For this assignment I have decided to choose option a which was for us to be experiential (change diet, change shopping, change how you prepare food, how you eat). I chose to change three things which were to change my meals, what I had to drink and where I purchased my food from. For two days I am deciding to eat meals that don't have meat in them, I am trying to drink things that aren't loaded with sugar and I am trying to shop either at a supermarket or a whole foods. In these two days of changing my eating habits I am going to try and resist the temptation to eat things that I am not allowed to while gathering my evidence. This connects to our unit on food because it has made me realize that what I usually eat isn't exactly healthy for me even know I may like it. This is giving me a chance to see if I depend on eating the foods that I would normally have on a daily basis.
The first thing I am going to talk about is the struggle that I had while trying change my eating habits. The first thing that I had to do was pick up all of my "healthy" foods. I went to whole foods and got a bunch of pasta, cheese, salad materials, and some other things my mom picked out. That was the easy part, the hard part was actually coming to terms with the fact that I couldn't snack on any junk food when I went to a deli with friends. When I saw my friends eating their candy and chocolate it really made the whole eating healthy experience a lot harder. When you know you cant have something and people around you have it, it's definitely very hard to resist it. Also when you cant eat meat your eating options around school are very limited since basically everywhere i go for lunch has meat in their food. So I had to get pizza since that was the only place around the school that I liked that didn't have meat in it.This also connects to changing what I drink because with these meals you want to have a drink and since I am trying to drink things with little sugar I had to have an orange juice (which doesn't go well with pizza). Since the things that don't have sugar in them are very limited you also have to chose a meal sometimes according to what you can drink with it.
The second day I focused on what meals I would prepare for myself. Since most of the food my mom got me(mostly vegetables) wasn't very appealing I was going to make myself spaghetti. Since I am a very picky eater there are few things that don't have meat that I will eat. Spaghetti being my favorite non meat food(and one of the only foods I know how to make) I decided to make that. I prepared this meal no differently then I would have prepared any other. I don't think that this really has an impact on the way I prepared it since there is no way for me to disrupt my goal if I just make spaghetti normally since nothing that I should not be eating isn't being added. When I was making it I thought to myself how I actually do depend on eating meat since I am so picky that there isn't a lot that i am willing to eat and i don't want to have to eat spaghetti 4 times a day.
After this whole experience ended I did end up going back to eating meat. Actually I went to Mcdonald's and got a big mac. I thought that this unit would change the way that I think about food and in some ways it did but in some ways it didn't. It definitely didn't change it in the way that if i desire a certain food i will go and eat it no matter how it was prepared. The one thing that this unit did make me change tho was how much of this food I am going to eat. I will definitly think differently about how many times a week I eat this food.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
HW 12 - Final Food Project 2 - Outline
Thesis: An individual living in our culture must recognize and respond to the nightmarish industrial atrocities at the root of dominant social practices in order to live a morally satisfactory life.
Major argument 1: Living with these nightmarish atrocities makes me wonder if the way I view food is correct.
Chunk 1: The way americas slaughterhouses are being run
Evidence 1: Mistreatment of animals in slaughterhouse
http://media.www.tchnews.com/media/storage/paper840/news/2008/03/10/News/Animal.Cruelty.In.Slaughterhouses-3259951.shtml
Evidence 2: Exploitation of workers in slaughterhouses
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/06/opinion/06iht-edmeat.html
Evidence 3: Attempts of improvement in slaughterhouses
http://www.hanbooks.com/slshstofgrne.html
Chunk 2 of major argument 1: The way that animals are raised for food.
Evidence 1: Mistreatment of animals
http://www.ncga.coop/newsroom/animal-treatment
Evidence 2: Animals being rushed into growth by use of chemicals
http://www.lowdensitylifestyle.com/the-meat-you-eat-steroid-use-in-livestock/
Evidence 3: Improvements made by the state of california on animal treatment
http://environment.about.com/od/environmentallawpolicy/a/prop_two.htm
Major argument 1: Living with these nightmarish atrocities makes me wonder if the way I view food is correct.
