I woke up this morning rushing to school so i won't be late and because of this i missed breakfast which means I'm going to be extra hungry at lunch. Finally lunch time comes but at this time i still don't know what i want to eat and im very skeptical about what i eat which is a good thing because i choose not to eat anything, which most of teens these days will consider. So usually i would get something cheap because the area around the school, with the money i get is highly expensive. But many people know the cheap food is unhealthy and it is ashamed how the industrialized foods are cheap. So while still trying to decide i made the choice to not eat because I'm not a fan of fatty foods, so waiting until i got home was a healthier decision.
While waiting for my friends to get lunch, someone ordered something i had no clue of what is was. After that i asked her what is was and she said, "Oh it's some beef thing and i don't know what else but it's good." She didn't even know what the hell she was eating which made me think about myself, if i really knew what i was eating.
THESIS : Foods in our society has become over natural with many lies about where it has come from. Industrialized foods have many secrets that society doesn't know about with positive and negative outcomes.
IS THE LABEL REALLY THE TRUTH.
When looking at labels on foods, No one sees a label saying the chicken was from a farm that was later given to the factory where they created many assembly line's, squished together, badly treated, so there can be a high chance of some sickness in this piece of chicken. Now after reading that one may not want to buy it because it will cause a demand decrease. So What are we eating? In our society i have very much doubt that everyone truly knows that corn has ammonium Nitrate, The stuff used in bombs. Not that it is harms us, but it's the simple fact of the lack of knowledge. Instead of writing brief ingredients of things we know, They need to write it ALL. The purpose of ingredients is to show what is in the food and in our society we are being half lied too with out knowing.
What caught my attention in chapter one, 'The Plant' In The Omnirovore's Dilemma, Is when Michael Pollan stated, "The label Doesn't mention that that rib-eye steak came from a steer born in South Dakota and fattened in a Kansas Feedlot on grain grown in Iowa." (17). This is significant to our American way of life because it goes back to the question, "What am i Eating?" Many people in our society, would just eat what ever desires their taste buds. It can hold a dangerous substance and Yet people wouldn't know because just like politics, The food industry can be crooked. We are only told what we are eating, Not having any proof.
By knowing we have "Corn with out corn," is interesting because it makes me wonder since corn is mostly produced in foods, then Corn should produce fast and produce a lot. Pollan answers my question by talking about the Zea Mays plant and saying this plant is very much different from others because this plant produces more corn, "By recruiting extra atoms of carbon during each instance of photosynthesis, The corn is able to limit its loss of water and 'fix" - That is, Take from the atmosphere and link in a useful molecule-Significantly more carbon than other plants."(21). Knowing this information makes me understand how it's possible for corn to be in many meals. It's a greedy plant, Which Outputs a good need. And it also adopts to any environment which shows it can produce much more than some plants. To prove that Corn is every meal that we eat, I think It's interesting how if, "The higher the ratio of carbon 13 to carbon 12 in a person's flesh, the more corn has been in."(22) This demonstrates how corn is in our meals and to prove that many people eat it, You would take a strand of hair to prove it. Knowing all of the above is significant because in our society, i doubt many people knows this information which therefore proves people don't have a clue of what they are really eating. The following questions i have is Is there only one type of corn? The same corn that is being used is corn syrup, Is it the same as corn on a cob? Also what other plant is well popular in our foods that people don't know about?
INDUSTRIAL FOODS
In our society, there are many fast food restaurants that have different Prices and menu's. The taste come's from different seasoning or factories that process the food with chemicals. One thing that all fast food restaurants have in common is the type of food it is; Industrialized foods. Industrial foods is fossil feud machines taking over the natural farms, letting machines take over the food way. Since this occurs, no one really pays attention and gives the animals tender, love and care. Instead they get sick with bad conditions. According to a article PlanetPapers- Pros and Cons of McDonald's, they state how, "People that eat at McDonald's do not always realize what happened to the cow before it turned into the hamburger. Mostly the animals are living in bad conditions. Chickens get born with foot disorders. But then again I guess that the animals the produce the meat for the top class restaurants suffer the same." (http://www.planetpapers.com/Assets/3046.php)
By knowing this info emphasis how many people eating at fast food restaurants do not know how the animal was treated or even if it's healthy. In our society, they do not tell us all of the facts, a point that Sam cotto proved when she walked into McDonald's finding out the calorie count and "trans fat" was a lie. The significance of this is labels and what people say is something you shouldn't always have trust in.
