**Please comment Andy**
The American Way of life is the only thing I have lived. I don't know any other way of living so I can't say that I would rather live any other way, but I do see flaws in the way that we live. We are extremely and increasingly ignorant. We place so much faith and parts of ourselves in the system and it's authority figures thinking that they will make everything "all better" instead of fixing it ourselves or fighting for something better for ourselves. We trust the government to solve our economic problems and our pollution problems so we do little to no work to fix it. The government has written in the constitution things that will lead us to believe that we have power in our country, but in reality it gives them the most power and enables them in turn to abuse it.
States can have their own laws as long as they do not contradict the constitution. We can prosecute people as we see fit, but if the government doesn't agree with what we choose they have the power to change it. We have a right to privacy, but we are subjected to random (or rather "RANDOM") police searches and if we refuse, we could be prosecuted. We have freedom of speech, but if we say something against our president or to contradict the country, we are shunned from society and thought of as "Un-American." We are told that we live in a great nation where anything is possible and we have most of the power, but in reality we have little to no power if we don't fight hard for it and we as Americans are to lazy to do so. This in turn lets authority figures like doctors and policemen to violate our privacy and tell us what we need to do instead of letting us decide, but we still think of them as heroes.
Doctors are seen as one of the biggest heroes in our society, but that is only because it's what we are raised to see and believe. We rarely know that doctors will prescribe medication like Pitocin without even asking the mother and this in turn causes the women more pain. AWOB is the only way of birth that we as Americans know and so we go through the process as planned without being told about any alternative ideas. Doctors put women in the most uncomfortable positions in order for them to be in control of the birthing process and in order to be able to tell the mother what to do instead of just letting the mother listen to her body and find what to do herself. Women have had births before in earlier times with less technology and they were fine birthing their child by themselves.
While AWOB sounds horrible, I feel that not all births of course are like this and that not all doctors are "evil." The technology that is used is the only technology on hand and the only thing that the doctors have learned hoe to use. Doctors are taught different methods of helping people and ways that they can best do their job. They want to help the woman the best way they know, but it is not always as effective as one would like to think, but women rarely have any other way to think because they aren't given an alternative choice. If they knew about home birth, it could be possible that they would feel less limitations and restrictions placed on them. Midwives are there to give their mothers options and to know that it is imperative that they follow what their body tells them to do. They know that they don't have to use medication or painkillers and can have a natural, beautiful birth at home.
Women that don't know that they have any alternatives just resort to the "normal and practical" hospital birth that is quick and "easy" and they "know what to expect." Doctors sometimes speed up the process in order to get more patients in and out. They schedule births for when THEY are ready (inducing labor and C-sections) which causes careless mistakes and/or women to get hurt. This makes things much more expensive for the mother and also causes a higher rate of unsafe births (C-sections). Mothers are not the only ones that suffer from these negative aspects of doctors. Any patient can and might suffer especially if they don't have enough money to pay the hospital.
People who can't pay their hospital bills are often times put in a cab and sent to any destination and dumped on the street. Sometimes these people still have open cuts, healing stitches, broken limbs etc. This of course shows us how our authority figures abuse their power, but for some reason these things mainly happen in America. In Europe (France, Denmark etc.) and Canada, people get free health care so these things don't happen to them. They have systems that ensure their people don't fall into poverty. In Denmark, people who are unemployed are paid by the government for a certain amount of time before they find a new job so that they can still afford essentials for survival. Their children go to school for free and if they decide to continue through college, the government pays for college as well. Health benefits and daycare benefits are given to the people of Denmark as well. The Government of Denmark seems to try anything in their power to help their people and they KNOW that they have these benefits.
Americans could possibly get a lot of help as well, but we don't know just how much help we can get because our authority figures who we have placed all our trust in will not show us all of our options. When we know some of our options we see that they are similar to Denmark, but not as helpful. We can get daycare services and food stamps, but rather than supporting us, the government gives us suggestions on places to work and this could be a problem if the person is ineligible for specific work and such. These are all really helpful for people who suffer from poverty, but not if they are not given all of their options.
