John Soluri 's Banana Cultures Agriculture, Consumption and Environmental Change in Honduras and the United States, (Which for spatial and repetitive purposes, I will refer to as Banana Cultures for the remainder of the paper), introduces the reader to a world of corporate greed, consumption, and environmental change using the history of the common, everyday, fruit, the banana. He explores the various political occurrences, health problems, and changes in mass media through the rise of the consumption of the banana in the United States, and around the globe.
In his introduction, Soluri introduces his idea of the banana as a symbol, something that he repeats throughout the book. I believe this is one of his strongest arguments. To him, the banana is a symbol of the "distance" (2) between those who grow the banana and those who consume. According to Soluri, while the actual fruit lost its exoticism
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Workers, tempted by "high wages and short days", tended to disregard the problems the associated with high exposure of copper sulfate and the constant presence of a blue-green stain on clothes and skin in order to support themselves and their families (124). The workers, plagued by the health problems caused by exposure, were further insulted when companies decided to replace them aerial crop dusting (198-199). Now, not only were they chronically ill, but out of work, as well. Worker 's housing and condition was usually subhuman, lacking plumbing and electricity (155), with companies doing the bare minimum to improve. The term "subhuman" may be seen as a bias term, due to my modern upbringing; but electricity and plumbing were readily available in the 1950 's when these reports surfaced. According to Soluri, " a significant number of packing plants lacked basic amenities as late as 1974"
Tomatoland is a book written by Barry Estabrook, an investigative food journalist. Throughout the pages of Tomatoland, Estabrook explores the path of tomatoes, from the seed in South America to the hands of migrant workers in the fields of Florida. Through his exploration he discovers several issues that exist within the fresh tomato industry in Florida. Two of the major issues that he discovers include the use of highly toxic chemicals that cause severe damage to the health of humans and the environment, and the exploitation of migrant workers. Estabrook directly blames the continuation of such issues on those who support the tomato industry, “it’s a world we’ve all made, and one we can fix”; this includes consumers, crew bosses, the government and the corporate farm owners, like the executives and those who work in the business side of farming. Although there are many who are at fault, Estabrook directs his blame more towards the government and the farms corporate owners. Estabrook’s assessment of blame is substantial because the government and owners of the tomato corporations are the ones who have the strongest power towards regulations and production.
When the outbreak of the Panama disease began the United Fruit ordered their field workers to put disinfectant on their tools and clothing in order to decrease the spread of disease. They burned the diseased plants, which took care of the infected bananas, but companies still had problems with workers transferring diseases. Spreading the disease was not intentional but it happened. This lead the United Fruit to begin research programs to fight the disease in 1923 so that it did not worsen. The US department of agriculture had argued the cultivation a disease resistan species would have a higher success rate, for example, the “Chinese banana.” This fruit has a short shelf life though and was not very marketable to be purchased. So the US and British research program both began breeding programs to develop disease resistant varieties, but sadly this was not successful either. It was difficult to find a product that would work, biology did not work, farms kept moving to healthier land, and this created schisms among companies and the government. The diseases were driving the production costs and soil exploitation up, fruit companies were already under public scrutiny for their land grabs and extensive holdings. They all needed a solution; the solution was when the Cavendish bananas began to be boxed in production, which then opened jobs for women. All of the bananas traveling to the
English textile factories were very bad for the health of the working class families. As Dr. Ward stated, “Last summer I visited three cotton factories with Dr. Clough of Preston and Mr. Barker of Manchester, and we could not remain ten minutes in the factory without gasping for breath...¨ This shows that the conditions were so bad that they had trouble breathing because how bad the air was. Dr. Ward also says, ¨Cotton factories are highly unfavourable, both to the health and morals of those employed in them. They are really nurseries of disease and vice. These factories were very unsafe and you could get many diseases and injuries, especially if you were a kid as a lot were. The kids were in many accidents in the factories, as Dr. Ward states,
The Michoacan state in Mexico has become the world’s largest producer of avocadoes. Although this vegetable is grown on farms throughout this state, it is also tied to an integral network of trade and export to countries across the globe. In this essay, I will argue that like any commodity chain study, the production of the organic Hass avocado has an intricate production process, which for my commodity chain study begins in Uruapan, Mexico a town in the state of Michoacan. This analysis has indicated the crucial underlying links to trade, labour, and demand that the export of this vegetable has created throughout North America and the rest of the world. I hope to establish these links in an attempt to ‘defetishize’ this commodity and bring about the broader and conflicting issues that have resulted between Mexico and nearby countries such as the United States and Canada. I will begin this research by briefly reviewing the actual process and networks that the organic Hass avocado forms from the farms in Uruapan and the path it takes to the grocery stores in Vancouver, Canada. Then look to the implications of NAFTA and other related issues that have affected the trading process of avocadoes and has created severe divisions between the USA and Mexico. I will establish the importance of the organic produce industry and its exports to further developed countries with increasing demand for these organic products. And conclude that the future of the organic produce industry may be struck with ongoing divisions, as it becomes more globalized, between larger organic agricultural firms and smaller organic farmers who rely heavil...
