The Sociology of Food - Essay Example

10th December The Sociology of Food Q1) Eating can do us harm: it may expose us to bacteria, poison us with additives, or increase our risk of obesity and diabetes. What features of the modern food system makes these risks more common and what features of the modern food system makes them less common than in the past? What role does US government play in protecting us from such risks? The modern food system has made the entire American population liable to diseases, illness and bad health in general. The usual culprits shown in TV are burgers and fries which causes increased waistline and frequent visits to the heart specialists. The increased intake of high calories in the form of meat and cereals contradicts with the increasingly sedentary lifestyle that humans lead. High calories intake makes sense if the person performs a lot of physical work but sedentary lifestyle coupled with high calorie blocks our arteries and leads us to heart diseases and diabetes. (POLLAN 2) However it is the entire food chain which is responsible for our deteriorating health; not only our dietary practices. Let us start from agriculture – the modern farming practices are so energy intensive that to produce 1 calorie of food , 10 calories of fossil fuel are spent as compared to just 2.3 calories in 1940s. (POLLAN 1)Thus as we eat more we contribute more to the greenhouse gases and pollute our environment – putting ourselves at danger of respiratory diseases apart from endangering the world ‘s survival. The second problem in agriculture is the excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers. It has now been well documented that pesticides not only causes diseases like cancer in humans but also pollutes our land ,water and air, making the world a difficult place to live in. Food is not only produces on an industrial scale – it is also processed. Processed food strips it of many essential nutrients; so we end up with crazy disorder like an obese person taking vitamin pills as supplements. Although the modern food system has these harmful effects it also has some positive sides. The industrial production of food makes it cheap and easily available leading to lesser starvation deaths. Food is also better packaged, handled and prepared in a neat and efficient manner. This ensures that hygiene related disorders have reduced dramatically. The health regulations which have come into place in the entire food chain – from the farm to the restaurant have proved to be a boon. However these few benefits pale in comparison to the health troubles caused by the obesity epidemic in our country. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are the primary agencies which oversee the safety of our food supply system. USDA is responsible for inspection of meat, poultry and egg products. Apart from inspection it is also responsible for giving dietary recommendations to children and adults regarding healthy eating habits. The controversial Food Pyramid which caused uproar in the cattle industry as it labeled meat as unhealthy was also produced by the USADA. (Nestle 52)FDA is responsible for the inspection of animal food and other food items except meat and eggs. The Federal Central for Disease control (CDC) is responsible for surveillance of local or national outbreak of food related illness. The final responsibility for governing our food of course lies with the congress which passes laws which governs the functioning of the above mentioned agencies. Some of the laws passed are the Food, Drug and Cosmetic act; Public Health Service Act Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act etc. Q2) the dominant approach to the food in US has been labeled Nutritionism. Briefly define the term and then, drawings on lectures as well as Pollan discuss why we have come to think of food in this way? Nutritionism says that the value of food that we eat is defined as the scientifically identified nutrients which are present in the food. In simple terms it means that we should eat food according to its nutrient contents and according to the nutrition needs of our body. Michel Pollan is one of the staunchest critics of Nutritionism. He says that sum total of the food that we eat is more than the sum of the individual nutrients. He claims that Nutritionism is responsible for many bad policy decisions on the part of government and food related disorders among the public. As a normal human being cannot see the nutrients in the food with his bare eyes, he has to depend on the nutrition experts to tell us which food contains which nutrients. Pollan compares the nutrition experts to the priests. Both give us information which we cannot verify and has to be taken at its face value. The primary promoters of Nutritionism are claimed to be health food manufacturers and self proclaimed nutrition experts who do not have even a basic understanding of science. (Nestle 57) This is compounded by a public who are ready to believe the magic effects of herbal tea and weight reducing breakfasts. Nutritionism labels some food as the good food and the other ones as bad without studying the cultural context, the lifestyle of the individual and the region in which he lives. Pollan says that the biggest beneficiary of Nutritionism is