The Effects Of Cooked Food

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How many times a week do you eat fast food, or industrially prepared food? Probably more often than you realize. I certainly know when I heat up a prepackaged burger on the stove, or microwave a frozen burrito I’m not thinking about how this food was made, where it came from or its effect on society. When talking to other people it becomes reasonably clear that people have many different opinions about the quality, cultural impact, and the effects of industrialized food.
With an increasing number of fast food restaurants advertising their latest products as “hand-cut,” low sodium, or no sugar added; consequently, the question of whether or not all industrially prepared food is unhealthy comes up. Both Michael Pollan and Jamie Oliver would …show more content…

Work, time, and delay of gratification in the cooking process serve as an important check on our appetite, and in today 's culture we have eliminated this natural check (Pollan). “When we let corporations do the cooking; they 're bound to go heavy on sugar, fat, and salt; these are three tastes we 're hard-wired to like, which happen to be dirt cheap to add and do a good job masking the shortcomings of processed food” (Pollan). Pollan pretty well sums up what industrially prepared food consists of. Oliver also makes some strong points using some statistics …show more content…

Well, some would tell you yes. Pollan falls under this category. He explains that we 're well on our way to turning cooking into a weekend recreation, or something we only watch on TV (Pollan). After all, “cooking gave us not just the meal but also the occasion: the practice of eating together at an appointed time and place” (Pollan). Pollan also comes to this conclusion “ if cooking is as central to human identity and culture as Wrangham believes, it stands to reason that the decline of cooking in our time would have a profound effect on modern life.” Oliver expresses his agreement when he says “the power of food has a primal place in our homes and binds us to the best life.” Oliver also expresses his concern that we don 't pass food culture and preparation down to our kids in our homes and schools. He believes that every kid needs to learn how to cook 10 recipes that will change their lives in schools (Oliver). Oliver even takes it as far as to say the lack of cooking in homes will kill us and currently does so. On the other hand, Wong makes some important points about how cooking is not enough to completely change culture. In fact, in China he believes that culinary cultures only represents the tip of the iceberg of China 's contribution to global cultural trends (Pollan). While Pollan does believe that America has a revolutionary force on Chinese culture, he also says

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