Chunk 1: The way americas slaughterhouses are being run
Evidence 1: Mistreatment of animals in slaughterhouse
http://media.www.tchnews.com/media/storage/paper840/news/2008/03/10/News/Animal.Cruelty.In.Slaughterhouses-3259951.shtml
Evidence 2: Exploitation of workers in slaughterhouses
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/06/opinion/06iht-edmeat.html
Evidence 3: Attempts of improvement in slaughterhouses
http://www.hanbooks.com/slshstofgrne.html
Chunk 2 of major argument 1: The way that animals are raised for food.
Evidence 1: Mistreatment of animals
http://www.ncga.coop/newsroom/animal-treatment
Evidence 2: Animals being rushed into growth by use of chemicals
http://www.lowdensitylifestyle.com/the-meat-you-eat-steroid-use-in-livestock/
Evidence 3: Improvements made by the state of california on animal treatment
http://environment.about.com/od/environmentallawpolicy/a/prop_two.htm
Monday, October 25, 2010
HW 10 - Food, Inc. Response
Precis:
The main idea of this movie was to give people an insight on what it is really like in the places where our food is prepared. They wanted to show you the actual truth behind what you are eating. In the movie they showed you cases were a child died from eating a hamburger from a certain company that I don't remember. The movie also showed you how the animals were treated before they were killed and how they were killed. The last main idea was that it showed you how their is actually a lot of corruption in the food industry.
Some things that the movie offered that the book did not were more specific details of the way the animals were treated. It really showed you how horrible their last seconds alive are and the way that the workers treated them. Something that the book offered that the movie didn't was that the book was a bit more specific with the interviews and they had more statistics.
Some questions that I have after watching this movie are how come there aren't any laws against the way that these animals are treated? The main feelings that dominate my response are just thinking about how horrible it must be to get treated that way for no reason. It also really makes me think twice about eating the food I do after finding out the treatment the went through.
The main idea of this movie was to give people an insight on what it is really like in the places where our food is prepared. They wanted to show you the actual truth behind what you are eating. In the movie they showed you cases were a child died from eating a hamburger from a certain company that I don't remember. The movie also showed you how the animals were treated before they were killed and how they were killed. The last main idea was that it showed you how their is actually a lot of corruption in the food industry.
Some things that the movie offered that the book did not were more specific details of the way the animals were treated. It really showed you how horrible their last seconds alive are and the way that the workers treated them. Something that the book offered that the movie didn't was that the book was a bit more specific with the interviews and they had more statistics.
Some questions that I have after watching this movie are how come there aren't any laws against the way that these animals are treated? The main feelings that dominate my response are just thinking about how horrible it must be to get treated that way for no reason. It also really makes me think twice about eating the food I do after finding out the treatment the went through.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
HW 7d
Chapter 17: One day I decided to use some of the eggs on Joel's farm. Just to see what the difference was like. When I ate the eggs I really noticed that their was a difference in taste between the eggs in a farm and the ones in a grocery store. The main difference was actually the yolk thats in the egg because it is much thicker then store bought eggs yolk. A gem was there is a difference between farm raised salmon and salmon that is from the wild. A question I have is it that is it better have wild salmon or farm raised salmon?
Chapter 18: The one more meal that I wanted to make was a meal grown with all of my grown, gathered and hunted food. Although a lot of modern americans think they don't hunt food they actually do. I had never been hunting until now and I was still deciding wether or not to do it. A gem in this chapter for me was that a lot of americans don't hunt anymore since they don't have any need to. A question that I have is that if americans don't need to hunt anymore then how come some americans still do hunt?
Chapter 19: Animal rights programs don't eat meet not because its bad for them but because an animal had to die for it. They still do eat eggs and drink milk but that is because the animal was not harmed or killed for the egg or the milk to be made. On the poly face farm they say they try their best for their animals not to suffer. A gem in the chapter for me was that the food industry use's the word "stress" instead of "suffer" when talking about the animals. A question i have is why do you think poly face farm cares about how their animals are treated?
Chapter 20: The reason that the meal i made was the perfect meal for me was because i made it with food that i hunted myself. I feel that when you go through all that trouble to make gather all your food when its all done you feel so much better about yourself. My main course was a wild california pig which i was cooking for my guide angelo and others. Although my guests might have not liked the taste I still enjoyed the meal that I made. A gem in this chapter was that even though others didn't enjoy his meal he still did. A question I have is why did the author choose to go through the trouble of making his own food? Was it for the experience or to prove a point?