Americans are known for being ignorant and staying ignorant. We don't always get or look for the information we need to help us better ourselves and therefore we become lazy. It has become such a trend that now we don't even know how our own food is processed and made. We place our trust in the authority or this category (farmers, factory workers etc.) and therefore we know nothing of our own food which is essential to surviving. As I have stated before, There are so many different opinions about what to eat if a person wants to go on a diet that the media can basically control a person's dietary habits. The media tells people what is and is not considered healthy and thus fools people into eating whatever they see fit. Americans worry so much about dieting and how many Carbs they are consuming, but rarely do they ever find out the actual ingredients that are in their food. This leads to people being misinformed about what is and is not healthy and therefore people don't get the nutrition they need. Countries like France and Italy eat healthy and might possibly consume as much as America, but they eat things in moderation and so they are healthier.
In America our conditions for producing food are terrible and they are unknown to us. We have been taught since childhood that cows and chicken are cute animals that live on a farm happy and living their life, but in fact this isn't true. The factory conditions for the animals are terrible, they get hooked up to machines and the cows have their tails cut off and the calfs also get taken away from their mothers and hooked to a machine that will feed them. Not only are these conditions terrible for the animals, but also for the workers. The machines go at a rate that is so fast that the factory workers can become injured. The factories themselves are also sometimes unsanitary. These things show us how ignorant America as a whole is.
If we keep ourselves in this cycle of ignorance and not learn about what is hurting our society, each of these topics will plummet and change our ways of life completely. These are all really drastic points, but they are very valid. There are things that I disagree with and I do think that some of these points are over-exaggerated and that people should be cautious of, but I think all of these people should know this so that they can properly decide for themselves what they think and feel about our world.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Collapse Assignment 2 - Short and Smart
There are people that are aware of our oil and energy problem and that oil is running out, but I wonder how many of these people are actually trying to find a solution. Unlike the people of Easter island, we know that our resources are running out and that we are the reason for this. The people of Easter island didn't know that their trying to please their God and their chief and to "survive" would lead to their demise. But even if they did, I wonder if they would have tried to do anything about it. If they had brought this idea of decreasing resources to their community, would people have followed them or would they have been shut out of their society.
There are scientists and business men who knew that this problem was approaching and now know more that it will happen, but what exactly is being done about it. They are informing people that this will greatly effect our community, but there are those who will constantly deny it which follows our common American ways of living. We deny things will happen to us, because we don't like to think about the negative aspect of things. There are people who are trying to find solutions to our oil problem like liquid coal, but these resources will produce more greenhouse gases and therefore pollute our other resources.
I feel that it could be possible that people know about the problem of oil and low energy, but they feel (like me) what can possibly be done? How can we fix this and what is the point if no one else will fix it with me? These things are restraining Americans from even trying to make a difference. Some people are by buying hybrid cars and such, but in order to stop peak oil we need to use less oil. If our peak oil problem continues, we will have problems like recession, large unemployment, inflation, economic trouble and much much larger problems.
We are not only limiting our oil and energy output, but we are also destroying our land. In order to get to some of the oil, we have to dig up land and use giant machines that pollute our society. This shows us what lengths we are going to in order to find oil, but we cannot find a better way of producing energy (?). This seems strange to me and I wonder if we will ever fix this problem. Other places like Kuwait can produce massive amounts of oil and have it at low prices so why can't we find a way to fix our problem? Saudi Arabia thinks that they can double their oil output and there are people who strongly disagree and think that this is ridiculous and that we cannot trust them, but this feels to me like the only plan we have.
We rely on oil for so much and this is a bad habit to fall into because now people won't believe that something like this could happen. If people keep on brushing issues aside how can we possibly fix this problem? We need to find a new thing to rely on or else we can't possibly sustain our way of life.
There are scientists and business men who knew that this problem was approaching and now know more that it will happen, but what exactly is being done about it. They are informing people that this will greatly effect our community, but there are those who will constantly deny it which follows our common American ways of living. We deny things will happen to us, because we don't like to think about the negative aspect of things. There are people who are trying to find solutions to our oil problem like liquid coal, but these resources will produce more greenhouse gases and therefore pollute our other resources.
