Personal Essay

So I've been experiencing a bit a writer's block with this essay and I think the mostly likely reason is that I am unused to such a free structure in writing. The past two years have been filled with technical and academic writing, so this essay is definitely something new. An idea that came to me yesterday about how to approach this essay helped my structure dilemma., which might help you if you are in a similar circumstance.
Because of the number of really insightful, thought provoking questions generated in class and on the syllabus, I have decided to structure my essay as a 'framework' of questions that are connected to each other. For instance, my family eating history, my current views, and ideas for better cooking are all related and if I have learned one thing from this class, many of the questions we are asking are connected in some way.

Supersized Problem

In the documentary Supersize Me, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock embarked on an experiment that could have killed him. It certainly increased his chance of liver failure, heart failure, and did cause heart palpitations and a 30 pound weight gain. At the start of the documentary, Morgan is a fit, active man who enjoys exceptionally good health. As the film unfolds though, we see him accumulate a  hefty gut, huff at climbing two flights of stairs, suffer headaches, unnatural cravings, and worst of all, we witness the mounting alarm of his doctors as they beg him to give up his experiment. Perhaps the most terrifying aspect of this film is that the effects of eating at McDonalds three times a day were manifest well before the month was over.

I know that none of us eat at McDonalds three times a day and probably most of us don’t eat there very often(I hope) or not at all. However, this film makes several important points about fast food, personal, and corporate responsibility that are good for all of us to keep in mind.

McDonalds is not the only dangerous fast food

Really, all fast food has the potential of McDonalds, in that this diet will harm our bodies, increase cholesterol, cause heart disease, and weight gain. Some fast food chains strive to present their food as ‘healthy’ such as Subway, but there is danger in eating too often at these places as well.

Is it the food or the chemicals that’s addicting?

In the film, Morgan talked about how he grew to crave McDonalds food, even though it was literally making him sick.  That made me wonder if the chemicals that are used in the food are causing the cravings, these shady substances that no one is supposed to think about that aren’t regulated. If this is true, a lawsuit and enforced changes could be possible.

Corporate Responsibility

These companies are wreaking havoc on national and international health, and while it is our responsibility to eat both healthily and ethically, these corporations have much to be ashamed of, with their shameless marketing tactics and use of harmful substances. When Morgan attempted to make contact with a spokesperson from McDonalds after his month, he was ignored. I wonder what would happen if more of us held this corrupt corporation accountable?

http://www.endalldisease.com/mcdonalds-fast-food-toxic-ingredients-include-putty-and-cosmetic-petrochemicals/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbf_pmT6duA

http://www.supplymanagement.com/news/2006/mcdonalds-tops-index-of-unethical-companies

Food alternatives

Raj Patel’s Stuffed and Starved leaves the reader with many hard truths, often ones that we would rather avoid. Perhaps even harder to live with than the truths about our companies, country, and trade policies is the incrimination of ourselves as witting or unwitting accomplices in this corrupt system.

I eagerly anticipated the conclusion or ‘what can I do’ portion of Patel’s expose into this system and it is this portion of his book that I will reflect on. As many of us realize, the financial limitations of college students are hardly compatible with a total locavore diet, but I would like to share some of Patel’s suggested actions and some of my own ideas.

Transform our tastes

We have been born, raised, and saturated in an artificial food environment where we are manipulated to crave substances not natural to our bodies. Turning traitor on our senses and food desires will be challenging, but not impossible. Cooking is a time investment and one that requires a certain level of planning and basic skills, but this is an investment that will drastically improve our quality of life (as well as one that saves money).  Taking time to prepare healthy recipes and learning to savor the natural flavors of vegetables and fruits will lead to healthier cravings and while it is easy to fall for the'affordability' of fast food, it is much cheaper to buy groceries to prepare healthy food. (example: I made 15 black bean burgers for under $8, whereas it would have cost me at least $15 for the lowest quality burgers at Mcdonalds)
Support local business
This can be challenging when Walmart offers such undercut prices that a local business can't hope to compete but I think once we accustom ourselves with what food should really cost, and the higher caliber of food to be had at smaller grocers, we will consider our money well spent. 


