Final Food Assignment

*Intro* (Why should we care/be aware of the food we eat?)

From the day we born to the last moment we die, we need food to survive. All our ancestors have been hunters and farmers who were responsible for their own food in order to make a living. But now, the whole society has transformed to an industrial system that nobody really grow their own food. We use fossil fuels to make the machines work, so everything will be fast and efficient. Simultaneously, harming the environment from pollutions of the machinery used in factories and industrial farms. Therefore, we ignored where our food come from other than knowing we bought it from the super markets, and what is it behind the food that we are eating. More importantly, we start to unappreciated the food we eat, and the animals that died just for us to have more food choices.

*Sources of "A Mother's Tale" and "Cows with Guns"* (Similarities Between Both Sources)

The story “A Mother’s Tale” by James Agee and the song “Cows with Guns” by Dana White are quite similar in terms of animal cruelty. Both enhance the idea of how animals are being born to die, and there are no way to escape from this because human are the superiors in the whole system. Such as the quote from the story by the Mother, “We are brought into this life only to be victims; and there is no other way for us unless we save ourselves.” Although the story are written in a perspective of how human think of the animals as putting the shoes into the animal’s feelings, and we do not really know how the animals feel, we can still assumed that the calves are born for human to eat on their hamburgers as it mentioned in “Cows with Guns”.

*Sources of "A Mother's Tale" and "Cows with Guns"* (Differences - Aniaml's P.O.V.?)

However, the story by James Agee makes the reader felt more pathetic for the animals and it creates a sense of guilt for people who eat meat. Also, it sets up a desperate mood demonstrating the calves because the Mother told the calves what the ancestors said, but no one is able to ensure the story is true. Whoever got on the train never came back or able to tell, which it makes the story more dramatic because it also reveals the reality of the animal’s lives. Their lives are really depending on us, and no matter what they do, it is impossible to escape from human. As it mentioned in the story, how the cow experienced the journey of getting caught and got on to the train. It is all about the issues of animal cruelty that we discussed in the previous class and videos that we watched.

*Sources of "A Mother's Tale" and "Cows with Guns"* (Differences - Natural vs. Animals)

In the story “A Mother’s Tale”, the differences between all other videos that are about animal cruelty related are that it mentioned how optimistic the cows are. Even they got treated badly by living in a place with smells that they are not familiar with, they still think on the bright side that the smell is just what the human been live with. The story delineates a picture of how animals are easily adapted to their nature surroundings that no matter where they got to, they would be able to adjust to it. This also reveals the fact that is us who suppose to adapt to where we are, not the surrounding to adapt to our way of living. That is the way we all living animals live in this universe. However, us, as human, we often try to go against how things are suppose to be. In other words, we go against how things are used to be such as producing industrial food. In one of the class we have discussed what is natural, and we turn out that we do not how to define this word. We talked about what is the natural way of killing an animal and it turned out to be that there is no such thing call natural way of killing. In addition to that, natural doesn’t mean it is right. From discussion, we have come to the conclusion that it is okay to kill the animals, but it is wrong to abuse the animals.

*Sources of "A Mother's Tale" and "Cows with Guns"* (Differences - Animals Put Their Shoes In Human)

Even more surprising were the animals actually thought the way they got treated is the way humans are treated also. “But soon the leaders among them concluded that it was simply the way men must smell when there are a great many of them living together. Those dark buildings must be crowded very full of men, they decided, probably as many thousands of them, indoors, as there were of us, outdoors; so it was no wonder their smell was so strong and, to our kind, so unpleasant.” Though we do not know how animals think or feel as how the story described, it still reveals the innocent of animal lives. Because we think we are superiors, therefore we think we have the priority to do whatever we want to the animals. We ignored the others, and think we are the center attention of the universe. The other animals cannot choose how they live as the discussion we have in class, they “they are not even on the table”. Is us who created the high technologies that caused the issue of animal cruelty and the deconstruction of farms. All these damages that we did to the earth have been ignored by people, and we still consume food that is industrial produced everyday to help the corporations to earn a great profit. Other than harming the animals, we are also damaging the nature. For all those fossils fueled that people used for machines, it pollutes the environment and contaminates a lot of the rivers and lakes. For the purpose of convenience, efficient, and speed, just for human, we have damaged the world to a place that is full of corpse.

