This is my final blog post for my food blog! I've just posted my two essays that have been an accumulative of my blog posts I've done over these past months. From this whole experience of creating a blog, I've gained a lot of researching, formatting, and overall writing skills that will shape the way I write for the future. Having a blog for an English class is a great concept that encourages creativity and interest in the subject we are learning about because it is in the public eye. We created something for people to see and I found that this really pushed me to create a blog that I put forth a lot of effort to make presentable. Aside from encouraging enthusiasm for writing and creativity I was particularly interested in the our main topic covered in class, Food. While my final essay, "Assimilation into the American Identity" is just developed from a novel we read about food in our class book clubs (Stealing Buddha's Dinner), and deals with larger cultural concepts, I also learned a great deal about the food I'm eating everyday, shown especially in my first essay "The Fast Food Epidemic." I now am conscience of everything that I eat even though a lot of those things are still bad. The more I learn about food the closer I will be to becoming a healthier person, so as you can imagine I appreciated this class and overall experience highly. And remember, It's food. We all eat it.
Zac Weathers' Food Blog
Food. We all eat it.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Final Post: A Reflection
This is my final blog post for my food blog! I've just posted my two essays that have been an accumulative of my blog posts I've done over these past months. From this whole experience of creating a blog, I've gained a lot of researching, formatting, and overall writing skills that will shape the way I write for the future. Having a blog for an English class is a great concept that encourages creativity and interest in the subject we are learning about because it is in the public eye. We created something for people to see and I found that this really pushed me to create a blog that I put forth a lot of effort to make presentable. Aside from encouraging enthusiasm for writing and creativity I was particularly interested in the our main topic covered in class, Food. While my final essay, "Assimilation into the American Identity" is just developed from a novel we read about food in our class book clubs (Stealing Buddha's Dinner), and deals with larger cultural concepts, I also learned a great deal about the food I'm eating everyday, shown especially in my first essay "The Fast Food Epidemic." I now am conscience of everything that I eat even though a lot of those things are still bad. The more I learn about food the closer I will be to becoming a healthier person, so as you can imagine I appreciated this class and overall experience highly. And remember, It's food. We all eat it.
Final Portfolio
Everywhere you
look across the U.S.A. I guarantee you will find a growing number of fat
people. I've eaten fast food avidly all my life and thankfully I've stayed fit.
Someday this indulgence in unhealthy, cheap, and factory-processed food may
catch up to me. However for many Americans this glutinous lust has not only
caught up to them, but also won the race. According to the Surgeon General, 1
and 8 American deaths are caused by obesity related illness. These startling
figures lead me to the question; why are Americans getting fat and dying like
never before? I believe the food industry plays a crucial role in the United
State's obesity epidemic.
The United States
average Body Mass Index has been increasing steadily since the early 1900’s
just as the average lifespan has increased. Throughout history the wealthy have
generally been plump due to their lavish living standards. But in today’s
culture "skinny" is in, so the growing number of obese Americans
should seem odd. A major problem throughout history has been people dieing of
being malnourished, in modern America the tables have turned; now we die from
too much food! American society has progressed in such a way that citizens can
live lavish high calorie lifestyles similar to the diets of ancient wealthy and
plump noblemen, however this empty calorie lifestyle flourishes throughout the
modern general population.
This increase in
Body Mass Index is the result of an evolution of American society. We are
becoming bigger simply because our calorie intake is increasing. In her obesity
viewpoints article Laura K. Egendorf states that “on average, Americans are
eating about 200 calories more each day than they did in the 1970’s”. This
leads to the mystery of were these calories are coming from? According to the
U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by
Individuals “Americans are not eating bigger breakfasts, lunches, or dinners-
but they are noshing and nibbling like never before”. We have become a snacking nation, adding countless empty
calories into our diets.
America’s relative food costs have steadily decreased from the early 1920’s. The USDA’s Economic Research Service states that “In 1929, families spent 23.5 percent of their income on food. In 1961, they spent 17 percent. By 2010, American families could spend just 10 percent of their income on food.” Americans can now purchase more food for less money because the costs of production have decreased. With food being mass produced and highly processed in factories, production is larger and consequently cheaper than ever before, but this so called “efficiency” is sacrificing the overall nutritional value and healthiness that an unprocessed meal can provide. With the American lifestyle, food has become a secondary thought. It has become so readily available for the majority of the citizens that we have steadily increased the amount we consume through snacking on the abundance of foods, healthy and unhealthy. Obviously those who live a sedentary lifestyle with a copious amount of calories and food choices are more than likely to become obese.