Chapter 21: As a hunter gatherer there were certain skills that I needed to know besides hunting. Another skill that I needed was gathering. Since the meal that I wanted to make in this case included mushrooms I needed to know skills on gathering mushrooms for the meal. Picking mushrooms in the woods is different then picking mushrooms in your backyard. Much more fun and much more dangerous. You can get lost looking in the woods since you don't know specifically what you are looking for. A gem in this chapter for me was that there is something called a hunter gatherer because I always assumed that in the process of hunted gathering was usually included. A question I have is why did the author chose to make a meal with mushrooms in it? Was he interested in mushrooms before the book? or what gave him the idea to use them?
Chapter 22: Finally I was almost done with my "perfect" meal. The date I set for the dinner was saturday june 18. To make sure it was perfect I had developed a list to make sure I did everything I wanted for it to be the perfect meal. If I say so myself my requirements for myself are pretty fair. I am doing this with all hunted and gathered materials to show that I don't have to spend any money to prepare the perfect meal. A gem in this paragraph was that the author could make a perfect meal out of fresh prepared found items. That just shows how important it is that people have food and how food can really be made out of things you find in the woods. A question I have is if he could make such a meal the way he did why don't others do the same thing?
Chapter 18: The one more meal that I wanted to make was a meal grown with all of my grown, gathered and hunted food. Although a lot of modern americans think they don't hunt food they actually do. I had never been hunting until now and I was still deciding wether or not to do it. A gem in this chapter for me was that a lot of americans don't hunt anymore since they don't have any need to. A question that I have is that if americans don't need to hunt anymore then how come some americans still do hunt?
Chapter 19: Animal rights programs don't eat meet not because its bad for them but because an animal had to die for it. They still do eat eggs and drink milk but that is because the animal was not harmed or killed for the egg or the milk to be made. On the poly face farm they say they try their best for their animals not to suffer. A gem in the chapter for me was that the food industry use's the word "stress" instead of "suffer" when talking about the animals. A question i have is why do you think poly face farm cares about how their animals are treated?
Chapter 20: The reason that the meal i made was the perfect meal for me was because i made it with food that i hunted myself. I feel that when you go through all that trouble to make gather all your food when its all done you feel so much better about yourself. My main course was a wild california pig which i was cooking for my guide angelo and others. Although my guests might have not liked the taste I still enjoyed the meal that I made. A gem in this chapter was that even though others didn't enjoy his meal he still did. A question I have is why did the author choose to go through the trouble of making his own food? Was it for the experience or to prove a point?
Chapter 21: As a hunter gatherer there were certain skills that I needed to know besides hunting. Another skill that I needed was gathering. Since the meal that I wanted to make in this case included mushrooms I needed to know skills on gathering mushrooms for the meal. Picking mushrooms in the woods is different then picking mushrooms in your backyard. Much more fun and much more dangerous. You can get lost looking in the woods since you don't know specifically what you are looking for. A gem in this chapter for me was that there is something called a hunter gatherer because I always assumed that in the process of hunted gathering was usually included. A question I have is why did the author chose to make a meal with mushrooms in it? Was he interested in mushrooms before the book? or what gave him the idea to use them?
Chapter 22: Finally I was almost done with my "perfect" meal. The date I set for the dinner was saturday june 18. To make sure it was perfect I had developed a list to make sure I did everything I wanted for it to be the perfect meal. If I say so myself my requirements for myself are pretty fair. I am doing this with all hunted and gathered materials to show that I don't have to spend any money to prepare the perfect meal. A gem in this paragraph was that the author could make a perfect meal out of fresh prepared found items. That just shows how important it is that people have food and how food can really be made out of things you find in the woods. A question I have is if he could make such a meal the way he did why don't others do the same thing?