I feel that it could be possible that people know about the problem of oil and low energy, but they feel (like me) what can possibly be done? How can we fix this and what is the point if no one else will fix it with me? These things are restraining Americans from even trying to make a difference. Some people are by buying hybrid cars and such, but in order to stop peak oil we need to use less oil. If our peak oil problem continues, we will have problems like recession, large unemployment, inflation, economic trouble and much much larger problems.
We are not only limiting our oil and energy output, but we are also destroying our land. In order to get to some of the oil, we have to dig up land and use giant machines that pollute our society. This shows us what lengths we are going to in order to find oil, but we cannot find a better way of producing energy (?). This seems strange to me and I wonder if we will ever fix this problem. Other places like Kuwait can produce massive amounts of oil and have it at low prices so why can't we find a way to fix our problem? Saudi Arabia thinks that they can double their oil output and there are people who strongly disagree and think that this is ridiculous and that we cannot trust them, but this feels to me like the only plan we have.
We rely on oil for so much and this is a bad habit to fall into because now people won't believe that something like this could happen. If people keep on brushing issues aside how can we possibly fix this problem? We need to find a new thing to rely on or else we can't possibly sustain our way of life.
Collapse Assignment 1
Easter island was described as a culture with little to no "technology" of any kind yet they still seemed like a fairly civilized community. They were able to build statues and find food and make a living for themselves and their family without the many mechanical aids we have in our society today. It is interesting to me that this society relates to ours in the sense that we (although having some tools) didn't have the amount of technology that we do today and we still managed to be a fully functioning and working community. The people of Easter island created all the forms of technology that they might need and therefore were successful, in the beginning.
The people of Easter island began to become more and more industrialized and also started to domesticate animals and this is when everything in their community started to collapse. The more they felt the need to industrialize, the more resources were being used and wasted. They felt obligated to make their chief happy and in turn their God and in order to do so, they built giant statues which destroyed nature and their resources. The need to fulfill culture and religious "obligations" seemed to be greater than the need to preserve what these people needed to survive. None of the residents of Easter island realized that they were going to run out of resources. This, plus epidemics and kidnappings that lead to slavery all contributed to the loss of this society as a whole, but I personally believe it all stemmed from the waste of resources.
Americans, I feel are in a similar situation. People in America before us have worked hard to create a life for us to have now and as time goes by, we slowly use all of these resources given to us and they will slowly decline. We use fossil fuels which will not only become obsolete, but also pollute the land which in turn helps in the pollution of all of our other resources. If Americans continue to use these same methods, we might end up like the people of Easter island.
The people of Easter island began to become more and more industrialized and also started to domesticate animals and this is when everything in their community started to collapse. The more they felt the need to industrialize, the more resources were being used and wasted. They felt obligated to make their chief happy and in turn their God and in order to do so, they built giant statues which destroyed nature and their resources. The need to fulfill culture and religious "obligations" seemed to be greater than the need to preserve what these people needed to survive. None of the residents of Easter island realized that they were going to run out of resources. This, plus epidemics and kidnappings that lead to slavery all contributed to the loss of this society as a whole, but I personally believe it all stemmed from the waste of resources.
Americans, I feel are in a similar situation. People in America before us have worked hard to create a life for us to have now and as time goes by, we slowly use all of these resources given to us and they will slowly decline. We use fossil fuels which will not only become obsolete, but also pollute the land which in turn helps in the pollution of all of our other resources. If Americans continue to use these same methods, we might end up like the people of Easter island.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Final Food Assignment
In the story by James Agree, I feel that the mother can be easily connected to the people of America. In some sense, she was in denial of what happened when the cows were loaded into the train car and taken away. She was reluctant to tell her children the story of what happens to the other cows and she doesn't want to believe it happens herself so she ignores it and tries to tell her children to live their normal lives. Americans remain ignorant as to how their food is made and some would rather keep it this way. Other people know what goes on with their food, but decide to pretend it doesn't happen and ignore the fact that there are bad conditions in factories and that there are health hazards and all just so that these factories will be efficient. This ignorance and reluctancy to believe what actually happens leads people to create imaginary, ideal farms and ways of getting food that they then pass onto their children. Americans teach their children that industrialized food is the only way to obtain nourishment and then they think that farm like is the coolest thing they've ever seen. They don't know that farms are based off of fossil fuels or that the giant machines that they think are so cool, actually pollute the earth or cause soil to be unhealthy for growing other plants. They also don't know about the pesticides used that sometimes harm the food and the fact that some of the foods when picked are thrown on the ground to be sorted. The vegetables are not the only thing that people ignore the negatives of.