*Connect to - Omnivore's Dilemma* (Michale Pollan's Theory & Agriculture of Industrialization caused Unappreciation of Food)

As the society that we live in right now, everything is about efficiency and getting better. Therefore, by using fossil fuels to make the technologies work, it changes our way of living. We no longer hunt for our own food, and grow our own food in a little garden. Now a day, most people go to the super markets and everything they needed would be there. Everything is fast, and easy to get. Therefore, people no longer appreciate the food they had as much as the people who grow their own food back then. People barely think about the meats they are eating are from animals who got treated badly throughout their life. Because we have no difficulties of getting food while thinking what we should eat every day, we no longer feeling grateful for what we have. We would not think about how the animals got put into fences got squeezed in a crowded place. We would not think about how the animals got treated by throughout their life time while we might think of whether it tastes good or the price of the food we are eating. Such as the theory that Michael Pollan has stated in his book “Omnivore’s Dilemma”, America does not really have a food culture like Italians, or French, Americans are obsessed with healthy and anxious about what to eat. This is all because we know so little about the food that we are eating! What most people are thinking, what they should eat that is healthy for them. Other than the problem of what to eat, we do not think of how to decrease the damage of our environments by stop treating animals in a cruel way using machinery, and pollutions from the fossil fueled.

*My Food Ways - connecting to "Our Daily Bread" & "Meatrix"* (Why still meat?)

By knowing all these things behind the food that I eat every day, it actually changes the way I look at food. I start to be aware of what I am eating and where they came from. However, I will still eat meat even though I watched the clips of “Our Daily Bread” “Meatrix”, and some others from Animal Cruelty, because I am being raise to eat meat. From learning the things behind my food, and actually understanding where they came from, it has deepened my knowledge about food, but not enough to change my daily habit of eating. Especially the movie of “Our Daily Bread”, it is not a cartoon like the “Meatrix”, it is real. From looking at how the animals got tortured, and get killed then got hang up to cut into different parts. It is extremely cruel compare with the videos on the “Animal Cruelty”. All these videos have shown the audience how the animals got treated badly, such as cutting into half first, then the feet, the intestine…etc. I personally think it is disgusting and inappropriate for the animals. But in the other hand, the animals are going to die anyway because humans do eat meat. Which raise the question, why does it matter if the animals are going to die anyway?

*My Food Ways* (Draw the difference between KILLING ANIMAL & ANIMAL CRUELTY )

I disagree with the way the industrial farm treated the animals throughout their life time as it shown in the movie “Our Daily Bread”, but I am not really against the way they cut the animals. There is no such thing call the natural way of killing the animals and natural doesn’t mean it is the right way to kill it. Therefore, I think by cutting the animals in that way are fine regardless of the fact that it is using machinery. (If the animals are being put to sleep then got kill, that is better than just killing it to frighten them) However, the way the industrial farm treated the animals are the part that I do not like and extremely against it. Not only just the animals are being treated badly, even the plants are being killed in few minutes with sprays of pesticides according to the movie. Eating meat/plant with appreciation is different from take it for granted. Now a day, in our food culture, what we care is how the food taste like and does it look pretty. We do not even think in our head while we eat that the piece of meat is from an animal who has suffered throughout their life in the industrial farm.

*Conclusion* (Sum up the Food Unit and How Did I Change From Learning this Unit?)

Instead of arguing whether industrialization of agriculture worth it or not, I would say that it is one of the biggest mistakes that we made as human beings. Being exposed to these “truths” about food, it really changes my way of looking at them. Although I still eat meat, my attitude towards the food I eat is appreciation. Not only appreciating the food and animals that died, also to the hard workers who pick the food for us. From going to the super markets looking at varieties of the same food and focus on my food ways to being exposed to the facts behind the food I ate has been a great unit that really changes my life. Because when I was in China, all the foods I ate are from the farmers’ market, and I never know the foods I eat now are from the industrial farm. Though is a change, I learned to appreciate the food more than I use to be. Other than staring at the television and eat my food as I take things for granted, I should have a sense of appreciation and gratification towards what I have.