Kamara, Mariatu and Susan McClelland. The Bite of the Mango. New York: Annick Press Ltd., 2008. Print.
Young girls were not allowed to open the windows and had to breathe in the dust, deal with the nerve-racking noises of the machines all day, and were expected to continue work even if they 're suffering from a violent headache or toothache (Doc 2). The author of this report is in favor of employing young women since he claimed they seemed happy and they loved their machines so they polished them and tied ribbons on them, but he didn 't consider that they were implemented to make their awful situations more bearable. A woman who worked in both factory and field also stated she preferred working in the field rather than the factory because it was hard work but it never hurt her health (Doc 1), showing how dangerous it was to work in a factory with poor living conditions. Poor living conditions were common for nearly all workers, and similar to what the journalist saw, may have been overlooked due to everyone seeming
Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle,” gave the most in-depth description of the horrid truths about the way America’s food companies, “the only source of food for people living in the city,” are preparing the food they sell. “The Jungle” describes the terrible
Even though bananas may simply look like a fruit, they signify a wide variety of environmental, economic, social, and political problems. The banana trade injustices in the global trade market, symbolizes economic imperialism, and the worldwide spread of the agricultural economy. Bananas are also number four on the list of staple crops in the world and one of the major profit makers in supermarkets, making them vital for economic and global food security. Being one of the many first tropical fruits to be exported, bananas were a cheap way to bring “the tropics” to North America and Europe. Bananas have become such a widespread, inexpensive grocery item that we often forget where they come from and how they got here.
In the early 1900’s America begin to transform rapidly. Many immigrants started moving to the United States in the early 1900’s with the hopes of living the “American Dream.” However, that glittering and gleaming American lifestyle is merely a distant ideal for the immigrants living in Packingtown, the meatpacking district of Chicago. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle portrays life through the eyes of a poor workingman struggling to survive in this cruel, tumultuous environment, where the desire for profit among the capitalist meatpacking bosses and the criminals makes the lives of the working class a nearly unendurable struggle for survival. The novel The Jungle is a hybrid of history, literature, and propaganda. Sinclair, a muckraking journalist of the early 1900s exposed to the nation an industry grounded by the principles of deceit and filth, and offered a new resolution to end this problem. The novel and its massive depiction of the grotesque and unsanitary conditions created an impetus for the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act (McCage 1) which transformed American lifestyle. The Jungle is notorious for exposing the grotesque and unsanitary conditions that existed in the meat packing industry; however, the novel’s purpose expands beyond this issue and reveals the disillusionment of the American dream, the evils of a capitalistic system, and a feasible plan to end corruption.
In the novel The Jungle written by Upton Sinclair, the unimaginable horrors behind the food industry and fundamental support by capitalism are exposed. Sinclair illustrates the foul unsanitary procedures carried out in the meat packing industry and creates a grotesque image for readers. He quotes, “This is no fairy story and no joke; the meat would be shoveled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one—there were things that went into sausage in comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit” (163). In The Jungle, capitalism is what drove the meat processing industries to comply with health hazards and continue the distribution of unsafe products.The food industry in present day
While poor drainage and waste disposal procedures can be seen as a direct result of fever and epidemic; it is important first to look at the dietary practices of the working classes which would greatly contribute to their squalid living conditions.
Cayo, Jorge Riveros. "Peru's Revolution In Tastes." Americas 58.3 (2006): 44-49. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Mar. 2014.
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.
As of the many problems, the working area itself was a major problem. Companies often hastily build areas so they could quickly earn money and safety regulations were not checked. This meant that companies were able to build weak, unstable working areas and get away with it, causing the deaths of many workers. Buildings also had no emergency exits, and safety procedures. Workers also got sick because of the fumes, and unhealthy ways of working. These people often had a shorter lifespan because of these
Neruda, Pablo. “The United Fruit Co.” Trans. Ben Beltt. One World of Literature. Ed. Kristin Watts Peri, Lynn Walterick, and Robin Bushnell Hogan. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Copany, 1993. 793-794. Print.