Reading Journal

Michael Pollan Answers Readers’ Questions

By Michael Pollan
The New York Times Magazine

In this article Michael Pollan answers readers questions.  The questions range from buying organic to what he thinks the food system will be like in 100 years.  I enjoyed his straight forward way of answering the readers questions.  Many of the questions were interesting, and many of his answers were informative.  I even found some of his answers funny, for example:

"If you could rewrite the farm bill from scratch, with no political constraints of any sort, what would it look like?

I don’t have the space, and you don’t have the time, to sketch out a complete alternative-reality farm bill. But as a guiding principle, I would say it needs to be aligned with our public health and environmental goals. That is, every provision in it — from crop subsidies to meat inspection — needs to be “scored” for its impact on public health and nutrition."

I liked how he made a funny/light comment then went briefly into answering the question.  I would recommend this article for people to read.  He brought some issues to light, but didn't try to beat the topic to death.  I appreciated they way he tackled each question with his own flair.  He was knowledgeable, and able to clearly state his point of view.  His concepts were easily understood. 

Reading Journal

Shrimp-The truth

All You Can Eat
By Jim Carrier

This article started off pretty good it had good shock factor.  He starts by telling you he went dumpster diving to find out where the shrimp he was eating came from.  

 "the best-run farms, two to four pounds of sea life is caught and ground up as feed for every pound of shrimp raised. Mortality rates of 30 percent are common. The dead shrimp, shrimp excrement, and chemical additives are often flushed into coastal waters."  A great shocking sentence with the wow factor.

"One story from the book I cannot shake involved Korunamoyee Sardar, a Bangladeshi woman who, on November 7, 1990, joined a protest against a new shrimp farm near Harin Khola. She was shot in the head, cut into pieces, and thrown into a Bangladesh river. A monument stands where she was murdered. It reads: “Life is struggle, struggle is life.”
Red Lobster, which buys 5 percent of the world’s shrimp, is Bangladesh’s biggest U.S. customer. The restaurant did not respond to repeated requests for an interview."  Again great wow factor.

However, even with some really good facts that draw you in he didn't keep my interest when he went on to the history of shrimping.  Some background was appreciated but some of it seemed like filler to me.  I didn't like the overall article, Even though I found some of it very informative.  I think it would have worked better if he stuck to the point more.  I would have rather read more about the reason for the decline, instead of his personal tails. 

A few of the other facts I found interesting:
90% of the shrimp we consume in America is from foreign shrimp farms.
Imported shrimp has kept the profit of American shrimpers the same as it was 30 years ago.

Memoir

Memoir

                As far back as I can remember food was part of every celebration.  My mother’s side of the family is Portuguese, and my father’s side is Swedish.  Both my grandmothers were awesome cooks.  When you went to their houses you were expected to eat, and when they came to your house they brought food.  I learned how to cook from both of them.  Their cooking shaped who I am today.

                Going to Vavo’s house for Christmas was always one of my favorite times.  Her door was always open to everyone.  When we showed up we would just walk in, and call out her name.  She would be at the stove finishing up the meal.  Vavo would be wearing her button down smock over her clothes.   The table was always set with her china set.  I love that set, it is a white set with delicate pink flowers around the edge.  Every Christmas and Thanksgiving she used that set.  The meal was always perfect.  A golden oven roasted turkey with all the fixings.   The smell of the turkey filled her house.   The only thing that was truly Portuguese about her turkey dinner was the meat stuffing inside the bird.  He stuffing was mostly made with chourico, ground beef, and a few other things.

                Still today I have wonderful memories of going to my grandparents for Thanksgiving.  As you opened up the main door the smell of dinner and the sound of my Grandfather playing piano would hit you.  Going up the stairs the aroma of dinner would get stronger, and the sound of the piano would get louder.  Grandma would be at the top of the stairs standing in the doorway.  As you told Grandma that everything smelled great, Grandpa would yell from the piano “Thanks I have been cooking all day!” Grandpa was a kidder.  Grandma would already have the table set for dinner, and the pies were cooling on the stove top.  As we sat around the table Grandpa would lead grace.  There was always plenty of conversation while eating at their house.  Most of the conversation was Grandpa joking about how he grew the Turkey in the backyard, or that he grew the green beans in the backyard.  Grandpa kept us laughing during the whole meal.

                Vavo took cooking seriously.   When she taught me how to cook               it was out of necessity.   She felt the need to make sure I knew how to make all her most prized recipes.   My earliest memory of cooking with her was when I was six years old.  She had me pull a chair up to the oven, so I could see her making the soup.  We cooked together for many years after that.  Most of her recipes I still cook till this day.  My husband and children love when I make her Portuguese soup.

                Grams took a totally different approach to teaching me how to cook.  She made cooking fun.  We would talk about what we wanted to cook, and then she would write a shopping list for what we would need.  Then we would walk to the grocery store.  On the walk we talked about all kinds of different things from how school was going to what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I didn’t realize it then, but now I see how at the grocery store she was teaching me how to shop.  When we got back to her house we gathered all the things we needed to start baking.  She showed me how to make breads and pies.  A few years ago I invited Grams to my house and had a good old fashion baking session.  She retaught me how to make some of her breads.  I had a wonderful time that day, and so did she.