America’s relative food costs have steadily decreased from the early 1920’s. The USDA’s Economic Research Service states that “In 1929, families spent 23.5 percent of their income on food. In 1961, they spent 17 percent. By 2010, American families could spend just 10 percent of their income on food.” Americans can now purchase more food for less money because the costs of production have decreased. With food being mass produced and highly processed in factories, production is larger and consequently cheaper than ever before, but this so called “efficiency” is sacrificing the overall nutritional value and healthiness that an unprocessed meal can provide. With the American lifestyle, food has become a secondary thought. It has become so readily available for the majority of the citizens that we have steadily increased the amount we consume through snacking on the abundance of foods, healthy and unhealthy. Obviously those who live a sedentary lifestyle with a copious amount of calories and food choices are more than likely to become obese.
While the typical
American lifestyle may seem like it is setting people up to become obese, many
argue that fast food corporations are a major contributing factor in the
obesity epidemic. Multiple studies have been done in the attempt to fully link
fast food consumption to increasing obesity risk. One major linking factor is
the fact that people living in a close proximity to fast food restaurants are
at a higher risk for increased weight gain. A study by the National Bureau of
Economic Research surveyed ninth graders to find those “whose schools are
within a block of a fast-food outlet are more likely to be obese than students
whose schools are a quarter of a mile or more away.” This shows that when highly
convenient and readily available fast food consumption increases obesity risk.
Multiple other surveys and statistics have been compiled all linking living in
a close proximity to a fast food facility with higher obesity and weight gain
statistics. Through clever advertising campaigns fast food has successfully
been integrated and accepted into American culture and society. Most Americans
seem to ignore the fact that fast food consumption can significantly increase
the risk of becoming overweight or obese.
Fast Food
corporations are pulling off one big cover-up. Behind the enticing masks of
corporate branding and genius advertisement the fast food corporations have
successfully downplayed the harmful/unhealthy aspects of their products. Fast
Food corporations accomplish these diversions by advertising seemingly
healthier options like salads, toys/endorsements/corporate branding to attract
children, sex to entice adults, and multiple other methods to draw away from
the fact that fast food products are unhealthy. McDonald’s Happy Meals are
marketed towards kids, but do kids actually buy Happy Meals? The kids see the
newest corporate sponsored toy from a McDonald’s ad on their favorite TV show,
they urge their parents to get them this toy because they have seen it in
countless other product placement integrations. The parent decides that they
could get a meal for their child and it would come with a toy from their
child’s current favorite fad, saving a trip to the toy store, all for the great
bargain of under five dollars and you don’t even have to leave the car!
Throughout this whole scenario the adult making the purchasing decisions is
less concerned about what they are actually feeding their child and more
concerned with the money and time they are saving, all the while making their
kid happy and integrating and accustoming them into the “fast food nation”.
When will America
wake up? When will we realize we're being duped? When will we realize that fast
and poorly made food makes us fat?
The fact of the
matter is that Americans are becoming fatter. With an increase in calorie
intake, abundance of unhealthy and processed food, and increasing amount of
people living sedentary lifestyles the epidemic is growing. 30.6 percent of the
general American populous is considered obese and over 50 percent of America is
over the healthy weight limit (AKA overweight). While there are multiple
factors that can possibly contribute to obesity risk, one thing is certain.
America is facing a growing epidemic of unhealthiness.
Fast Food
businesses have been highly successful at marketing towards the American masses
of every race, generation, and social status. They have advertised their
products as cheap, good tasting, and associate it with fun. However, the
nutritional facts of their generally unhealthy products are understated and
“healthier choice” items are overstated to make fast food in general seem
healthier/less harmful. Fast food is in fact unhealthy, confirmed in a US
Department of Agriculture survey USDA- Let's Eat Out. With increased workweek
hours and the ever-increasing number of fast food restaurants, multiple
different types of Americans are finding it more and more convenient to spend
less time pursuing healthy options and take the fast track of the drive-thru.
Through clever advertising campaigns fast food has successfully been integrated
and accepted into American culture and society, despite the fact that fast food
consumption can significantly increase the risk of becoming overweight or
obese.