In factories where cattle are made into beef and pig are turned into pork and etc, the animals are kept in crowded pens and are mistreated as we saw in the "Meatrix" video. The cows tails are cut off and attached to machines to be milked. The babies are taken away from their mothers and also attached to machines that will feed them. After the cows are killed and in the actual factory, the workers work on conveyer belts that at times get so busy that they can lose fingers trying to cut the meat or hurt themselves in other ways. The blood and feces that drips off of the dead carcasses of the cattle, lad on other meats that are already ready to be packaged and this is also a medical hazard. I believe that things like this do happen and that the conditions for animals and workers are bad, but I feel that "The Meatrix" video over exaggerates things to make its point. Yes, these conditions are terrible and they do exist, but people are not purposefully trying to harm their workers and people are not trying to ignore the medical aspects that negatively effect society. People are poorly informed about the aspects of society that make us sick or harm us. Of course there are people in the world that try and only think about efficiency, but they (I believe) do not make up most of the population of factory owners. We also must keep in mind that there are inspectors whose job it is to check these factories and make sure they are up to code and clean. Of course like every job, there are people in this profession who do a bad job, but nothing is perfect. I also think another possibility for this "Meatrix" video is that people watch it because it is targeted to fans of a specific movie and they watch it because they want to see the similarities and differences in the movie and the "Parody." This being said, I think that people watching this video either some insight into food and how its made or get nothing at all. They laugh because of the jokes and they like the irony of the movies being the same. I personally didn't think differently about my food, i just eat the same as usual. This video is just another thing that Americans will watch and ignore the true meaning behind it. We are already know and are used to our food ways and I think few people are willing to change.
People maybe unwilling to change, but there are also people who care too much about what they eat. In the book "Omnivore's Dilemma" Pollan addresses this issue. I agree with Pollan 's argument becuase I feel like Americans pay so much attention to what they eat and that they care so much about carbs and what not, but not as much about what exactly is in the food. The constant need to check the percentage of carbs and fat and such drives people to read "proffesional's advice." There are so many different opinions about what to eat if a person wants to go on a diet that the media can basically control a person's dietary habbits. The media tells people what is and is not considered healthy and thus fools people into eating whatever they see fit. Americans worry so much about dieting and how many carbs they are consumng, but rarely do they ever find out the actual ingrdients that are in their food. This leads to people being misinformed about what is and is not healthy and therefore people don't get the nutrition they need. Countries like France and Italy eat healthy and might possibly consume as much as America, but they eat things in moderation and so they are healthier. In my family we don't ever follow what anyone considers healthy. We eat everything and anything we want, but as mentioned before, we eat everything in moderation. My mom usually cooks and she cooks healthy foods and then we snack on whatever we want. My family goes to the grocery store a lot considering the fact that we are a very hungry family of 5. When I go to the grocery store with my parents, I never really realized the marketing in a grocery store was so well thought out. When I went by myself, I noticed that on the higher levels (on about Kevin's level) there was the "Hungry Man feasts" that were frozen dinners advertised for men. On my level, I noticed that there was the "Kid Cuizine" and things advertised for younger kids. The same applied for the cereals. Again on Kevin's level, there was the "healthier" cereals and on my level, there were the cereals that came with prizes in the boxes and the junky cereals to market to kids. This is an interesting strategy because I notice that kids can see these things more easily and therefore want to ask for more from their parents. My family tries to eat as healthy as possible and to ensure this, my mother doesn't take us with her grocery shopping so we don't all get sidetracked. She asks us what we want before she leaves the house and then she goes to the store and gets what she needs to. My mom has always taught me everything is good in moderation. She allowed me to have things that I wanted to, but she taught me to have those things little by little and ever since I was a kid I just always really liked healthy fruits and vegetables so I never really had a problem with eating healthy. My younger sister is the same way, but my middle sister is so different which is weird because we were all raised the same way, yet she eats so much junk and she doesn't realize how bad it is for her even when her doctor says that she is not healthy and needs to start eating healthier. I think this just goes to show that it doesn't matter how you were raised, if a child decides to change their habits, they will and they'll do whatever they want.
