Thesis-
In modern day society dominant social practices and dominant discourses define what is normal and what is weird, when in reality these normal routines are actually nightmarish industrial atrocities.
Chunk 1 of Major Argument:
The treatment of the animals in the food industry is horrible and disgusting. It could very easily make a person think about what they are eating before they eat it if they knew.
Evidence 1
The meat in the U.S. is dirty.
Link:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/meat/interviews/schlosser.html
Evidence 2
The feedlot is very tightly packed and unhealthy.
Link:
http://www.themeatrix.com/#
Evidence 3:
The animals could be suffering a long and painful death when they are being slaughtered.
Source:
Omnivores Dilemma YRE chapter 19
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
Food Inc. HW 10
Food Inc. is a movie about the American food industry and how the people don't know exactly what they are eating. It shows a close up view of many different parts of the food industry like the corn farming industry. The film focuses a lot on our meat and how the animals are treated before they re sent to the slaughter house and in the slaughter house. It shows how cattle are raised in their own excretion. They may spend their whole life seeing very little daylight. These animals get sick and humans can get sick from eating the sick animals.
Food Inc. is based off of two books that have been read during class. Omnivores Dilemma and Fast Food Nation. They both tell the same basic story but show it in a different way. In the movie you get to see a view of what is actually happening. Unlike in the book you can see and hear what is going on. But in the book you get a very good interoperation of whats going on from what your own thoughts are.
I would definitely like to see more about the small organic farms because compared to the big farms the smaller farms seem a lot better. This movie had shown me that it is definitely worth it to eat healthier more organic foods for the extra price. The thought that their could be manure in my food or even in my foods food disgusts me.
Food Inc. is based off of two books that have been read during class. Omnivores Dilemma and Fast Food Nation. They both tell the same basic story but show it in a different way. In the movie you get to see a view of what is actually happening. Unlike in the book you can see and hear what is going on. But in the book you get a very good interoperation of whats going on from what your own thoughts are.
I would definitely like to see more about the small organic farms because compared to the big farms the smaller farms seem a lot better. This movie had shown me that it is definitely worth it to eat healthier more organic foods for the extra price. The thought that their could be manure in my food or even in my foods food disgusts me.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Reading Response 7d
Chapter 17 10/18/10
Have you ever had food that is directly off the farm? Well most likely not, I know that I haven't. Michael cooks a meal for his friends from the chickens raised, the corn grown, and the eggs that were laid on Polyface farm. He notices many differences in the foods. The fresher eggs have a more solid yoke for example. The way Michael explained this meal made it sound amazing. I would really like to try all of this food fresh. I like fresh fruits when I had them in the past. Does this mean that organic foods aren't only better for you but taste better as well? Maybe if people focused a little less on the quantity and more on the quality then food in the U.S. would possibly be some of the best in the world.
Chapter 18 10/19/10
Now most of us get our food at the supermarket. We look to shop organic to be healthy or just get whatever is at the local supermarket. There are also some who grow their own food. They farm their food the old fashion way. But how many of us go into the wild and do the natural thing. Find and eat the food that mother earth has given us? There is a lot of food in the wild that is all natural and may be a lot healthier then the same thing you see in the supermarket. There's such a large variety of stuff in the wild like fruits, vegetables, and even fungi. Then we can hunt our own animals as well. The way things were meant to be. Getting food as easily as we can is nice but is it really worth it. How truly different are we to those chickens who could barely walk in food inc.?
Chapter 19 10/20/10
Precis- Being a vegetarian is not as easy as it sounds. As humans we have evolved to live off of meat. But it may be hard to eat meat when you hear about the slaughter houses and treatment of the animals we eat. There is no doubt that the American industrial food chain is a disgusting and horrific sight to see, if your unlucky enough to see it and definitely are horrible event to even think about. The owners of these big food chains see these creatures as raw materials to make money rather then living creators that live and die just like humans do. It is part of these animals nature to be eaten by humans, they are domesticated animals. They have evolved to live by, be used by us which includes being eaten by us. But it is not part of their nature to live in a dark cage or on in a crowded feed lot standing in their own feces. It is not wrong to kill and eat animals but it is wrong to take the away the nature of them.
Gem- Before Temple Grandin created the double-rail cattle slaughter system there were stories of cows still being alive while they were being skinned and butchered.
Thoughts and Questions- Something that I found particularly interesting was when McDonald's hired Temple Grandin to make a quick and painless slaughter system. Since when has McDonald's cared about the cows going through the system. It is good that they would do that but why is that all they do? There are so many more ways that they can improve the system for the cows, why are they only doing that?
Chapter 20 10/21/10
Precis- Michael is going to go hunting for his first time. This is the first time that he has tried getting his own food. Michael doesn't like killing animals but he wants to try to hunt and gather his own meal. What he is hunting for is wild bore in California. The first time that Michael went hunting he didn't kill anything. He had the chance to but since he didn't exactly know what he was doing his rifle was not cocked and would scare of the bores if he did. So he went hunting another time with only his hunting instructor. The instructor didn't look at the bore as a creature, just as future food. This time Michael did kill the bore. He was very excited about it until later when he felt bad about kill the animal.
Gem- Wild pigs aren't actually wild. Since they are domesticated animals they are considered feral, which means domesticated and living in the wild.
Thoughts and Questions- I thought that the difference in the reactions in the two men was very interesting. Michael who in a way represents the normal American citizen can barely look at what he hunted. But Angelo, his french instructor thought of the killing as nothing. So if that is how Michael would all of the other normal American citizens be able to deal with killing their own food?
