Free «The Omnivores Dilemma» Essay Paper

Question One: Concerns about the way we eat or how food is created

According to Pollan, industrial food chain starts with food sold in the supermarkets which he says that consists mainly of corn products. Therefore, he argues that the Americans must be corn if people are made of made of what of what they eat. From the 1970s, corn became staple crop in America because President Nixon’s regime introduced policies, corporate preferences and technological developments (Pollan, 2006). These developments were aimed at producing cheap corn to feed the American masses. Over reliance on corn and its products may mean that the Americans are failing to get correct quantities of other food supplements resulting into malnutrition.

Question two: The capitalistic model for food production

The capitalist model of food production is aimed turning human needs into merchandise for the sole purpose of making profits. Consequently multinational companies focus more on profit rather than manufacturing food that feed or nourish the world’s population. Additionally, the capitalist model has cited for continued rise in the prices of basic need products due to social, economic, environmental, ideological and ethical crises. According to the book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Pollan talks about the use of fertilizers and in the farms which resulted into soil pollution (Pollan, 2006). Even though the yields from the corn fields increased, people became more exposed to the chemicals that were used because there may have no rules to regulate the usage of chemicals. As a result, the capitalist model of food production may have not been the best model to adopt because it protected mostly the large multinational companies.

 

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Question three: Have you ever grown your own food? Has that changed the eating experience?

I have grown my own food. This has changed the eating experience because I am able to control the quantity of carbohydrates that I can consume at any particular meal. This is different from the foods bought in the supermarkets where the manufacturer has the sole authority of the quantity of corn (carbohydrates) that is to be supplemented in the food products sold to the consumers.

Question four: Safety of the food supply

Food sold in the supermarkets are safe because most multinational companies have quality control departments that tests the quality of food manufactured before selling to the wholesalers (Pollan, 2006). Furthermore, food samples have to be taken to the government’s bureau of standard that tests the quality of the manufactured. Agricultural experts also recommend the correct amounts of fertilizers and pesticides that are supposed to be applied in agricultural farms. However, scientific inventions in the field of biotechnology may water down the achievements made since genetically modified foods are finding their way into the markets.

Question five: What should be the proper role of government in deciding how to grow, process, and eat our food?

The government should come up with scientific and commercial ways that focuses on specific nutrients as an alternative of unique benefits that is derived from eating whole food. People should eat quality food instead of eating a lot of food that has low nutritional value.