Not only are food habits changed, but culture of food is changed as well. My family always eats together at the dinning room table. My mother insists on us eating as a family because we are all so busy that we rarely have time for each other. My mom makes dinner and my dad helps a lot of the time or they take turns cooking each night. At dinner we always talk about what went on in our day or what our plans are for the rest of the week. I feel that on T.V. and in the media, they send out two different messages about food and they way we eat. A lot of T.V. shows portray the same method of eating as a family bonding point in the day. People come together during meals to share their experiences and socialize, but another message that they send is that eating in a living room with T.V. trays and not really getting to know the other people at all.
I also noticed that people in America eat without even thinking. They eat at random times in the day and don't take much account for what exactly they put into their bodies. I follow this trend myself. Eating is a very common ritual that everyone follows for a number of different reasons. I find that people eat when they are sad and when there's nothing to do. We use food as a time for togetherness and when friends or family get together, they use food to bring each other together. No matter what culture or ethnic background I feel that food is important to bring people together.
I feel that in bringing people together with food, America has tried to bring other cultures into our world, but I feel that in doing so we have changed food to fit our unhealthy lifestyle. We have Americanized a lot of the food that we now have in our society and I feel that America's food is based off of 2 things. There is 1 extreme that is the unhealthy, fatty artificial foods. These people are the people that don't really care what they eat wether they are fat or not. They don't think about what they eat and just eat whenever they feel like. The 2nd extreme is when people obsess about what they eat and how many calories they consume or if what they eat in the day is healthy. Those who try to break away from the normal nonchalance of the American culture and try to create a "healthier" and different lifestyle for themselves are not really being to original or different. They are in fact falling into the other common group in America of those who are constantly watching what they eat or those who are vegetarian.
I think it’s interesting to go to other “cultural” restaurants that America has changed. I went to a Spanish restaurant called Sofrito. In this restaurant, there are actual Spanish dishes and music from South America and Puerto Rico and not Reggeton. There was also art all over the wall from Spanish artists. I think this was interesting to have because usually we only have Americanized Spanish foods and in this restaurant, they decided to bring their culture to America. The menu was also in Spanish which was interesting to see the actual names of all the food and to translate it in English and see the differences. Although this restaurant was Spanish based, there was still a small Americanized aspect of it. When someone was there on their birthday (like all American restaurants) they sang happy birthday. Even though they sang it in English and Spanish, I still felt like it was a very American thing to do in a restaurant and it snuck its way into the Spanish restaurant. When I looked up the answer to this question, I noticed that there is no real defined "American Food." Recipes came up for different French recipes and Mexican recipes. When I actually did find something that was "American Food," it was really not anything healthy. Reading an article called "10 foods that make America great" the author writes "Hamburgers. Apple pie. Potato chips. Foods that helped shape our nation." I really hate to think that these foods are what "shaped our nation" because I see this as an overdramatic statement that is really pathetic to think of. It is also pathetic to think that other countries have foods that are considered an art to make and are prepared carefully and with as much perfection as possible. Other cultures also have many spices and seasonings that they add and we as Americans have hamburgers and potato chips. Our food is simple and in a sense stolen from other cultures and we don't have our own cultural food. Our food is not our own and whenever we do adapt food from other cultures, we Americanize it and make it our own unhealthy version of what was an art.
