Omnivore's Dilemma Ch 5-8

In chapters 5-8 of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, there was a lot of information already talked about in class because the first three chapters are all about corn, and how corn is in about everything we consume. There were, however, many things that I didn’t know that came to light in these chapters. In chapter 7, Pollen puts the fast food industry under intense scrutiny by using an example of his family going there to eat a meal. He describes what he got, what his wife got, and what his kid got; they all ate completely different meals. Pollen’s son ate a chicken nugget, which had recently been advertized because of a new recipe containing all white meat. Pollen’s son does not describe the nugget as chicken, but as simply put a nugget. Pollen finds this disturbing, and frankly, so do I because the nugget contains thirty two ingredients, and is not even recognizable as chicken from a small child eating it. He also explains the history of the “super size.” He explains that a man who worked for McDonalds pitched the idea for years that the reason people don’t buy more than one if they are hungrier is because people hate to look fat, but if the producer were to dole out larger portions for a bit more money, people don’t feel as fat anymore. Of course they eventually adopted that strategy and it has become very successful for them.

An interesting historical reference is to the alcoholic republic of the early 19^th century and how relatable that time period is to the “fat republic” we live in today. They both occurred because of an oversupply of corn. In the 19^th Century, farmers had more corn than they knew what to do with, and they ended up making whiskey out of it. This allowed people to drink whiskey by the pint every single day for a low price. Corn has done the same thing to our food industry, or system as Pollen would say. Corn is used to replace sugar and other ingredients for a fraction of the price, making it a desirable ingredient for business minded people. It seems like corn is a major problem in the food industry and I can’t think of anything that wouldn’t be considered un-constitutional that could end this obesity epidemic at the hands of corn. Seeing the movie in class prepared me somewhat for the horrors this book tells, but I was still astonished at the irresponsibility shown by both the producers and consumers of all these products stuffed with corn. I poked fun at a lot of these things early on, but this book as opened my eyes, and this really is an important issue.

Post by Will Roberts

Ella

The Omnivore's Dilemma: Chapters 13-16

In these four chapters of The Omnivore's Dilemma I read about the American diet in a biological, historical, cultural and a economic standpoint. The combination of all of these different aspects to the way we eat was fascinating. Salatin's prospective on "irresponsibly priced" food brings to mind the question of how we are actually paying for what we eat; the cheaper the food, the more you pay in health, and the higher the risk of some disastrous health defect. Another interesting factor was his observation that perhaps in this new modern age we have, in fact, placed other unnecessary items above food as our top priorities. How foolish to think that testnig on our new iPhone 4G is more important than eating the three basic meals that essentially keep you alive and running on a daily basis...

Chapter 14 was short but a good read nonetheless. It makes sense that we should feel more satisfied and way safer about what we are eating if we know exactly where it came from and how it was made. It just makes it taste way better too...

Chapter 15, an almost historical chapter of information, was an engaging section about the original form of food accumulation. The ancient hunter-gatherer, who picked his way through a variety of plants and such to find those edible arrangements, is the beginning of a food system that would go to such extremes to make this easier that it would eventually corrupt eating on the whole. It's true, however, that this hunting and gathering deal would not work nearly well enough to feed the ever-increasing population of America, much less the world. Pollan notes how great the ratio of people to land is, and that there is not nearly enough natural land to produce enough for the people there are. Thus, the omnivore's dilemma...

So to think, as Chapter 16 points out, that in all the years we have been...well, eating, we have never truly established a strong food culture. Our lists of things that are edible keeps expanding, while somehow at the same time shrinking. This unrooted system leaves an opening for food companies to be able to tell us how and what and where to eat. Those big companies now control our diet's, and by doing so also control many aspects of social structure. We give them what they need to succeed, and they take every advantage that they can. Surprising? I don't think so either... Another huge contribution to the omnivore's dilemma.

Ella

"The Omnivore's Dilemma": Fast Food, Corn, Organic and More!!!

After reading chapters 9-12 in "The Omnivore's Dilemma" I came across a ton of interesting and somewhat shocking facts. I haven't eaten at McDonald's since freshman year when we watched "Super Size Me", and after reading chapter 9, I definitelly don't plan on going back any time soon. It's so sad to hear that one in every three American children eat fast food every day and 19% of American meals are eaten in cars... what has this world come to? The amount of corn in a fast food diet is absolutely rediculous. For example, of the 38 ingredients in a McDonald's McNuggets, 13 of them come from corn. The McDonald's meal options are so high in corn it's amazing: Soda- 100% corn, Milkshake- 78% corn, Salad dressing- 65% corn, Nuggets- 56%, Cheesburger- 52%, Fries- 23%. Not exactly what I want to be putting into my system... And it's not just corn that's a problem at fast food resturants.... 45 of the 60 menue items contain high fructose corn syrup. This chapter really gave an inside look into fast food chains and exposed the food for its undesireable ingredients and health problems.