Thursday, October 14, 2010
HW 9 - Freakonomics Response
In Freakonomics the authors address the issue of correlation versus causation in the way they would talk about how your name could cause people to judge you. In the movie they did a test where they sent out job applications to companies using the most common white name which is Jake and the most common black name which I believe they said was Tyron. What they found out was that the person with the name Jake was 33% more likely to get the job then the person with the name Tyron. This in a way showed that since Jake was more of white person name the companies chose him over Tyron which is more of a black persons name. This represents correlation versus causation because it is showing that they chose the person with the White sounding name and judged the person with the black sounding name. So in a way the movie does prove that some correlation is causation.
The sources of evidence that the Freakonomics authors rely on is surveys I think. I think this because in the movie when they went around asking people about names for black and white people that was all the evidence that they really used. This is innovative because it really gives people a different way of thinking and really makes them wonder about these types of things. I think that they could have used a more efficient way of getting evidence but it was good to see normal peoples responses to their questions.
I agree with the statement Freakonomics serves as an inspiration and good example to our attempt to explore the "hidden-in-plain-sight" weirdness of dominant social practices. I agree because it really shows that you cant tell much about someone unless you look into it. For example with the sumo wrestler part of the movie. They talked about how the sumo trainer had one of his sumo wresters killed and the police said he died of natural causes and there was no need for a autopsy. But the mans father insisted that they did and they found out what really happened. This just shows that until you look into the matter you wont really know the truth about the situation no matter how weird it is.
The sources of evidence that the Freakonomics authors rely on is surveys I think. I think this because in the movie when they went around asking people about names for black and white people that was all the evidence that they really used. This is innovative because it really gives people a different way of thinking and really makes them wonder about these types of things. I think that they could have used a more efficient way of getting evidence but it was good to see normal peoples responses to their questions.
I agree with the statement Freakonomics serves as an inspiration and good example to our attempt to explore the "hidden-in-plain-sight" weirdness of dominant social practices. I agree because it really shows that you cant tell much about someone unless you look into it. For example with the sumo wrestler part of the movie. They talked about how the sumo trainer had one of his sumo wresters killed and the police said he died of natural causes and there was no need for a autopsy. But the mans father insisted that they did and they found out what really happened. This just shows that until you look into the matter you wont really know the truth about the situation no matter how weird it is.
HW 7c
Chapter 11 is still talking about the switch to being organic. The author talks about how he visited a free range chicken farm. When he was there he said that "Petaluma turns out to be more animal factory than farm". All tho the farm is a "Free range" chicken farm he tells you that the chickens are not allowed to go outside until they are 5 weeks old. But by that time since they are so used to the indoors they don't really have a desire to go outside. In a way that is actually false advertising because it makes people think that the chickens were treated fairly instead of being packed in a small room. That was actually the gem of the chapter for me. A question I have is how come this isn't considered false advertising? Has anyone picked up on this fact?
Chapter 12 talks about when he was working at a place called Polyface Farm. The reason that he went there was because he said he wanted to find out if it was possible for a non industrial food chain to survive in the twenty-first century. A gem for me was that the author says that Joel Salatin's farm was successful because its foundation was grass not petroleum. Joel Salatin says in the book that he is a "Grass Farmer". I have never heard the term grass farmer but I guess it has a significant purpose some how. A question I have about the chapter is how are you supposed to make money off of grass? Is there even a point to being a grass farmer.
Chapter 13: While on Polyface farm I really started to look at grass from different angles and aspects. I didn't only look at what the grass looked like but I also looked at the animals that were around the grass and were attracted by it. That just shows you how grass is important to some but not important for others. Other work I did on the farm was stacking 50 pound bales of hay all day. A gem in this chapter was how different types of grass have different taste and different amount of nourishment. A question I have is why do certain animals eat certain kinds of grass?
Chapter 14: Every morning I would wake up at Polyface farm and would do one of the most important jobs at the farm. That job was to feed and give water the chickens and move their pens. Every day for 56 days the pens were supposed to be moved 10 feet from each other. The chickens manure would be used to fertilize the farms soil. A gem in the chapter was that if the chickens were left in one place for to long then they would destroy the soil which is why they are moved so much. A question I have is why were they moved 10 feet away? Why did they choose that mount of space?
Chapter 15: One morning i woke up and knowing that today was going to be the day that we killed all of the chickens. The way the chickens were killed is that workers would have to cut the chickens neck without cutting its head off. After that they have to take the feathers off the chicken and take their insides out. Then they can cut the feet and head off. A gem for me was why couldn't cut the chickens head off right away. My question is why did they have to wait till everything else was off so they could cut the head off?
