I don't think I've ever spent as much time and thought on food as I have in the last month since starting this course. It seems like our lives revolve around food…don’t they? Traditionally, that was probably the case. When I think of a traditional lifestyle, I think of my parents and grandparents. They always talk about the way things used to be and how simple life was. Families gathered two, even three times a day, to prepare a good meal. The woman of the house prepared this tasteful meal and often the children were obliged to help when the father returned from a long day of work (dinner). Once the father came home and dinner was ready, everyone gathered around the table, said a prayer to thank God for what they had, and then the wonderful meal was enjoyed. If you were a kid, you hoped you liked what was for dinner, otherwise you force-fed yourself or went hungry. So what do we have now? I will compare the traditional style of dinner with what a typical evening was like for me this summer. I would work all day until around 5:30 – 6:00 p.m., then I would call my friends and hang out. We were going to visit someone's house, what would be the first thing we would do? We would find something to eat. However, we weren't the type to put any effort into it; we drive a few miles down the road to a Wendy's or McDonald's. Why would we do this and why do the majority of Americans choose this option as well? Well, there are various reasons, but I think it all comes down to one thing. Convenience. It's very easy to drive your car up to the drive-thru, order a meal, and pay a small amount for a "seemingly large" portion of food. However, after the first part of this semester between class discussions and reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivores Dilemma and the documentaries Fat Sick and Nearly Dead 1 and 2, Forks over Knives and Spinning Plates, we can see that there has huge flaws in our system. food system as a nation today. Through watching these documentaries, reading and taking classes, I have learned to look at what I eat in a completely different way because of them and in this article I will explain why. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay I remember my middle and high school years watching documentaries about food and how food was bad and so on, but at the time I was probably just too young and immature to really care about what they were saying. When I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead 1 and 2 (for the purposes of this article I will consider both films as one post), I would definitely say that it is not the traditional family dinner that I spoke about in the introduction to this paper. Joe Cross takes things to the extreme. However, during the movie he goes on at length about why the food we eat every day isn't that good for us. This part of the film goes hand in hand with Michael Pollan's book which I will return to soon. What the film does really well is give the audience a likeable main character to identify with. I know personally that I'm not in terrible shape but this movie even made me consider trying this new healthier lifestyle. Obviously I wouldn't do as much hardcore as Joe Cross, because that would be counterproductive for me. Joe Cross is almost trying to "sell you a product" in acertain way. Its product is to get people to eat strictly whole foods and primarily plant-based. It sounds simple in theory, but in the new world we live in, eating healthier has become a real effort, but perhaps things are slowly starting to improve. The next documentary I watched was Forks over Knives. This film brought up a new concept that I had never heard of before. This film explained that animal-based proteins, whether organic or not, were the cause of the obesity problem in the United States. This was rather alarming as it seems to me that almost every meal I eat contains some sort of meat product. However, after watching it for a while, I became less and less convincing. Humans are meant for both meat and vegetables, so when the movie suggests we only eat whole, plant-based foods, I kind of lost interest. Yes, Joe Cross kind of had the same message, but in Forks over Knives I just didn't get a good impression. Maybe it was because it was missing a main character like Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, or maybe I was just tired of hearing the same message three times in a row. Anyway, this film didn't really convince me. Now I would like to talk about the most important one being The Omnivore's Dilemma. This book seems to give an overview of our entire food system in a way that is relatively easy to understand. I don't think I've ever heard the word corn said so many times in such a short time. But that's the point. Our food consists almost entirely of corn, in one form or another. Industrial farm raised with chemical-rich corn. From iced Coke to cereal to the steak on your dining room table (oh yeah, who does that?... eat at the table), on a daily basis, most of what people consume contains corn. Pollan describes everything from how corn is grown with artificial enhancers and antibiotics to the policies surrounding it and government subsidies aimed at keeping prices low. I think it's a little sad that farmers can grow thousands and thousands of acres of corn (with nothing else) and still barely get by. Indeed, the government wants to keep the price of corn low so that food products remain low. It is so low that the government must provide subsidies to keep farmers afloat. Nevertheless, farmers continue to produce more and more corn, to the point where we almost have too much and need to find things to do with it. So, on the one hand, we want to help farmers and allow them to get more money for their products, but on the other hand, consumers don't want to pay more for their Big Mac. So what is the solution? In the third part of Pollan's book, he goes on an adventure. He goes to the Polyface farm just outside of Washington DC. What he discovers is a completely different lifestyle. It's not about the hustle and bustle of the new world that most people live in today. The polyface farm is still very faithful to the traditional lifestyle. The food they ate did not come from thousands of miles away and was frozen to preserve it. No, it was picked straight from the plant and brought straight to the table. The chicken was slaughtered and brought directly to the oven. Pollan explains his personal experience working on the farm and living the way they live. From what he describes, it really is a whole different world. The concept of working for your food is very different. Instead ofworking all day in an office munching Cheetos, polyface farmers run the efficient cycle of how a real farm should operate. I find it fascinating that a place like Polyface Farm can still exist. The owner even mentions that he is not allowed to slaughter his own cows because the USDA does not allow him to do so. The only reason I can understand why a place like Polyface Farm can still exist is because of books and documentaries like these that we as a class have watched. It's the knowledge of what's happening in our food system today that's turning people off and attracting them to the whole foods market and I think more and more people are becoming aware of that. But food companies are not dummies. Organic food is a relatively new thing and that's no mistake. Food companies realized that people were starting to understand their ways, so they came out with something new, touted as being healthier. This is partly true in that organic foods do not contain chemicals and with the exception of the word organic, it is simply a legal term and there are many ways to get around it. Farmers are happy to do what the public wants, but they still have to make money. So what is the result? The cost of organic food is more expensive. And then, on top of that, you have to prepare a meal yourself. So much effort, right? That's the problem. However, as more people become informed about how the foods we eat every day are prepared, I believe people will decide to try "organic" foods and we will eventually be able to move away from processed foods and enjoy more whole foods. Not every complete meal needs to be prepared at home. Restaurants have also noticed the trend of people moving toward whole-food diets. There are now many smaller places, especially in cities, where people can go to get premium food at a quote. Whole foods are gradually becoming more accessible, and as that happens, I think we'll also see the barrier of price start to ease. So maybe whole food really is the way of the future. I decided to try it myself (plus it was an eating mission I could resist.) I was going to make a nice steak dinner. However, it wouldn't be just any steak. This steak was going to be a premium cut. Where I found him was on the local farm down the road from my father's house, called the Kelly Brothers. Farm. They mainly raise beef and dairy cows, but the nice thing is that all of his cows are free range and in the summer they graze on the many grass fields that Mr. Kelly owns. So I drove down the road and talked to him. He had a very thick Maine accent, but he seemed like one of those people you would call one of the “good old guys.” Anyway, I asked for one of his better cuts and he recommended his sirloin cut so I took it. It was $20 but honestly didn't seem that bad. Of course, it's not the cheapest, but I thought it would be pretty good. Plus, it was pretty easy to feed two or even three. Second, while I was there I asked for some of her fresh whole milk. He said wait, and a minute later he came out with a new glass bottle of milk. He asked me to make sure I put it straight away..