Chapters 10-12 talked about everything organic and the difference between organic and industrial organic. Although I personally do not eat organic, I can definitelly see why many people are starting to. Organic has gone global. There are now "organic TV dinners" and even organic twinkies are on the rise, but most industrial organic foods are not very different from the non-organic foods as most people think. If you've ever heard of a free-range organic chicken, let me tell you what they mean by "free-range": "There is a little door in each shed leading out ot a narrow grassy yard", but they can't go out until they are five weeks old and are to be slaughtered the next week.  Many people don't even realize that organic factory farm chickens live only slightly better lives than the no-organic chickens. Not only that, but industrial organic foods contain just as much fossil fuels as non-organic foods. If you want to have the TRUE organic experience you need to go to organic farms where they refuse to ship their food anywhere and let their animals live off of the grass.

Honestly, this made me a little angry to know that the supposedly "organic" foods are not as organic as we think, only the truly local farms can be considered organic: food grown without pesticides and animals raised without corn based meals. Next time you want to eat organic, eat local!!!!

-Ann

Fertile Realestate: Rich governments buy up fertile land in Africa

It appears that rich national governemnts are trying to secure future food supplies. The national governments of China, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait in 2009 began purchasing and leasing large land tracks in poor central and east African/Asian states for the purpose of food production. Though these areas suffer frequent famine, and the foreign capital may provide poor farmers with much needed capital, the specific details of the deals remain secret. These moves, criticized by some as "neo-colonialist", may lead to further corruption and possible unrest in regions affected. Besides the obvious risk, this aggressive strategy does not bode well for international food prices. If national policy makers in wealthy states, especially China which already possesses a vast ammount of arable land, expect a shortage or increase in the price of food supplies, then it looks very likely the price spike in agricultural will be longterm. As we have already scene in Egypt and Libya, revolutions both sparked by increased food and energy prices, this strain on international pocket books could have far reaching political consequences. http://www.economist.com/node/13697274 by Isaac

(also blog post about chapter one of omnivore's dilemma and Walmart and Africa were posted by me)

The illusion of Choice: The doublethink of the American Food Industry

After reading chapter 1 of "The Omnivore's Dilemma", I am especially struck by the paradox that occurs every day in American supermarkets and restaurants; the seemingly endless choice with such limited variety. With most food today being produced from corn and only a hand full of heavily subsidized cash crops, despite the myriad of tempting logos, pastelled boxes and near-divine photographs, we in reality only choose between a dozen types of food produced by half a dozen conglomerates. Essentially, we are bamboozled and disoriented on a primal, instinctual level to commit to a diet that violates our very hunter gather sensibilities. Even extending beyond the supermarket, I am especially struck by how the entire food industry and agricultural policy seems to simply be a collection of paradoxes. We have farm subsidies to protect the idyllic American free farmer, yet these very laws have driven this archetype into decline and near servitude; we have genetic modification to increase biodiversity, yet we are now driven to only token number of crops; we have globalization to increase prosperity for all, yet only the corporations yield true profit. This is a very worrying set of contradictions.

Defending the beef!

Taco Bell is defending their beef in every possible way with their recent ads stating "Thank you for suing us", but now they are taking it to television. After multiple allegations claiming that the "beef" filling in Taco Bell's food is not "beefy" enough to be considered beef, they are turning to advertisements of all kinds to fight back against their lawsuit. They are even using media sources such as Twitter and Facebook to defend themselves and bring back the customers that they may have lost when the accusations were made public. On Facebook they are offering their fans free beef tacos as a token of their appreciation for their fans' support. Although the many different lawsuits Taco Bell has faced in the past including the E. coli breakout and rat infestation concerns, they have only been slightly detrimental to their sales. Taco Bell continues to serve millions of people per week. I guess their "12 percent signature recipie" is just too good to pass up.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41834155/ns/business-consumer_news/

-Ann

"Eat fresh" surpasses "I'm lovin' it!"

Watch out McDonald's!! Surprisingly, Subway has more restaurants across the world than McDonald's. At the end of last year, Subway came in at 33,749 restaurants worldwide while McDonald's fell short with 32,737. Although Subway has more restaurants and locations globally, McDonald's still rakes in the most revenue with a recorded $24 billion in that last fiscal period. Subway, however, had a reported $15.2 billion in the same fiscal period. Thanks to McCafe items and various other highly addicting items, customers cannot get enough of the burger joint. As their sales continue to rise every year, it seems that there is no stopping Ronald McDonald, despite Jared Fogle's weight loss thanks to the Subway fresh meals...