Ethical wages
Most of us probably understand the near impossibility of living on a minimum wage job and trying to fund our education at the same time. In a snap decision, it is easy to go to supermarkets and take advantage of cheap products, but by taking our business elsewhere, we are supporting more ethical wages and dignity for our fellow workers. Supporting local businesses creates better working conditions as well as improves the quality of our food.


Be aware
This system has been enabled mainly by ignorance, hence the great starvation and gross excess that are the order of today. By being aware of the actions of food companies, our government, and international organizations, we too can have a say. 

Below are some links referencing healthy cooking and local food resources.

farmersmarketkalamazoo.com/

www.pbs.org/now/shows/344/locavore.html‎

http://www.cookhereandnow.com/

The truth that America is starving for

Raj’s Patel’s expose on the evolution and current state of the world food system is no easy read.  As each chapter unfolds, we are taken on a tragic journey, witnessing coffee farmers in Uganda who cannot afford to feed and educate their children, women in India who shoulder the weight of providing for their families on 95 cents a day after their farmer husbands commit suicide, and the skyrocketing obesity levels in Mexico due to the influx of American food companies. We are presented with information that incriminates our government in the cold and calculated manipulation of other countries, bending the rules of international trade to fit their profit-mongering agendas. The conditions of trade are written entirely by one party: the large corporations who hold sway in the United States and who possess influence in such superstructures as the World Bank. As Patel drives home again and again, the dizzying array of food choices that the West is drowning in comes at great cost: the horrific suffering, struggling, and eventual starvation of persons all over the world. How ironic that the food we are literally starving millions of persons for is killing us in the process.

Patel examines the trend of farmer suicides, which have been consistent since the 1970s. These are directly related to large corporations not paying farmers a fair price for their crops and not properly compensating them for time, labor, and quantity. This, in addition to occurring in Uganda, India, and Mexico, also happens in the United States. In India, many farmers are driven to take loans in order to purchase agricultural implementations in a desperate attempt to increase production output. When the rain fails or the price of their crop diminishes, these men frequently take their own lives. This leaves the wife to shoulder the responsibility of a debt ridden and failing farm as well as care for the children. These women often must relocate to cities where they take meager paying jobs and some are so bereft of options that they enter prostitution. 

As I was reading through this book, the emotions that kept recurring were anger and a sense of helplessness. This system wields all the power and holds all the cards, so it would seem. This is a system which all of us have been living in, whether we comprehend it or not. I grieve that these people’s lives have been destroyed

by the corrupt system that supports my access to thousands of unnecessary choices every time I set foot in a

supermarket. I know that even our smallest choices can act as opposition and protest the system in which we were raised, and I wish today was the last day I ever have to buy food at the great cost of another human being.  But the reality of our world and the reality of being a college student on a very tight budget prevents many things, including buying all my food locally. I can only pray that my new knowledge of this system and the small acts of opposition that I can afford will take root and grow into something more.

I have included several links below, including the link to Raj Patel’s website and other resources related to this topic. 

http://rajpatel.org/blog/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evoFFHsB3pU

http://www.foodfirst.org/ 

Finding better food

When I decided one year ago to completely give up meat and embrace a vegetarian lifestyle, I was at my wit’s end. For the past two years, I experienced these bouts of sickness which lasted for 24 hours and included me not being able to keep food or liquids down.  Meat has never been a substantial component of my diet, but when I examined these incidents more closely, I came to the disturbing conclusion that they were becoming more frequent. I connected the dots and found meat to be the culprit; I had eaten some type of meat 24 hours before getting sick. Having implicated meat in these incidents of what I had originally thought was stomach flu, I decided I had had enough and completely removed meat from my diet.

Since then, I have had many adventures in food, finding new and more interesting ways of getting protein (soy bacon is an acquired taste in case you are wondering), giving traditional recipes a new twist (never try to make a meatloaf with tofu, it will not cook, no matter how many times you keep putting it back in the oven) and trying to maintain a healthy diet on a budget. I have found recipes that are easy, inexpensive, and efficient that anyone can do. I have found that with some thought and planning, I can eat both cheaply and healthily and I have felt the benefits of this lifestyle. Having experienced both lifestyles, eating meat and fast food and the more healthy alternative of abstaining from meat and minimal convenience food, I can definitely say that the latter makes for a better and more interesting life.  Food can be an adventure and one that is well worth the effort.