The meatrix immediately caught my attention due to the graphics and the theme based off of the matrix. Even though it was an animated film about how our food is being treated, which is a good way to catch the younger generations attention, i learned more than i thought. In reality, our society is always discovering something new with our foods. New illnesses from this and that because of the process of our foods. Just like "Moopheus" stated, because they take the cows to get milk, the mama cows can not feed their children so they feed the babies blood from the dead cows which causes mad cow diseases, which is harmful to us. So by knowing that, it seems to me this industrialization of our foods is really killing us!! It's the reason for many cases of obesity, all the processed meat being injected with artificial substances. This is really a crisis as i think about it. We have factory's taking over these farms, taking farmers out of businesses and removing the healthy foods to make "fake foods". To solve this issue people need to start realizing and start helping these animals. it's like saying cannibals take over and they start doing the same they do to animals to humans. We wouldn't want that.
According to fatal Harvest they stated, "However, numerous studies have put the costs of such dislocation since World War II in the tens of billions of dollars." which means this is where it all began just like Pollan said in the Omnivore's Dilemma. Many people would say we can not survive with out our industrialized foods but i think we can because we been doing it before it was in the making. It just so happens because of the machines being produce, it makes more food which maximizes profit. I wonder how our lives would be now if our foods were brought from real farms.
PROS AND CONS
Our food industry has become industrialized, which means some of our foods are not being produced naturally. It reminds me of the birthing process, how doctors induce the labor instead of waiting for the baby to be born when it is ready to. In farms, The farmers are the doctors and the food growing is the babies. By technology increasing, there are always pros and cons. One of many pro's is that, "One bushels holds 56 pounds of kernels, so that slightly more ten thousand pounds of food per acre; The field George and i planted that day would produce 1.8 million pounds of corn. Not bad for a day's work sitting down."(36) The natural beauty of growing farms has been destroyed by these huge tractors. The benefits from the tractors is that it produces more corn but the downfall is many people are losing out jobs, making the population decrease and animals. But like everyone says, It's all about the money. With The machines, "One man can handle a lot more acreage by himself when it's plants in monoculture, and without animals to care for he can take the weekend off, and even think about spending the winter in Florida."(40). It's less time, More money. With oil machines taking over, Not only does it take less time, But it also can cause pollution, Which can harm many.
ANIMAL CRUELTY
It is sad to see the animal cruelty. I never really though about how the animals must feel. Many people would say " I can not live with out my meat". If they never ate meat they would not say this. The chicken and meat everyone eats is the desire for taste. If all meat was nasty no one would eat it. It is sad how the animals die just so we can have food to eat but then again it is taken to the middle man processing it with some kind of chemical so abuse never does stop. I know there are many studies if vegetarians live longer than Meat eaters but what i would like to say is how can we prove this fact? What can our society do so can be eating healthier with out any harm done?
ALTERNATIVES:
I really can't tell people how to eat but after knowing all the information and doing this unit, it makes me want to make wiser choices. Instead of drinking whole milk i have switched to organic milk and soy milk.( By the way to me it's better than whole milk). I'm trying to cut down the meats so much but it's hard because I'm addicted to it and many people are so for those who say they are going to stop, it will take them time, but since we really can't beat the system, it's best for the society to prepare their own dishes. There are many things society can do to stop this crisis but if we do, there would be a huge collapse in the economic world.
No comments:
Post a Comment