In factories where cattle are made into beef and pig are turned into pork and etc, the animals are kept in crowded pens and are mistreated as we saw in the "Meatrix" video. The cows tails are cut off and attached to machines to be milked. The babies are taken away from their mothers and also attached to machines that will feed them. After the cows are killed and in the actual factory, the workers work on conveyer belts that at times get so busy that they can lose fingers trying to cut the meat or hurt themselves in other ways. The blood and feces that drips off of the dead carcasses of the cattle, lad on other meats that are already ready to be packaged and this is also a medical hazard. I believe that things like this do happen and that the conditions for animals and workers are bad, but I feel that "The Meatrix" video over exaggerates things to make its point. Yes, these conditions are terrible and they do exist, but people are not purposefully trying to harm their workers and people are not trying to ignore the medical aspects that negatively effect society. People are poorly informed about the aspects of society that make us sick or harm us. Of course there are people in the world that try and only think about efficiency, but they (I believe) do not make up most of the population of factory owners. We also must keep in mind that there are inspectors whose job it is to check these factories and make sure they are up to code and clean. Of course like every job, there are people in this profession who do a bad job, but nothing is perfect. I also think another possibility for this "Meatrix" video is that people watch it because it is targeted to fans of a specific movie and they watch it because they want to see the similarities and differences in the movie and the "Parody." This being said, I think that people watching this video either some insight into food and how its made or get nothing at all. They laugh because of the jokes and they like the irony of the movies being the same. I personally didn't think differently about my food, i just eat the same as usual. This video is just another thing that Americans will watch and ignore the true meaning behind it. We are already know and are used to our food ways and I think few people are willing to change.
People maybe unwilling to change, but there are also people who care too much about what they eat. In the book "Omnivore's Dilemma" Pollan addresses this issue. I agree with Pollan 's argument becuase I feel like Americans pay so much attention to what they eat and that they care so much about carbs and what not, but not as much about what exactly is in the food. The constant need to check the percentage of carbs and fat and such drives people to read "proffesional's advice." There are so many different opinions about what to eat if a person wants to go on a diet that the media can basically control a person's dietary habbits. The media tells people what is and is not considered healthy and thus fools people into eating whatever they see fit. Americans worry so much about dieting and how many carbs they are consumng, but rarely do they ever find out the actual ingrdients that are in their food. This leads to people being misinformed about what is and is not healthy and therefore people don't get the nutrition they need. Countries like France and Italy eat healthy and might possibly consume as much as America, but they eat things in moderation and so they are healthier. In my family we don't ever follow what anyone considers healthy. We eat everything and anything we want, but as mentioned before, we eat everything in moderation. My mom usually cooks and she cooks healthy foods and then we snack on whatever we want. My family goes to the grocery store a lot considering the fact that we are a very hungry family of 5. When I go to the grocery store with my parents, I never really realized the marketing in a grocery store was so well thought out. When I went by myself, I noticed that on the higher levels (on about Kevin's level) there was the "Hungry Man feasts" that were frozen dinners advertised for men. On my level, I noticed that there was the "Kid Cuizine" and things advertised for younger kids. The same applied for the cereals. Again on Kevin's level, there was the "healthier" cereals and on my level, there were the cereals that came with prizes in the boxes and the junky cereals to market to kids. This is an interesting strategy because I notice that kids can see these things more easily and therefore want to ask for more from their parents. My family tries to eat as healthy as possible and to ensure this, my mother doesn't take us with her grocery shopping so we don't all get sidetracked. She asks us what we want before she leaves the house and then she goes to the store and gets what she needs to. My mom has always taught me everything is good in moderation. She allowed me to have things that I wanted to, but she taught me to have those things little by little and ever since I was a kid I just always really liked healthy fruits and vegetables so I never really had a problem with eating healthy. My younger sister is the same way, but my middle sister is so different which is weird because we were all raised the same way, yet she eats so much junk and she doesn't realize how bad it is for her even when her doctor says that she is not healthy and needs to start eating healthier. I think this just goes to show that it doesn't matter how you were raised, if a child decides to change their habits, they will and they'll do whatever they want.
Not only are food habits changed, but culture of food is changed as well. My family always eats together at the dinning room table. My mother insists on us eating as a family because we are all so busy that we rarely have time for each other. My mom makes dinner and my dad helps a lot of the time or they take turns cooking each night. At dinner we always talk about what went on in our day or what our plans are for the rest of the week. I feel that on T.V. and in the media, they send out two different messages about food and they way we eat. A lot of T.V. shows portray the same method of eating as a family bonding point in the day. People come together during meals to share their experiences and socialize, but another message that they send is that eating in a living room with T.V. trays and not really getting to know the other people at all.