Since Junior High,
when I first saw Morgan Spurlock’s biographical documentary Super Size Me, I’ve
been becoming more aware of the atrocities committed by food industry. In other
words, now I’ve come to the vast realization that most of the things I’ve been
eating are gross, over-processed, and factory-farmed. Growing up in the
Eco-conscious (while others say hippy) community of Santa Cruz; I’ve constantly
been tormented for not only enjoying but also eating fast food regularly. I was
always attracted to fast food as a kid, and I thought of it as a treat or a
reward with my Happy Meal and toy. When I outgrew the Happy Meal, I still
strangely craved the salty, greasy taste. The catchy advertising and marketing
stuck with me from when I was a small child and continue today to bombard me
with thoughts of fast food constantly. So I continue to eat it.
Presently, I’m
more attracted to the cheap and fast convenience of it all. Even now that I’ve
learned what is inside a factory farmed hamburger patty, inside a chicken
nugget, I still crave this food deep down and reluctantly return to these
establishments to get my fix. I think through years of exposure to
advertisement and marketing I’ve been subliminally hooked on fast food and the
nostalgic sense it brings me back to my childhood. Hopefully one day, perhaps
through education, I may be truly grossed out enough to break my addiction to
fast food.
Jonathan Safran
Foer's non-fiction autobiographical and factually informative book Eating
Animals is a testament to the evils of factory farming. Many critiques have
been made, both positive and negative, interpreting Foer's overall message and
presentation on the complicated issues of food production. When reading Eating
Animals I found Foer's general thesis best to be summed up by one of his
harshest critics. In her critical article writer Jennifer Reese elegantly
states, "It is absolutely true that the ancient ties between people and
animals have been grotesquely perverted by industrial agriculture, as the
strongest portions of Foer's book make horrifically clear. But, unlike Foer, I
believe that fixing the relationship is both possible and worthwhile. To
declare that humanity should opt out of this relationship altogether strikes me
as less heinous but every bit as arrogant and unnatural as the factory
farm." Foer is against all unnatural and believes everybody in America
should convert their factory meat eating ways. It is hard to argue against most of
Foer's researched content because his writing provides personal insight and compiled
factual evidence that truly reveals the grotesque nature of factory farming.
This information had me rethinking what I was mindlessly eating prior to
reading Eating Animals.
Another critic of Foer's book, Jim Raynor writer for The Observer states in his critical article "The reality is that the raising of animals for food is an ugly business, however unintensive the methods used. That's a truth we must confront. There is no doubt that we have become too divorced from our food production system. We need to know how it works. We need to know what eating meat means." I prefer for food production to be out of sight and out of mind for the sole reason it is unsettling. However with these new edible revelations the possibility for me to enjoy the "potentially gross but good tasting" is far less, to the point now where I'm cutting foods I've once ate out of my diet completely.
Another critic of Foer's book, Jim Raynor writer for The Observer states in his critical article "The reality is that the raising of animals for food is an ugly business, however unintensive the methods used. That's a truth we must confront. There is no doubt that we have become too divorced from our food production system. We need to know how it works. We need to know what eating meat means." I prefer for food production to be out of sight and out of mind for the sole reason it is unsettling. However with these new edible revelations the possibility for me to enjoy the "potentially gross but good tasting" is far less, to the point now where I'm cutting foods I've once ate out of my diet completely.
While these food
products should be highly investigated and probably illegal for their content
alone, they will exist until major industrial and societal change can be made
throughout America. Americans must become conscience of what they are eating.
We should all question what we are putting into our mouths? What is it really
made of? Where did it come from? We have to start becoming a health conscience
nation. We must start supporting organic farming on a grand scale and consider
all the alternatives to factory-farmed products. As Americans, we must create a
change in food culture, for the sake of our society's overall health.
Works Cited
Egendorf, Laura K. “Fast Food Should Not Be Blamed for
Obesity.”
Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center
February 2005. February 2012
Decision News Media “Fast food consumption increases obesity
risk.”
Foodnavigator.com May 2004. February 2012
Foer, Jonathan Safran. Eating Animals. New York: Little, Brown and, 2009. Print
Rabin, Roni Caryn. “Proximity to Fast Food a Factor in Student Obesity” NY Times March 2009. February 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
An Annotated Bibliography
Grunland, Stephen A., and Marvin K. Mayers. "Enculturation and Acculturation." Cultural Anthropology Reading:. SNU.EDU. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. <http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/encultur.htm>.