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41959045/ns/business-consumer_news/
-Ann

Are Working Mothers Making KIds Fat?

I found this article on CNN.com and I thought it was an interesting analysis of the situation. At first glance, this looks like it could be a sexist joke about how women don't need watches because there is a clock on the stove, and that's where they should be, but it's not. In fact, it is full of comments from working mothers that say that this study is total bunk. The real argument here is that working mothers might need to pay more attention to the food being served in the household and how much the kids eat that food. Apparently the BMI of children for third grade "was approximately a 1-pound gain for every six months the child's mother worked. The weight gain was cumulative and the link became stronger as the children matured into fifth- and sixth-grade in the analysis of 900 children." I don't think that this article is stating that mothers should quit their jobs and cook; I think it's stating that mothers are in charge of most households, and the economic situations have made children's eating habits secondary. The reason this focuses on women instead of men is because there are not enough stay at home fathers to have accurate statistics. This has to do with the economic situation and food, and I feel this article is important because people, mothers in particular, are losing track of their kid’s health because of work. With seventy percent of mothers working outside the home, this statistic will definitely be on the rise.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/02/04/children.bmi.moms/index.html

-Post by Will

Fight Rising Prices!

Every time we go to the grocery store, we leave with more items than what was on our list, leaving us with higher bills. How can we prevent from spending a fortune on food alone?? Check out this article that gives 22 ways to fight the rising food prices. The list includes "putting on the blinders" by keeping a particular list of ONLY the things you need, not the things you want, and also eating before you leave for the store. We all know how tempting the Saturday samples at Publix, Krogers, and Target can be- we want everything in sight. There are some really interesting tips on the list that you probably never knew. Enjoy!

Ann

Food Stamps Galore!

To get through the economic struggle across the nation, more and more people are relying on food stamps to buy groceries. The high unemployment rate and budget cuts are forcing many families into an economic crisis of their own. Instead of worrying if they can afford to get groceries for Monday morning breakfast, they use their food stamps. I found this article that has a great chart showing what percentage of the population in each state relies on food stamps. Georgia has a shockingly high percentage... Check it out!!

-Ann

How Fuel Prices Effect Food Prices

Westhoff gives eight rules of thumb on food prices. The first rule of thumb is increasing biofuel production raises food prices. When food crops such as corn are planted for biofuel, this reduces the available food, which in turn causes food prices to increase. Unless corn production can be raised to replace those diverted for biofuel, demand in biofuel would certainly raise food prices because less food is produced. In the US and Europe, government policies demand that a certain proportion of petrol to consist of biofuel. And to boost biofuel production, government subsidies are given to farmers to encourage more planting for biofuel. In the height of the food crisis in 2008, US government subsidies are one of the reasons blamed for the increase in food prices.
The second rule of thumb is food prices tend to follow crude oil prices. This relationship is well known because oil is the lifeblood of the world’s economy. Without oil, the world’s economy would collapse overnight. High energy prices have a direct impact on farm production costs. About one-third of the farm production costs involves the purchase of fertilizers and pesticides, both of which require oil to produce. Other farm production costs involving oil would be the cost of running farm machinery and equipment. Food are often grown far from cities, so high costs of transportation (which require fuel) are incurred to bring food to the urban folks. Half of the world population today of nearly 7 billion live within cities.
http://christopherteh.com/blog/2011/02/18/food_economics/

Interesting to see how certain huge aspects and necessities of the economy effect each other... Just shows how everything works by transitive property. If this then this, which causes this...

post by ella

Today there are nearly 1 billion hungry people around the globe. yet in only 50 years, our growing global population will require an estimated 100 percent more food than we produce today. unfortunately, we will certainly not have 100 percent more high-quality land available to grow twice the amount of grain or two times more livestock. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports that added farmland will help produce only 20 percent of the additional food our planet will need in 2050, and 10 percent will come from increased cropping intensity. Accordingly, the FAO concludes that 70 percent of the world’s additional food needs can be produced only with new and existing agricultural technologies. The consequences of failing to use these science-based technologies and innovations will be disastrous. Food producers in industrialized and developing nations alike require technology to ensure a sustainable supply of safe, nutritious and affordable grains and animal protein to satisfy a rapidly growing demand. For this reason, and many others, we all share in the responsibility to ensure that new agricultural technologies — as well as those proven safe and effective over decades — continue to be available.


www.rennut.com/.../Food-Economics-and-Consumer-Choice-White-Paper.pd

post by ella