Chapter 16: The Polyface farm does not ship its product off to far from the actual farm. The chickens that we had just killed the other day were sent only a few dozen miles from the farm. Polyface farm sends its product much closer then the average conventional farms sell theirs. A gem in this chapter is that Polyface really only sends their products within their state. A question I have is tehat why doesnt Polyface farm expand where they send their product? Wont that make them more money in the long run if they expand?
Chapter 12 talks about when he was working at a place called Polyface Farm. The reason that he went there was because he said he wanted to find out if it was possible for a non industrial food chain to survive in the twenty-first century. A gem for me was that the author says that Joel Salatin's farm was successful because its foundation was grass not petroleum. Joel Salatin says in the book that he is a "Grass Farmer". I have never heard the term grass farmer but I guess it has a significant purpose some how. A question I have about the chapter is how are you supposed to make money off of grass? Is there even a point to being a grass farmer.
Chapter 13: While on Polyface farm I really started to look at grass from different angles and aspects. I didn't only look at what the grass looked like but I also looked at the animals that were around the grass and were attracted by it. That just shows you how grass is important to some but not important for others. Other work I did on the farm was stacking 50 pound bales of hay all day. A gem in this chapter was how different types of grass have different taste and different amount of nourishment. A question I have is why do certain animals eat certain kinds of grass?
Chapter 14: Every morning I would wake up at Polyface farm and would do one of the most important jobs at the farm. That job was to feed and give water the chickens and move their pens. Every day for 56 days the pens were supposed to be moved 10 feet from each other. The chickens manure would be used to fertilize the farms soil. A gem in the chapter was that if the chickens were left in one place for to long then they would destroy the soil which is why they are moved so much. A question I have is why were they moved 10 feet away? Why did they choose that mount of space?
Chapter 15: One morning i woke up and knowing that today was going to be the day that we killed all of the chickens. The way the chickens were killed is that workers would have to cut the chickens neck without cutting its head off. After that they have to take the feathers off the chicken and take their insides out. Then they can cut the feet and head off. A gem for me was why couldn't cut the chickens head off right away. My question is why did they have to wait till everything else was off so they could cut the head off?
Chapter 16: The Polyface farm does not ship its product off to far from the actual farm. The chickens that we had just killed the other day were sent only a few dozen miles from the farm. Polyface farm sends its product much closer then the average conventional farms sell theirs. A gem in this chapter is that Polyface really only sends their products within their state. A question I have is tehat why doesnt Polyface farm expand where they send their product? Wont that make them more money in the long run if they expand?
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
HW 8 - Growing Our Own Food
The picture above is how much my sprouts grew before they were thrown away. It was actually a fun experience to grow my own food. It showed me how patient you have to be and how you really have to pay attention to your food or else it will die. That is why I made sure to always water my sprouts right when I got to class. It made me realize that people have to do this with larger quantitates of food and how hard that their job actually is. Unfortunately I did not get to eat my sprouts but if I did get to eat them I don't think I would like them because I am so picky.
Monday, October 11, 2010
HW 7b
Chapter 6 was title processed food. It really talks about how that not all of the food that americans eat is fresh corn. It can be processed corn which can be canned corn or anything I guess that is not fresh. Corn is in really a lot of the things that we eat in our every day lives, like caramel, apple sauce and most breads, etc. What I found most interesting was how many things were made with corn as an ingredient and how many with corn syrup in them. A question I have is if corn is so popular then why isnt it produced with more of an effort and with a higher manufacturing rate?
Chapter 7 talked about how corn can affect peoples health. Since corn is in all of these foods it can also play a part in affecting peoples health. It affects obesity not only in adults but in children also it is a big problem. Since there is so many calories included with corn syrup and other forms of corn obesity tends to increase. My question is how come corn is so popular if it is a big problem with obseity in children and adults? Is it because people think it is a necessary ingredient so they don't think they can eat with out it for a long period of time?
