by American people.  Either way there is much opposition to this by the rest of the world.