In the article “The End of Food,” Lizzie Widdicombe describes an advancement of our food culture through a new product developed by three young men living in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district. After failing to produce new inexpensive cellphone towers on a hundred seventy thousand dollar investment, the three men went on to try and develop software with their remaining funding. While trying to maximize their funding’s longevity, they realized that their biggest budget impediment was food. In fact, it reached the point where their diet comprised of mostly fast food, and eventually they despised the fact that they had to spend so much time and money on eating. Due to this hardship, Rob Rhinehart, one of the entrepreneurs, came up with the
According to a survey by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), more than two in three adults are considered to be overweight or obese. For dieting, Soylent is a good option. Since it doesn’t require eating anything else, Soylent allows for extremely controlled consumption, as it has a specific number of calories and also has a lower amount of sugar. Soylent is very affordable, and therefore gives a solution to those who cannot afford healthier foods. For example, one of the students that Widdicombe spoke to said that before they ate Soylent, “there [were] weeks when [they]’ve eaten nothing but cheesy pasta.” Synthetic foods are a great solution to malnourishment, as they are pure, cheap nutrition with no empty
As Rhinehart claims, “agriculture’s one of the most dangerous and dirty jobs out there, and it’s traditionally done by the underclass. There’s so much walking and manual labor, counting and measuring. Surely it should be automated.” Our job market is changing. Menial labor and services used to be a larger part of what Americans would do for a living, but in the future all of these jobs will no longer exist because of technological advancements. If synthetic foods begin to replace traditional food, traditional manual agricultural labor will disappear. In fact Rhinehart is trying to begin production of omega-3 oil that comes from algae. The Soylent team is hopeful that they can create a “Soylent-producing ‘superorganism’: a single strain of alga that pumps out Soylent all day.” By completely automating agricultural production, we are solving world hunger, lowering chances of resource wars, therefore making the world a better place. The development of synthetic foods is a movement. There are many nutritional issues, both around the world and in this country, and synthetic foods is a viable solution to our problem. People are obese, overweight, diabetic, or malnourished because healthy food is too expensive. Synthetic foods have the ability to change the workforce, restructure our culture toward more productivity, and increase American life quality. By supporting synthetic foods, we are supporting
In “Called Home”, the first chapter of the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year in Food Life, Barbara Kingsolver presents her concerns about America's lack of food knowledge, sustainable practices, and food culture. Kingsolver introduces her argument for the benefits of adopting a local food culture by using statistics, witty anecdotal evidence, and logic to appeal to a wide casual reading audience. Her friendly tone and trenchant criticism of America's current food practices combine to deliver a convincing argument that a food culture would improve conditions concerning health and sustainability. I agree with Kingsolver that knowing the origin of food is an important and healthy benefit of developing a true food culture, but it is impractical to maintain that everyone is able to buy more expensive food. Kingsolver presents a compelling argument for developing a food culture, however this lifestyle change may not be practical or even possible for a poverty-level citizen. The following essay will summarize and respond to Kingsolver’s argument to demonstrate how “Called Home” is a model for novice social scientists.
In the book published in 2006, the Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural history of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan, is a non-fiction book about American eating habits and the food dilemma that many Americans are facing today. Pollan begins the book by discussing the dilemma of the omnivore like ourselves, a creature with many choices of food. Pollan decides to learn the root to the food dilemma by examining the three primary food chains: industrial food chain, the organic food chain, and the hunter-gathering food chain. His journey begins by first exploring the industrialized food industry. Pollan examines the industry by following both corn and cow from the beginning through the industrialized process. The work on the corn fields of George Naylor shows him that the industrial system has made corn appears nearly in all products in the supermarket (Pollan 33-37). Pollen then decides to purchase a steer which allows him to see the industrialized monoculture of beef production and how mass production produces food to serve the society. Following his journey, Pollan and his family eat a meal at McDonald's restaurant. Pollan realizes that he and very few people actually understand how such a meal is created. By examining the different food paths available to modern man and by analyzing those paths, Pollan argues that there is a basic relation between nature and the human. The food choice and what we eat represents a connection with our natural world. The industrial food ruins that ecological connections. In fact, the modern agribusiness has lost touch with the natural cycles of farming. Pollan presents the book with a question in the beginning: "What should we have for dinner?" (Pollan 1) This question posed a combination of p...
