Britain on a Plate Written by Felicity Lawrence - Article Example

Introduction The article ‘Britain on a plate’, written by Feli Lawrence, is an overview of how the diet of British people depend on their income.The author has done a great job by bringing in focus the problems resulting from the ‘class’ system in Britain. Taking Jamie Oliver’s experience in a TV series as a cue, the author has thrown a light on the fact that unhealthy diet is not a problem with just one family shown in the serial, but is a problem with almost all the families in Britain, who have low income. According to Lawrence, the eating habits of British families still depend on the class they belong to. Lawrence has managed to convince the reader that even though Britain has entered the 21st century, the negative shadow of the ‘class’ system still looms large on the country. ‘Class’ system still exists in Britain and the diet of people belonging to the middle and lower class, still depend on their income, as it did in the 19th century. Strengths of the Article The strength of the article is its foundation of research and evidence. The author has done her best to gather all the valid information regarding the subject matter. She has gone deep into the matter and has provided the facts and figures to put her point forward. Following are the strengths of the article: 1) The first strength of the article is the research done to understand every aspect of the unhealthy diet. The author has gathered the information by talking to the experts in the field of diet and health. She has taken the views of Tim Lang, the professor of food policy at City University in London. Tim Lang says that “the nature of our diets has been entirely shaped by the class system.” According to Dr Tim Lobstein, the director of the childhood research programme at the International Association for the Study of Obesity, “sharp inequalities can be clearly mapped, even short distances apart.” In this way, the author has gathered the information from different sources to understand the depth of the problem. This shows that the article is based on the facts and expert opinions. 2) The second strength of the article is that the information is presented with the help of the facts and the figures. Felicity Lawrence has mentioned that people with low income are not able to afford the food that is healthy and nutritious. They have to fill their stomach with unhealthy salty and sugary food because their price is comparatively cheap. To support this statement, the author has given the comparative prices of the healthy and unhealthy food. The author has compared the prices of Broccoli with frozen chips, good quality sausage with ‘value’ fatty sausages, poor quality fish-fingers with fish-fingers made of higher nutrients and fresh orange juice with sugary orange squash. The comparison makes the reader clearly understand why the lower income families choose the unhealthy food. This comparison makes the reader agree with the author when she says that the diet of British family depend on the ‘social determinants of health’, and not on the conscious choice, as described by the government. The author convinces the reader that the lower income families and the working class families cannot ‘choose health’ not because they are irresponsible or ignorant people, but because they cannot afford the healthy food. 3) Felicity Lawrence has pointed out an interesting fact that the food is the area that the lower income families compromise with, when it comes to adjusting with their low income. People with lower income families need shelter and other security related amenities. The security related bills are compulsory expenses. Hence, the only area they find adjustable is their diet. This makes them to overlook the nutritious value of the food and hence, they eat only that food which is cheap and filling. Sadly, only unhealthy and harmful food comes cheap in the market. Lawrence has described how ‘financial adjustment’ is a reason for the lower income families to choose their food on the basis of its price and not on the basis of its nutrition value. 4) The article has shed a light on the psychological aspect of the cheap food. According to the author, there is a psychological reason behind having the unhealthy food. She has mentioned that people with low income try to forget the feeling of hopelessness and depression by eating the ‘tasty’ food. The unhealthy but tasty food is a need of psychological satisfaction. When food is the only source of pleasure, then people choose something that pleases their tongue. They do not have energy or resources to think about its calorie content, nutritious value or physical effects. The salty, sugary and the tasty food have a tendency to give a quick boost and pleasure to the mind. People find psychological and physical satisfaction from chips, chocolates and sugary drinks. They cannot afford healthy food that can give them both, health and pleasure. The cheapest food available in the market is the unhealthy food that they eat. Hence, most people who are on lower income try to find satisfaction in life through the salty and sugary food. Their depression and low income does not allow them to think about their health and to make intelligent choices. The lower income families cannot make positive changes to their diet because they cannot afford it. The author has described how the socio-economic status and the diet of people are related to each other. By referring to the psychological reason behind eating the salty and sugary food, the author has shown that she meant to reach the depth of the subject matter. Weakness of the Article The weakness of the article is the inclusion of problems like smoking and drinking prevalent in the country. The article starts with a focus on the diet of British families. It tries to explain how the class system still affects the diet of British families. However, in the middle of the article, the author suddenly refers to the problem related to youths. This makes the reader feel that the author has gone a little off track. The author has referred to the problem of addiction to tobacco and alcohol. She has also referred to the lack of physical activity in children. These problems are not directly related to the diet habits. They are more related to the lower socio economic status of the family and the effects of the environment on children. Hence, a sudden reference to these problems in the article, which is focused on family diet, gives a feeling of loss of focus. It seems as if the author lost focus and wanted to include every problem that was experienced by the lower income families in Britain. Conclusion The article ‘Britain on a plate’ is a clear and in depth look at how the diet of British families still depends on the class they belong to. By giving the details of how the diet depends on the geographical locations, income and psychological aspects of people, the author has shown that her study is in depth. The author has also referred to the fact that if one generation is deprived of healthy food and social opportunities, then it affects the next generation automatically. By describing in detail the problems like the unaffordable prices of healthy food, obesity in children and mental craving for salty and sugary food due to psychological and emotional dissatisfaction in lower income families, the author has successfully convinced the reader to believe that her claim that “food, and real peoples experience of it, is still all about class”, is true. Things have not really changed for lower class families in Britain and they are still deprived of better life opportunities, as they were in the 19th century. Reference Lawrence, F. 2008. Britain on a plate. The Guardian, [Online]1 October. Available at < http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/oct/01/foodanddrink.oliver> Read More