I also noticed that people in America eat without even thinking. They eat at random times in the day and don't take much account for what exactly they put into their bodies. I follow this trend myself. Eating is a very common ritual that everyone follows for a number of different reasons. I find that people eat when they are sad and when there's nothing to do. We use food as a time for togetherness and when friends or family get together, they use food to bring each other together. No matter what culture or ethnic background I feel that food is important to bring people together.
I feel that in bringing people together with food, America has tried to bring other cultures into our world, but I feel that in doing so we have changed food to fit our unhealthy lifestyle. We have Americanized a lot of the food that we now have in our society and I feel that America's food is based off of 2 things. There is 1 extreme that is the unhealthy, fatty artificial foods. These people are the people that don't really care what they eat wether they are fat or not. They don't think about what they eat and just eat whenever they feel like. The 2nd extreme is when people obsess about what they eat and how many calories they consume or if what they eat in the day is healthy. Those who try to break away from the normal nonchalance of the American culture and try to create a "healthier" and different lifestyle for themselves are not really being to original or different. They are in fact falling into the other common group in America of those who are constantly watching what they eat or those who are vegetarian.
I think it’s interesting to go to other “cultural” restaurants that America has changed. I went to a Spanish restaurant called Sofrito. In this restaurant, there are actual Spanish dishes and music from South America and Puerto Rico and not Reggeton. There was also art all over the wall from Spanish artists. I think this was interesting to have because usually we only have Americanized Spanish foods and in this restaurant, they decided to bring their culture to America. The menu was also in Spanish which was interesting to see the actual names of all the food and to translate it in English and see the differences. Although this restaurant was Spanish based, there was still a small Americanized aspect of it. When someone was there on their birthday (like all American restaurants) they sang happy birthday. Even though they sang it in English and Spanish, I still felt like it was a very American thing to do in a restaurant and it snuck its way into the Spanish restaurant. When I looked up the answer to this question, I noticed that there is no real defined "American Food." Recipes came up for different French recipes and Mexican recipes. When I actually did find something that was "American Food," it was really not anything healthy. Reading an article called "10 foods that make America great" the author writes "Hamburgers. Apple pie. Potato chips. Foods that helped shape our nation." I really hate to think that these foods are what "shaped our nation" because I see this as an overdramatic statement that is really pathetic to think of. It is also pathetic to think that other countries have foods that are considered an art to make and are prepared carefully and with as much perfection as possible. Other cultures also have many spices and seasonings that they add and we as Americans have hamburgers and potato chips. Our food is simple and in a sense stolen from other cultures and we don't have our own cultural food. Our food is not our own and whenever we do adapt food from other cultures, we Americanize it and make it our own unhealthy version of what was an art.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Food # 8 - Industrial Food
I believe that things like this do happen and that the conditions for animals and workers are bad, but I feel that the videos (The Meatrix) over exaggerate things to make their point. Yes, these conditions are terrible and they do exist, but people are not purposefully trying to harm their workers and people are not trying to ignore the medical aspects that negatively effect society. People are poorly informed about the aspects of society that make us sick or harm us. Of course there are people in the world that try and only think about efficiency, but they (I believe) do not make up most of the population of factory owners. We also must keep in mind that there are inspectors whose job it is to check these factories and make sure they are up to code and clean. Of course like every job, there are people in this profession who do a bad job, but nothing is perfect. I also think another possibility for this "Meatrix" video is that people watch it because it is targeted to fans of a specific movie and they watch it because they want to see the similarities and differences in the movie and the "Parody." This being said, I think that people watching this video either some insight into food and how its made or get nothing at all. They laugh because of the jokes and they like the irony of the movies being the same. I personally didn't think differently about my food, i just eat the same as usual. This video is just another thing that Americans will watch and ignore the true meaning behind it. We are already know and are used to our food ways and I think few people are willing to change.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Food # 6 - Response to Pollan 1