In the documentary, Food Inc., we get an inside look at the secrets and horrors of the food industry. The director, Robert Kenner, argues that most Americans have no idea where their food comes from or what happens to it before they put it in their bodies. To him, this is a major issue and a great danger to society as a whole. One of the conclusions of this documentary is that we should not blindly trust the food companies, and we should ultimately be more concerned with what we are eating and feeding to our children. Through his investigations, he hopes to lift the veil from the hidden world of food.
A common theme in entertainment today is the question “Just because I can, should I do it?” Usually this is applied to moral issues or controversial scientific breakthroughs. Yet, very little of the American public even bother to ask this about food science and production. As long as the food tastes good and is convenient, most people don’t really care. Melanie Warner, overall, was just like most Americans. In her book she documents how a former business journalist became infatuated with the longevity of cheese, guacamole, and other normal American cuisine. It’s a dark hole. Most readers will be horrified and confused with such production methods. While Warner’s book isn’t a scientific study, her neutral style and intriguing investigation
As obesity and medical problems due to diet become a larger issue within society, it is imperative to educate humans on the importance of maintaining a healthy diet. This is exactly what Hungry for Change does. One of the key points made in the documentary is that humans no longer eat a natural diet like their ancestors did; when humans first began to inhabit the Earth they lived off a diet of fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, and meats. During these periods famine and disease was rampant, so humans adapted to store nutrition more productively. Now that humans live in a more developed society, they have a (practically) unlimited supply of food. However, much of this food is processed and manipulated to have a better flavour and a longer shelf life, and though this sounds like a positive situation, it has become a huge problem. According to best-selling women’s health author Dr. Christine Northrup, “We’ve lived on Earth for a millennium where there was a food shortage. You’re programmed to put on fat whenever there is food available. Now there’s a lot of food available, but it’s the wrong kind.” (Northrup, as cited in Colquhoun et al., 2012). This is a logical and widely accepted theory as to why humans continue to overindulge on foods despi...
Food not only represents a culture, but can also show one 's personality, lifestyle, and financial status. While nourishment is an essential need for our survival, it 's value and effect on our everyday lives far surpasses its purpose. Food provides the human body with nutrients: which are the required chemicals and compounds needed by the body to grow strong and stay health. However, what if one could directly provide the body with the required chemicals without having to experience the bother of devouring the sustenance itself? That is where Rhinehart, an electrical engineer from Georgia Tech, introduces his Soylent Formula. Soylent replaces the intake of the required chemicals and compounds needed by the body, normally obtained by consuming food, with a faster and
Science-fiction novels have imagined thousands societal advancements, with many of which taking form in reality. A recent addition to the ranks of the helicopter and submarine is a substitute for food called Soylent. Soylent is a drink crafted from the base nutrients we require from food, theoretically meaning that someone who drinks Soylent does not need regular food. Creator Rob Rhinehart has stated that he wishes for Soylent to replace most meals, causing increased efficiency for all people, while reforming the food industry. This does not mean Soylent would ever replace meals as a cultural centerpoint, but that it may replace meals that serve no social or cultural purpose.
When was the last time you ate at a fast food restaurant? When was the last time you actually ate something healthy? Most people are now eating more processed food than they are eating actual meals. In Michael Pollan’s Essay, “Escape from the Western Diet” he attributes the “Western Diet” as unhealthy processed food. Pollan fundamentally believes that Americans need to get away from the trend of consuming processed food because it inevitably makes the individual sick. He describes the conditions that dictate what Americans believe they should eat. The conditions include the scientific field and their unrealistic nutritionist theories, the food industry backing said theories by producing commodities, and the medical industry providing medicine to support those exact theories. Pollan concludes that in order to escape this diet, people must make an effort to actively participate in researching what it is that goes into their body. Sequentially, Pollan reveals his own regiments for evading the western diet as well as the nutrition theories put into place by scientists.