Chapter 8 is about eating habits. It talks about how unlike humans most animals dont really have a problem with their eating habits. Since animals really only eat to get what they need out of it they dont really care about what it tastes like unlike most humans who are really picky about what they eat and how they want it to taste. Its funny that I just want to eat to get full and so do animals. I shows that some humans and animals to have some eating habits in common and they they aren't completely different in that field. I found it interesting that in some ways animals are more reasonable then humans in terms of eating. A question that I have is what if humans were more like animals with their eating habits? How would that effect the food market and in turn affect the economy?
Chapter 9 is about how all Mcdonalds and fast food meals are made so that they have similar but pretty much the same taste. The author talks about how Mcdonalds uses corn in a lot of their products that they have. They talk about mainly how bad Mcdonalds chicken nuggets really are for you. The author says that they can cause cancer. I have never heard that before but I'm not going to argue with him. I found it interesting that he talked about how that since its cheap and fattening it increases obesity in children and adults since everyone can afford it. A question I have is if it is proven to be bad why doesn't Mcdonalds make their food more healthy instead of keep making it less healthy?
Chapter 10 talks all about the industrial food chains and markets. They say how a lot of these companies have been trying to drift away from buying corn and processed foods and are trying to switch to using organic foods more. It is saying about how more and more people are starting to shop at places like whole foods since it is known to be so "healthy" or so they think. A gem that I saw was that when the author goes shopping at places like whole foods he reads the labels of the food because he thinks that every item has a little background story to it. I find this interesting because I have never heard of people reading food labels to find out about the product. This brings up an interesting question that I have which is do people not read food labels a lot because they are afraid they will find something that will turn them off about the food?
Chapter 7 talked about how corn can affect peoples health. Since corn is in all of these foods it can also play a part in affecting peoples health. It affects obesity not only in adults but in children also it is a big problem. Since there is so many calories included with corn syrup and other forms of corn obesity tends to increase. My question is how come corn is so popular if it is a big problem with obseity in children and adults? Is it because people think it is a necessary ingredient so they don't think they can eat with out it for a long period of time?
Chapter 8 is about eating habits. It talks about how unlike humans most animals dont really have a problem with their eating habits. Since animals really only eat to get what they need out of it they dont really care about what it tastes like unlike most humans who are really picky about what they eat and how they want it to taste. Its funny that I just want to eat to get full and so do animals. I shows that some humans and animals to have some eating habits in common and they they aren't completely different in that field. I found it interesting that in some ways animals are more reasonable then humans in terms of eating. A question that I have is what if humans were more like animals with their eating habits? How would that effect the food market and in turn affect the economy?
Chapter 9 is about how all Mcdonalds and fast food meals are made so that they have similar but pretty much the same taste. The author talks about how Mcdonalds uses corn in a lot of their products that they have. They talk about mainly how bad Mcdonalds chicken nuggets really are for you. The author says that they can cause cancer. I have never heard that before but I'm not going to argue with him. I found it interesting that he talked about how that since its cheap and fattening it increases obesity in children and adults since everyone can afford it. A question I have is if it is proven to be bad why doesn't Mcdonalds make their food more healthy instead of keep making it less healthy?
Chapter 10 talks all about the industrial food chains and markets. They say how a lot of these companies have been trying to drift away from buying corn and processed foods and are trying to switch to using organic foods more. It is saying about how more and more people are starting to shop at places like whole foods since it is known to be so "healthy" or so they think. A gem that I saw was that when the author goes shopping at places like whole foods he reads the labels of the food because he thinks that every item has a little background story to it. I find this interesting because I have never heard of people reading food labels to find out about the product. This brings up an interesting question that I have which is do people not read food labels a lot because they are afraid they will find something that will turn them off about the food?
Monday, October 4, 2010
HW 7 - Reading Response Monday
The introduction to the book "the omnivores dilemma, the secret behind what you eat" by Michael Pollan talks about how the author like other people did not really think about food before he ate it. It talks about how he started to want to talk about food the way he does. He says that it all started when he was writing about genetically modified food and went to a farm and really got interested about where the food we eat is being made. He actually says that he "eats to get full" just like I do, which in my opinion brings up a good point about why people really eat? A question that I have is why are the foods that he talks about in the introduction prepared with so many chemicals? How long has it been like this for?