the processed food industry. Traditional foods like a banana cannot change their nutrition components whereas packaged food industry can easily change their food mix and claim to be more healthy and desirable. Pollan claims that this is what happened after the 1982 National Academy report when the food industry re-engineered it’s offerings in order to be in line with what science and government says. According to Pollan Nutritionism has effected our eating habits so much that we rely on the marketing muscle of the food processing industry and science journals to tell us what to eat and what not to eat. Surprisingly; in spite of its tall claims and millions of dollars spend in advertising and research, Nutritionism has been unable to solve the health related problems like obesity of our country. There may be a positive side to Nutritionism as well which Pollan fails to see. It has helped us to understand diseases like Beriberi and scurvy in a better way –diseases which re caused due to lack of some food nutrients. These diseases are now not only well understood but are also easily curable. So although Nutritionism may have caused a lot of harm it has also provided us with some unintended benefits. The problem is not the research on nutrients but the commercialization of this research. If we can stop the latter, the research may lead to more benefits than we know of. Q3) One theme in this course has been how food tastes and knowledge can be a way of making social boundaries, distinguish us from them. We saw this, for example, in talking about class differences in the sort of food people eat, appreciate and are knowledgeable about. How can this perspective on food ways be used to understand the US “obesity epidemic”? The US has been plagued by the obesity epidemic. Alarmed news reporters give you instances of how obesity is increasing in the nation and may lead to reversals in the longevity which has been achieved through hundreds of years of research in science and medicine. Although obesity is a problem among all the classes; the situation is more acute in the non-white population. It is 29% among Caucasians, 34% for Hispanics and 40% for African-Americans. Also 78% of African-American women are overweight. (Jeffrey P. Koplan 47) So why are the poorer sections of the US population more obese? Are there any cultural differences which cause this to happen or are the obesity debate becoming a pseudo for class debate? Is obesity being used to degrade and target the poorer sections of our country? People of the classes who are obese are usually poor. Due to poverty they have limited time and money to pursue fitness activities like running and going to the gym which are common practices among the white population .Apart from this, there are high instances of crime in the low income city areas .Due to high crime rate it makes it impossible for these groups of population to jog on the streets, parks or to make their children go to school on bicycles. So all this adds up to lack of physical activities among the poor which increases instances of obesity. (Jeffrey P. Koplan 69) Let us now discuss the food consumed by the children of the poor classes. Their mothers do not have the time to cook nice meals for them s most of them are working overtime, sometimes even double shifts; nor do they have the money to buy healthy fruits and vegetables. Due to this dearth, the children eat what is easily and cheaply available – burgers and fries. This food increases the fat intake and causes obesity. Another major culprit in this high calorie food intake is the lack of supermarkets in the inner city areas. Poor people cannot drive in their cars all the way to the suburbs to purchase fruits and vegetables –they do not have the gas money and reliance on public transport is unrealistic-how do you bring it all back? This encourages the use of packaged foods and fast foods which increase calorie intake. (Jeffrey P. Koplan 78) However this is not the way that media represents the food debate. It blames the bad choices made by the individual as the reason for his obesity. The obesity debate is being used to target the ‘ugly’ others- the outsiders who are spoiling our white middle class children. (Saguy 221) Although there may be some cultural differences among the various classes in our country but these differences are not so wide to make 1 class of people obese and others as the epitome of fitness. Our media and politicians need to look at the real issues mentioned above rather than blaming the individual for his obesity overtly and blaming the class habits in a covert manner. The African-Americans can also stay healthy if they have the facilities available to the white middle class male – it is not their culture but the circumstances which makes them obese. Works Cited Jeffrey P. Koplan, Catharyn T. Liverman, Vivica I. Kraak. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health In The Balance. New Yorkq: National Academies Press, 2005. Nestle, Marion. Food Politics - how the food industry influences nutrition and health. California, . . 2002. POLLAN, MICHAEL. Farmer in Chief. 12 10 2008. 10 12 2012 . Saguy, Abigail C. "French Women Don't Get Fat?French News Reporting on Obesity." Health at Every Size Journal (2006): 219-234. Read More