In Michael Pollan’s “The End of Cooking” shares the message of what we are losing something important in this day and age because of all our pre-made and processed foods. This can be compared with Kothari’s “If You Are What You Eat, What Am I?” and her argument that food is part of one’s own identity. By using the examples from these two texts you can analyze the state of food and culture in the United States today. All of the processed and pre-made foods are causing people all across America to lose their sense of Culture. We no longer know what it’s like to make one of our cultures specialty dishes from scratch which can help people identify with their culture. This process helped newer generations see what it was like for those before them to cook on a daily basis and could help them identify your sense of culture.
Harvey, Blatt. America’s Food: What You Don’t Know About What You Eat. 1st ed. Cambridge:
Falkner, Robert. “The Global Biotech Food Fight: Why The United States Got It So Wrong.” Brown Journal Of World Affairs 14.1 (2007): 99-110. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Nov. 2011.
People need to stop messing with the ingredients in the food. Many food that many people eat today has been so genetically modified, scientists do not know the future effects it has on the human body. The food the public has to eat now cannot possibly end. The product “Soylent” cannot solve the world’s problems. Rob Rhinehart, the entrepreneur of this product says Soylent is a drink that is composed of thirty-five essential nutrients necessary for human-survival and that these nutrients are grinded up and mixed in with water. How can a random tech entrepreneur who barely has any science degree background prove and say that Soylent may be the product that may end or replace all foods? He does not establish any ethos in biochemical sciences yet
Genetically modified food’s, or GMOs, goal is to feed the world's malnourished and undernourished population. Exploring the positive side to GMOs paints a wondrous picture for our planet’s future, although careful steps must be taken to ensure that destruction of our ecosystems do not occur. When GMOs were first introduced into the consumer market they claimed that they would help eliminate the world’s food crisis by providing plants that produced more and were resistant to elemental impacts like droughts and bacterial contaminants, however, production isn’t the only cause for the world’s food crisis. Which is a cause for concern because the population on the earth is growing and our land and ways of agriculture will not be enough to feed everyone sufficiently. No simple solutions can be found or applied when there are so many lives involved. Those who are hungry and those who are over fed, alike, have to consider the consequences of Genetically Modified Organisms. Food should not be treated like a commodity it is a human necessity on the most basic of levels. When egos, hidden agendas, and personal gains are folded into people's food sources no one wins. As in many things of life, there is no true right way or wrong way to handle either of the arguments and so many factors are involved that a ‘simple’ solution is simply not an option.
Food has been a common source of necessity in our everyday lives as humans. It helps gives us nutrition and energy to live throughout our life. Over several decades, the development of making foods has evolved. They have changed from natural to processed foods in recent years. Nowadays natural ingredients are barely used in the making of foods like bread, cheese, or yogurt. The food industry today has replaced natural food making with inorganic ingredients. The cause of this switch is due to processed foods being easier, cheaper and faster to make. Artificial nutrition and processed foods have been proven to last longer in market shelves then natural foods. Also, due to artificial additives in processed foods they help satisfy consumers taste more than natural ingredients. The method of producing processed foods is common in today's food industry and helps make money faster and efficiently for companies. Examples of this can be found in all markets that distribute food. Even though processed foods may be easier and faster to make, they are nowhere near as healthy for consumers compared to natural foods. Natural foods are healthier, wholesome, and beneficial to the human body and planet then processed foods.
Such products may range from isolated nutrients, dietary supplements and specific diets to genetically engineered designer foods, herbal products, and processed foods such as cereals, soups and beverages. In the United States, the term nutraceutical is commonly used in marketing and has no regulatory definition. One of the most important growing trends in food industry today is the demand for all natural food ingredients free of chemical additives. Increase in health awareness caused major changes in food, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries. The nutraceutical market has grown multifold both in developed and developing countries. People are becoming more concerned about their well being and are shifting to nutraceutical products to prevent the onset of any chronic disease like diabetes, heart ailments, hypertension,