Chapter 1 talks about corn being a huge part of the food market in america. Not only is it popular among buyers buy it is especially popular among farmers. Since corn is in almost anything it is really wanted buy almost everyone. Something that was interesting in the chapter was that I did not know that corn began as a wild grass. A question that I have is if corn is so popular then why isn't there more media marketing talking about it? If they do start to put it in the media more do you think it will become more popular?
Chapter 2 says all about a farmer who got his farm passed down to him by his father. He also plants corn on his farm and has realized how big corn is in this food market. In this situation corn is kind of a dominant discourse considering how popular it is. It is really interesting that i was able to connect this part of the book to past classwork assignments. One question I have is where to the farmers get the money to take care of there farms before the sell their product? Also what happens to a farmers money if all of their crops die?
Chapter 3 talks mainly about how corn is the dominant product pretty much. If corn was not available to people then we wouldn't be able to make a lot of other foods. I really found it interesting that they need to use chemical fertilizer to grow hybrid corn. I actually never even knew that there was such a thing as hybrid corn. A question that I have is do you think that corn is a sacred thing for people in the united states? do you in your own opinion think that corn should be seen as something sacred? I also wonder why the book is focusing so much on corn as a topic.
Chapter 4 talks about one day he went to visit George Naylors grain elevator which is where he hauls his corn every october. Grain elevators are basically just a big storage room where farmers keep their corn when its cold out. I really liked how the author describes what the farming is like for corn farmers depending on what season of the year it was. A question that I have is how do they keep the corn preserved so well that it doesn't go bad? Also are the winters really bad times for corn farmers?
Chapter 5 tells you about how the way that farmers treat their cattle has changed over the years. Cattle used to be able to roam around and eat grass but now the cattle are only fed corn and have to stay inside their pens. He talked about the smell that came from the pens since the cattle were basically living in their own feces. Something that I found interesting was that farmers have changed their ways of farming so their way of farming makes people think that farming is completely different then it used to be. One question that I have is that is what the modern day farmers are doing really even farming? do you think that what they are doing should even be called farming? In my opinion is more like an industry rather then farming.
Chapter 1 talks about corn being a huge part of the food market in america. Not only is it popular among buyers buy it is especially popular among farmers. Since corn is in almost anything it is really wanted buy almost everyone. Something that was interesting in the chapter was that I did not know that corn began as a wild grass. A question that I have is if corn is so popular then why isn't there more media marketing talking about it? If they do start to put it in the media more do you think it will become more popular?
Chapter 2 says all about a farmer who got his farm passed down to him by his father. He also plants corn on his farm and has realized how big corn is in this food market. In this situation corn is kind of a dominant discourse considering how popular it is. It is really interesting that i was able to connect this part of the book to past classwork assignments. One question I have is where to the farmers get the money to take care of there farms before the sell their product? Also what happens to a farmers money if all of their crops die?
Chapter 3 talks mainly about how corn is the dominant product pretty much. If corn was not available to people then we wouldn't be able to make a lot of other foods. I really found it interesting that they need to use chemical fertilizer to grow hybrid corn. I actually never even knew that there was such a thing as hybrid corn. A question that I have is do you think that corn is a sacred thing for people in the united states? do you in your own opinion think that corn should be seen as something sacred? I also wonder why the book is focusing so much on corn as a topic.
Chapter 4 talks about one day he went to visit George Naylors grain elevator which is where he hauls his corn every october. Grain elevators are basically just a big storage room where farmers keep their corn when its cold out. I really liked how the author describes what the farming is like for corn farmers depending on what season of the year it was. A question that I have is how do they keep the corn preserved so well that it doesn't go bad? Also are the winters really bad times for corn farmers?
Chapter 5 tells you about how the way that farmers treat their cattle has changed over the years. Cattle used to be able to roam around and eat grass but now the cattle are only fed corn and have to stay inside their pens. He talked about the smell that came from the pens since the cattle were basically living in their own feces. Something that I found interesting was that farmers have changed their ways of farming so their way of farming makes people think that farming is completely different then it used to be. One question that I have is that is what the modern day farmers are doing really even farming? do you think that what they are doing should even be called farming? In my opinion is more like an industry rather then farming.
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