                Vavo passed when I was only 18.  Before she passed she instilled what she felt were the important family values.  Among them was what you bring to a family who just lost a loved one, how you set a buffet table for a breakfast (the meal after a funeral), and most importantly how to feed your family.  To Vavo food was love.

                Grams and I still get together often, but now she lives in an assisted living home.   She always feels bad because she doesn’t have food to offer me.  I try to explain to her that I don’t visit her for the food; I visit her because I love her.  I suppose you can say even my Grams things food is love.

                Both these women were the most important women in my life.  They taught me so much more than cooking, but cooking was the biggest party of it.  Everything we did as a family centered around food.  If it was your birthday they cooked your favorite meal, and dessert.  Getting together for a holiday it was a big, huge meal.  Even just visiting they made sure they had a meal for you to eat.  As an adult I have carried on many of the same habits.  When I have a gathering at my house I always make sure my guest are well fed.  When my children have a birthday I make sure I cook their favorite food.

Reading Journal

"The Food Movement"
By Michael Pollan


I found this article very thought provoking.  I was completely in shock of the fact that most Americans don't know where their food comes from. It also amazed me that 40% of Americans no longer take part in the family meal.  I was raised to eat dinner as a family, and that is a value I am instilling in my children.  I guess its also a value I take for granted, I thought every ones family ate together.  I did appreciate reading how the farmers market is making a comeback.  Not only as a place to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, but as a place to reconnect to your community.  I think this was a definite thumbs up!  Everyone needs their eyes open to the issue we are facing in regards to our food, and future food crisis.

"When BSE, or mad cow disease, surfaced in England in 1986, Americans learned that cattle, which are herbivores, were routinely being fed the flesh of other cattle; the practice helped keep meat cheap but at the risk of a hideous brain-wasting disease."  This sentence hit me, not sure exactly why. I can't imagine people not taking their responsibility seriously when it comes to our food supply.

There were many other sentences like this one that offered food for thought.

Rhetorical Analysis

"The Big Waste"

This advertisement is for the Food Network special “The Big Waste”.  The point of this advertisement is to get you to watch the special.  In the advertisement they show you how Americans waste so much food a year, enough food to fill a football stadium every day.  The challenge is to have 4 chefs break into two teams, and cook enough food to feed one hundred people.  The catch, it all has to be food they saved from being thrown away.

I believe the target audience would be thirty something year olds.  Although it is possible that all age groups would be interested in the issue of food waste.  I also think most people would be interested in the issue at hand; that as a group we have been programed to believe that only perfect food is valuable or edible food.  That somehow a few spots, or bruises on food makes it inedible.

I think the use of piles of vegetables going to waste in a field causes you to think.  In the advertisement they show you perfectly edible food laying there in a pile, and it makes you realize there is no reason for people to go hungry.   It’s not about lowering you standards, or eating below standard foods.  It’s about realizing in nature food naturally has a few imperfections.

The advertisement shows you a little bit of the four chefs going around to local venders, and asking them if they have any food that they are about to throw away.  The chefs were even amazed by the quality of the food.  The food was still fresh, and edible, it just had a few imperfections.  You could tell the chefs were expecting nasty, unusable food, and they were pleasantly surprised with the quality.

I believe the advertisement was effective; it was so persuasive that I ended up watching the special.  The special was very thought provoking, and it has made me change the way I go grocery shopping.  I no longer dig through piles of vegetables looking for the biggest piece, because while you are digging through looking for the biggest and the best you have just ruined several other pieces.  I hope others have found this advertisement interesting, and can take away from it an appreciation for food.

As thinking made visible

My hometown was a wonderful (or choose your own adjective) place to grow up.
In my hometown the community was very tight knit, everyone knew everyone it was like a big family.

Laci had a rather eccentric style.
Laci was very comfortable with her style.  She had no problem wearing yellow and blue striped pants, and her blue shirt that had big red flowers on it.

Mr. Brown is the worst teacher I’ve ever had.
Mr. Brown just ignores me, and he won't answer my questions.  If I raise my hand he doesn't call on me, and if I go to him with a question he tells me to figure it out myself.

The room seemed very institutional.
The walls of the room where all white, and the furniture was cold and hard.


I am hoping this is what you wanted?

Proposal

My first choice for my writing theme would be food.  Food is such an intricate part of our lives.  I could write about how food plays a roll in our culture.  How my struggle with eating has shaped the person I am, and who I am becoming.  I could also write about how much food is waisted in America, because of our high standards. For my second choice I would pick family.  I am a mother, a wife, a daughter, and I come from a large family, so I have alot I could write about.  My third choice is education. I am a current student, I have one child who has graduated and the other is a current high school student.  I could write about the value of education, or how even people with great educations are unemployed.  I am interested in seeing what you come up with.