Response to Pollan 1

Michael Pollan, the author of Omnivore’s Dilemma, has argued that there is lack of stable food culture like French/Italians in the United States, and we as Americans are confused and anxious about what to eat, therefore, we easily listen to experts to tell us what we should eat for dinner. I agree with his argument that most of us do listen to experts and follow the directed food ads to decide what to have for lunch or dinner as a meal. Perhaps way back then people’s habit of eating does not depend on the food fads or experts, and they were able to live through their lives. But in the 21st century, not too much people grow their own food like back then, especially the people who spend their whole life living in the city. It is impossible to know where the food comes from like the farmers; therefore we rely on what others said that we think is reliable. For instance, when most people go to the supermarkets to buy their food, they usually pick the ones that looks nice or the ones that they saw from various sources that said IT IS HEALTHY. Additionally, people living in the cities are mostly busy on something, so as a result, their eating habits will depend on the speeds and convenience too. That is a reason why America is famous for fast food like McDonalds, Wendy’s, Subway, Burger King and etc… Another reason why we rely on the experts is because we do not really know about our body unless we go to the doctors to check. Therefore, our life is really depending on the doctors. They are the ones who save our lives when we are sick, or else we will not be able to heal ourselves if we have certain disease. As a result in the long run, we come to believe that doctors are reliable and worth to trust to be one who guide us what to eat. In my opinion, sometimes we should be concern what we are eating, because we just know too little about food other than knowing it is the main source that keeps us alive. We need certain reliable sources from the experts, so we don’t eat with doubt. However, when it comes to healthiness, I think everybody’s body function differently, some is allergic to certain fruits and some is not. Therefore, there is definitely a chance that the information from the experts does not fit us, but do fit somebody else.
A further thought on Pollan’s argument was that although America does not have a stable food culture like Italians/French does, that might not be the reason why we rely on the experts. It could be simply because of American’s healthiness such as diabetes, heart disease’s rates are extremely higher than the others, that’s why we are so concern with what we eat and rely on the experts. Is not like we wanted to, but the things that we are eating is definitely an issue that we should be aware of regarding on health.

Is it necessary to have a stable food culture?

Americans are concern about what to eat is because we lack a stable food culture in the U.S. or we just care about our health more than the others?

When I type in “American Food” in Google images, is all fast food. Does that consider a food culture for Americans? If yes, can we say that our food culture is not as healthy as the others, that’s why we are looking for a better food culture and more concern than the others?

It is possible that it just happened to Americans that our food culture needs modification?

Does Americans' concerned on food reflected that we wanted to live longer than the others? Or just seeking for better life? Scared of death compared to the others?

In my family, my parents do listen to certain experts to decide what we should eat, but my daily food habits do not have a dramatic change because of what the experts said. To me, it feels like the way we eat is really depending on how our ancestors had passed down to us. We still eat rice, with side dishes of some meat, soup, and vegetables. But what my mom concerns the most is obesity/body health. She does not want us to eat more meat than vegetables, because too much meat will cause us to be fat or even overweight. Also eating food that is too sweet or salty is another thing that she concerns regarding on eating healthy. Overall, we do not really eat depending on commercials or books. Compared to my grandparents, they are the ones who absolutely ignored what the food ads told them to eat. They been farmers and they used to grow their own food, so they sort of know what to eat and have their own food habits from their own knowledge of food instead of relying on what others said. Therefore, it shows that a person’s knowledge on food definitely has to do with how they eat.