This is an academic article published by a the Christian southern Nazarene University. The article focuses on the concept of being born with instinct and the difference between learning a culture from birth- enculturation. The article attempts to define when a newborns culture is defined. It discusses child training, habituation, education, the life cycle as recognized by specific cultures, and finally Acculturation- the embracing of a new culture or assimilation. This article seems well researched and its researchers have a background in cultural anthropology yet since it is a Christian university they use specific examples evolving Jesus Christ and God, narrowing their academic audience to Christians.
Alba, Richard D., and Victor Nee. "Chapter One: Rethinking Assimilation." Remaking the American Mainstream: Assimilation and Contemporary Immigration. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2003. Print.
This is an academic book source published by a Harvard University publishing group.I only have the first chapter available online with Google Books but it defines cultural assimilation and places the term in context of an academic debate on whether assimilation is seen as negative to immigrants coming to America or if they still can maintain their cultural diverse backgrounds. This books discusses the history and changing views of cultural assimilation into the U.S. and how U.S. culture is in turned changed by multiple diverse cultures immigrating into the U.S.
Le, C.N. "The Fundamentals of Ethnic Identity." Assimilation & Ethnic Identity : Asian-Nation. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. <http://www.asian-nation.org/assimilation.shtml>.
This source comes from highly educated Asian-American. While this source is resembles a blog complete with comments from his audience the articels Le writes are very academic, along with his impressive academic background makes his post almost purely academic. In this article he defines Ethnic Identity with multiple definitions and key words including: primordial, situational, resurgent, and emergent. From this complete definition of ethnic identity he draws the connection between ethnic identity and cultural assimilation.
This is an academic article published by a the Christian southern Nazarene University. The article focuses on the concept of being born with instinct and the difference between learning a culture from birth- enculturation. The article attempts to define when a newborns culture is defined. It discusses child training, habituation, education, the life cycle as recognized by specific cultures, and finally Acculturation- the embracing of a new culture or assimilation. This article seems well researched and its researchers have a background in cultural anthropology yet since it is a Christian university they use specific examples evolving Jesus Christ and God, narrowing their academic audience to Christians.
Alba, Richard D., and Victor Nee. "Chapter One: Rethinking Assimilation." Remaking the American Mainstream: Assimilation and Contemporary Immigration. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2003. Print.
This is an academic book source published by a Harvard University publishing group.I only have the first chapter available online with Google Books but it defines cultural assimilation and places the term in context of an academic debate on whether assimilation is seen as negative to immigrants coming to America or if they still can maintain their cultural diverse backgrounds. This books discusses the history and changing views of cultural assimilation into the U.S. and how U.S. culture is in turned changed by multiple diverse cultures immigrating into the U.S.
Le, C.N. "The Fundamentals of Ethnic Identity." Assimilation & Ethnic Identity : Asian-Nation. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. <http://www.asian-nation.org/assimilation.shtml>.
This source comes from highly educated Asian-American. While this source is resembles a blog complete with comments from his audience the articels Le writes are very academic, along with his impressive academic background makes his post almost purely academic. In this article he defines Ethnic Identity with multiple definitions and key words including: primordial, situational, resurgent, and emergent. From this complete definition of ethnic identity he draws the connection between ethnic identity and cultural assimilation.
The Colossus
There is a vast corporation-influenced cultural hegemony taking place in the the United States and around the world due to the capitalistic nature of the U.S. government and the power of corporations combined with advertising, all encouraging a U.S. cultural dominance and overall International cultural imperialism. Multi-National corporations are controlling the development of the World's economy. With the backing o the World's richest countries and therefore the largest military powers, World trade has lain the foundation for a new age of corporate imperialism and international manipulative control.
"Besides the military, which is the final arbiter, the power of the imperial-centers-of-capital to lay claim to the wealth of the developing world rests in their subtle monopolization of finance capital. No bank in the world will loan to a country blacklisted by the World Bank. To obtain funding from any bank, developing world governments must adjust their policies (called structural adjustments) to the dictates of the IMF/World Bank/NAFTA/ GATT/WTO/MAI/GATS/FTAA/military colossus. It is specifically under the imposed structural adjustment rules of that colossus that protections for the fast developing nations were withdrawn."
