Week One:Paul Roberts: Chapter Two, The End of Food
When I think about the relationship of food consumers with food producers, Roberts' discussion of brand image captures many of my concerns of how that relationship has deteriorated. He writes, "...food companies must differentiate their products through heavy promotion, bribing consumers with outright financial incentives...or, more often, inducing consumers to associate a product with a cluster of potent and attractive ideas such as "quality," or "health," or "good parenting..." (p. 37). I find it especially alarming to realize that these noble attributes so easily become tools of deception, or, at very best, hollow signifiers of lost ideals. In this picture from the Ferry Building farmers' market in San Francisco, notice how the anxiety created by this estrangement results in heavy labeling in an effort to affirm a producer's authenticity and good intention.
--Brent W.
Having visited third world countries I find it disgusting that multinational corporations quest for profit would lead them to lie to the poor and under educated mothers of Africa. Roberts writes, "The companies worked assiduously to persuade mothers to switch from breastfeeding to formula- handing out free samples and paying local doctors to recommend the formula and denigrate breastfeeding- even as evidenc mounted that the practice could be deadly."(p.24). These companies use bribery and manipulation to sell a products to people who do not need them. I believe that these business practices are precisely the reason the food manufacturing industry is on an unsustainable course.
ReplyDeleteDuane B
"Food companies are in fact anticipating the end of meals as we know them" Roberts, Paul. "Its so easy now," The end of food Pg. 44
ReplyDeleteRoberts obviously wants the reader to take away from this book the idea that food systems are headed in a very negative direction. This quote really sums up what Roberts is trying to worn the reader about. It is a very provocative quote, obviously a future where people do not eat meals together is a negative and frighteningly realistic scenario. This does a good job of informing the reader of the current situation our food systems are in and does a nice job setting up the rest of the book.
-Matt H
« Early food companies routinely enhanced their products with an assortment of inedible and occasionally toxic materials (extending flour with chalk, for example, or using lead to brighten candy colors ». (Roberts, Paul. The End of Food. Chapter 2. Page 48)
ReplyDeleteAs depicted in its title, The End of Food is among us. For decades, large companies have made a fortune by selling “time saving” products to the American public. Not only are they offering unnatural, enriched products, which are most likely pumped with preservatives, but they also used to extend their ingredients with illegal substances.
The lack of ethics evidenced by this quote is mind-blowing. Thankfully now there are regulations preventing companies from misrepresenting their products. It is up to the people to change the way in which companies are allowed to act. Although the end of the big food might be upon us people probably thought the same thing after Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle was published. Companies will always try to get away with things which will increase their profits but people will always find out and fix problems in their food supply.
-Claudia H
"Even the shift in cooking from the home to the factory, though it has left us to engage in other pursuits, has also left us to far less knowledge, and control over what we eat" - (Roberts, Paul, The End of Food, Prologue, page xiv)
ReplyDeleteRoberts suggests that the production of food has turned into factory style farming where large corporations produce large amounts of food in a cheap fashion. This is the new trend and he suggests that it has started to direct consumers towards unhealthier food options and the problem of increased calories and obesity is apparent. However, I think that such a statement cannot be fully justified by placing blame on those producers who provide these options. Some thought has to be given to consumers themselves who are now agreeing to such food options. The best thing to reverse this problem is trying to create awareness amongst people by government authorities for them to make the healthier decision. I think that much blame has to be carried by the consumers themselves who are choosing to turn a blind eye towards their health and accept the cheap food that are being marketed to them. Not cooking at home is an option but just because it is out there, and one can buy food cheaply as it is hassle free does not mean that it is the producers who are causing this problem of unhealthy eating. People need to try to be more cautious about what they are putting into their stomachs as well. This does not mean that the modern food system is fully at fault only. although it is true that they are not producing the healthiest foods in the cheapest manner.
- Taijash
"Menu items are engineered to be not only quickly prepared but also easily consumed; many are meant to be eaten one-handed while driving. Store locations are carefully chosen for ease of access: surburban outlets allow consumers to drive to the restaurant, eat, and get home in less time than it takes to cook a meal. Similarly, with fast-ffod outlets in gas stations, feeding the family is now no more difficult than fueling the car."
ReplyDelete-The end of food pg. 50
Roberts is trying to show to the reader through this book that in our society, people are more worried about how fast they can get their food and eat it, then the quality of the food. Also he discusses how many people are using more prepared food in their homes then cooking freshly homemade meals. He really lets his readers know exactly what is going on around us with our food system, especially since many people don't take the time to see what is going on with their own eyes.Sadly I agree with this reading because I know for my family most of the food that we ate was mostly processed foods and rarely ever anything homemade.
-Kelsey B.
"And this relationship worked both ways. Even as food production influenced the way we made everything else,[t]he way we made everything else began to influence the making of food"
ReplyDeleteThis quote registered as very important to me in the sence that, Roberts is trying to say at the begining of the industrial revolution when we were expanding our means of producting everything from cars to a can of beans, this is where we first see the occurence of food acting, as well as being treated in the same manner as the economy. The same ideas of supply and demand at a monetary level became the same ideas of producing and selling food.
This is the start of the turn of food into a comodity, and this growth, what at first seemed like wonderful development and achievement is exaclty what is goign to cause the downfall of the food system today. Instead of growth and achievement we have over production, as well as waste, and a need to keep overproducing and wasting to satisfy the demand of the ever growing population.
Gabrielle C