I agree with Pollan 's argument becuase I feel like Americans pay so much attention to what they eat and that they care so much about carbs and what not, but not as much about what exactly is in the food. The constant need to check the percentage of carbs and fat and such drives people to read "proffesional's advice." There are so many different opinions about what to eat if a person wants to go on a diet that the media can basically control a person's dietary habbits. The media tells people what is and is not considered healthy and thus fools people into eating whatever they see fit. Americans worry so much about dieting and how many carbs they are consumng, but rarely do they ever find out the actual ingrdients that are in their food. This leads to people being misinformed about what is and is not healthy and therefore people don't get the nutrition they need. Countries like France and Italy eat healthy and might possibly consume as much as America, but they eat things in moderation and so they are healthier. In my family we don't ever follow what anyone considers healthy. We eat everything and anything we want, but as mentioned before, we eat everything in moderation. My mom usually cooks and she cooks healthy foods and then we snack on whatever we want.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Grocery Store and Habitual Foods
What I eat:
Fruits:
-Cucumbers
-Tomatoes
-Apples
-Grapes
-Watermelons
-Pears
-Peaches
-Raspberries
-Cherries
Vegetables:
-Broccoli
-Strawberries
-Carrots
-Corn
-Bean Sprouts
-Potatoes
Grains and Roots:
-Rice
-Peanuts
-Garlic
-Red Beans
My family goes to the grocery store a lot considering the fat that we are a very hungry family of 5. When I go to the grocery store with my parents, I never really realized the marketing in a grocery store was so well thought out. When I went by myself, I noticed that on the higher levels (on about Kevin's level) there was the "Hungry Man feasts" that were frozen dinners advertised for men. On my level, I noticed that there was the "Kid Cuizine" and things advertised for younger kids. The same applied for the cereals. Again on Kevin's level, there was the "healthier" cereals and on my level, there were the cereals that came with prizes in the boxes and the junky cereals to market to kids. This is an interesting strategy because I notice that kids can see these things more easily and therefore want to ask for more from their parents. My family tries to eat as healthy as possible and to ensure this, my mother doesn't take us with her grocery shopping so we don't all get sidetracked. She asks us what we want before she leaves the house and then she goes to the store and gets what she needs to. My mom has always taught me everything is good in moderation. She allowed me to have things that I wanted to, but she taught me to have those things little by little and ever since I was a kid I just always really liked healthy fruits and vegetables so I never really had a problem with eating healthy. My younger sister is the same way, but my middle sister is so different which is weird because we were all raised the same way, yet she eats so much junk and she doesn't realize how bad it is for her even when her doctor says that she is not healthy and needs to start eating healthier. I think this just goes to show that it doesn't matter how you were raised, if a child decides to change their habits, they will and they'll do whatever they want.
Fruits:
-Cucumbers
-Tomatoes
-Apples
-Grapes
-Watermelons
-Pears
-Peaches
-Raspberries
-Cherries
Vegetables:
-Broccoli
-Strawberries
-Carrots
-Corn
-Bean Sprouts
-Potatoes
Grains and Roots:
-Rice
-Peanuts
-Garlic
-Red Beans
My family goes to the grocery store a lot considering the fat that we are a very hungry family of 5. When I go to the grocery store with my parents, I never really realized the marketing in a grocery store was so well thought out. When I went by myself, I noticed that on the higher levels (on about Kevin's level) there was the "Hungry Man feasts" that were frozen dinners advertised for men. On my level, I noticed that there was the "Kid Cuizine" and things advertised for younger kids. The same applied for the cereals. Again on Kevin's level, there was the "healthier" cereals and on my level, there were the cereals that came with prizes in the boxes and the junky cereals to market to kids. This is an interesting strategy because I notice that kids can see these things more easily and therefore want to ask for more from their parents. My family tries to eat as healthy as possible and to ensure this, my mother doesn't take us with her grocery shopping so we don't all get sidetracked. She asks us what we want before she leaves the house and then she goes to the store and gets what she needs to. My mom has always taught me everything is good in moderation. She allowed me to have things that I wanted to, but she taught me to have those things little by little and ever since I was a kid I just always really liked healthy fruits and vegetables so I never really had a problem with eating healthy. My younger sister is the same way, but my middle sister is so different which is weird because we were all raised the same way, yet she eats so much junk and she doesn't realize how bad it is for her even when her doctor says that she is not healthy and needs to start eating healthier. I think this just goes to show that it doesn't matter how you were raised, if a child decides to change their habits, they will and they'll do whatever they want.
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