"Under the umbrella of the Cold War, that colossus established an unseen (except when the military is activated) world government ruled by stateless multinational corporations superseding the laws of the most powerful countries. As it is ruled dictatorially and not democratically (labor and weak nations are essentially voiceless), that is a corporate-ruled empire."
We should not forget that the differences in cultures make the world a rich and diverse place. Every individual of each country should have the right to express his or her own culture. A cultural uniformity would lead to the extinction of cultures and it would definitely represent a great loss .
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Developing a Thesis
For this post, I will be explaining my writing process in effort to develop a thesis for a paper I will be writing. When I write, I usually start with a general idea or principle and I expand on this idea until I have enough of a grasp on the concept of what I'm writing about. I then write my introduction. In this process I carefully formulate a thesis in which embodies some key words that will outline my sub-topics or points that I will be trying to make with my article. Sometimes if the idea really resonates with me, I just sit and write using my introduction as an outline and a map to show me where to take my next paragraph. If the idea remains undeveloped at this point I try and structure an outline, laying out all the points I will make chronologically through my paragraphs after my introduction and make sure they can flow into a conclusion, usually more of an in depth insightful version of my introduction and thesis.
To develop my thesis, I brainstorm general major ideas, in this case my general topic of interest and writing is the American cultural hegemony. From this major idea I develop my opinion on the matter and from this usually I can draw a stance in writing resembling a thesis. However to have a highly developed thesis statement I like to include major reasoning points of my paper within the thesis statement. So from my opinion I develop my general stance on the issue, "There is a vast corporation-influenced cultural hegemony taking place in the the United States and around the world." From this statement, I develop points of reasoning to include reasons why this "cultural hegemony" is taking place and how it could be affecting the rest of the world in my developing statement. By researching the specific wording I use in the thesis statement above I find my reasoning, "the capitalistic nature of the U.S. government and the power of corporations and advertising encourages an international U.S. cultural hegemony and cultural imperialism." Then I simply connect my statement with my researched reasoning connections and this is what comes out:
There is a vast corporation-influenced cultural hegemony taking place in the the United States and around the world due to the capitalistic nature of the U.S. government and the power of corporations combined with advertising, all encouraging a U.S. cultural dominance and overall International cultural imperialism.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Assimilation into a Cultural Hegemony
Bich Minh Nguyen's Stealing Buddha's Dinner via food related
memoirs presents the struggles of assimilation from a foreign culture into the
corporate influenced culture of the United States. While the book
focuses on one girls struggle to find her new American identity while
pressured by her family roots to maintain aspects of her original
Vietnamese culture, Stealing Buddha's Dinner reveals through an
uncorrupted immigrant child eyes the vast corporation-influenced
cultural hegemony taking place in the the United States.
While young Bich merely wants to be integrated into the American culture, she feels she must do this by indulging in all corporate America has to offer. This troubling premise brings up the growing fact that popular American culture is increasingly defined by powerful corporate America's sponsored products. Instead of celebrating the culture contributed to everyday by American cities and individual citizens, most Americans and citizens around the world celebrate international corporate success of McDonalds and other companies, the innovations of Pringles potato chips, and other such products insistingly pushed to the forefront of the public eye with the power of corporate branding and mass international made in America advertising. I believe we have a rich and ever-changing culture in the U.S. that shouldn't be defined in the international eye by America's corporate success and overall capitalistic greed. I believe finding an "American" identity should be assimilation with America's diverse melting-pot of citizens, not integration to the the cultural hegemony enforced by corporate America. But then again, corporations now are apparently considered people.
While young Bich merely wants to be integrated into the American culture, she feels she must do this by indulging in all corporate America has to offer. This troubling premise brings up the growing fact that popular American culture is increasingly defined by powerful corporate America's sponsored products. Instead of celebrating the culture contributed to everyday by American cities and individual citizens, most Americans and citizens around the world celebrate international corporate success of McDonalds and other companies, the innovations of Pringles potato chips, and other such products insistingly pushed to the forefront of the public eye with the power of corporate branding and mass international made in America advertising. I believe we have a rich and ever-changing culture in the U.S. that shouldn't be defined in the international eye by America's corporate success and overall capitalistic greed. I believe finding an "American" identity should be assimilation with America's diverse melting-pot of citizens, not integration to the the cultural hegemony enforced by corporate America. But then again, corporations now are apparently considered people.
Banksy speaks out against cultural imperialism |
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