Chapter 21 10/23/10
Precis- To complete Michael's meal that shall be purely hunted and gathered he goes into the forest to look for and gather fungi. There are a lot of mushrooms that are very unsafe to eat and can kill a person so fungi hunters have to be careful what they pick. The mushroom that Michael and his friends were looking for are called chanterelle mushrooms. These should be cooked before eaten. Michael was only able to find five but Angelo found a lot more. Most of the fungi is underground and the mushroom is only one part of the whole fungi. Humans know very little about fungi even though it is the third kingdom of life on earth. It is a very hard form of life to observe.
Gem- People who gather fungi call it hunting instead of harvesting because picking the wrong mushrooms can kill a person.
Questions and Thoughts- Once again the normal guy, Michael only comes out with five mushrooms when the experienced hunter comes out with many more. I think this shows how much most people depend on America's nightmare industrial food chains.
Chapter 22 10/23/10
Precis- Now that all of the food that Michael hunted and gathered is together it is time to cook. Michael is now going to cook a big meal from that food. All the food that was caught and gathered is in season, so this is basically the perfect organic meal. He decides to only buy the salt at the store because the salt that he got out of the salt pond in San Francisco tasted bad. All of Michael's friends and family loved his meal.
Gem- To get salt one must take water and evaporate it.
Thoughts and questions- This Perfect meal that Michael has made is just impossible unless of a special occasion because people just don' have the time to go hunting, look for mushrooms, and cook a meal that takes eleven hours. The only way we can change everybody's food is by changing the food system,
Have you ever had food that is directly off the farm? Well most likely not, I know that I haven't. Michael cooks a meal for his friends from the chickens raised, the corn grown, and the eggs that were laid on Polyface farm. He notices many differences in the foods. The fresher eggs have a more solid yoke for example. The way Michael explained this meal made it sound amazing. I would really like to try all of this food fresh. I like fresh fruits when I had them in the past. Does this mean that organic foods aren't only better for you but taste better as well? Maybe if people focused a little less on the quantity and more on the quality then food in the U.S. would possibly be some of the best in the world.
Chapter 18 10/19/10
Now most of us get our food at the supermarket. We look to shop organic to be healthy or just get whatever is at the local supermarket. There are also some who grow their own food. They farm their food the old fashion way. But how many of us go into the wild and do the natural thing. Find and eat the food that mother earth has given us? There is a lot of food in the wild that is all natural and may be a lot healthier then the same thing you see in the supermarket. There's such a large variety of stuff in the wild like fruits, vegetables, and even fungi. Then we can hunt our own animals as well. The way things were meant to be. Getting food as easily as we can is nice but is it really worth it. How truly different are we to those chickens who could barely walk in food inc.?
Chapter 19 10/20/10
Precis- Being a vegetarian is not as easy as it sounds. As humans we have evolved to live off of meat. But it may be hard to eat meat when you hear about the slaughter houses and treatment of the animals we eat. There is no doubt that the American industrial food chain is a disgusting and horrific sight to see, if your unlucky enough to see it and definitely are horrible event to even think about. The owners of these big food chains see these creatures as raw materials to make money rather then living creators that live and die just like humans do. It is part of these animals nature to be eaten by humans, they are domesticated animals. They have evolved to live by, be used by us which includes being eaten by us. But it is not part of their nature to live in a dark cage or on in a crowded feed lot standing in their own feces. It is not wrong to kill and eat animals but it is wrong to take the away the nature of them.
Gem- Before Temple Grandin created the double-rail cattle slaughter system there were stories of cows still being alive while they were being skinned and butchered.
Thoughts and Questions- Something that I found particularly interesting was when McDonald's hired Temple Grandin to make a quick and painless slaughter system. Since when has McDonald's cared about the cows going through the system. It is good that they would do that but why is that all they do? There are so many more ways that they can improve the system for the cows, why are they only doing that?
Chapter 20 10/21/10
Precis- Michael is going to go hunting for his first time. This is the first time that he has tried getting his own food. Michael doesn't like killing animals but he wants to try to hunt and gather his own meal. What he is hunting for is wild bore in California. The first time that Michael went hunting he didn't kill anything. He had the chance to but since he didn't exactly know what he was doing his rifle was not cocked and would scare of the bores if he did. So he went hunting another time with only his hunting instructor. The instructor didn't look at the bore as a creature, just as future food. This time Michael did kill the bore. He was very excited about it until later when he felt bad about kill the animal.
Gem- Wild pigs aren't actually wild. Since they are domesticated animals they are considered feral, which means domesticated and living in the wild.
Thoughts and Questions- I thought that the difference in the reactions in the two men was very interesting. Michael who in a way represents the normal American citizen can barely look at what he hunted. But Angelo, his french instructor thought of the killing as nothing. So if that is how Michael would all of the other normal American citizens be able to deal with killing their own food?
Chapter 21 10/23/10
Precis- To complete Michael's meal that shall be purely hunted and gathered he goes into the forest to look for and gather fungi. There are a lot of mushrooms that are very unsafe to eat and can kill a person so fungi hunters have to be careful what they pick. The mushroom that Michael and his friends were looking for are called chanterelle mushrooms. These should be cooked before eaten. Michael was only able to find five but Angelo found a lot more. Most of the fungi is underground and the mushroom is only one part of the whole fungi. Humans know very little about fungi even though it is the third kingdom of life on earth. It is a very hard form of life to observe.
Gem- People who gather fungi call it hunting instead of harvesting because picking the wrong mushrooms can kill a person.
Questions and Thoughts- Once again the normal guy, Michael only comes out with five mushrooms when the experienced hunter comes out with many more. I think this shows how much most people depend on America's nightmare industrial food chains.
Chapter 22 10/23/10
Precis- Now that all of the food that Michael hunted and gathered is together it is time to cook. Michael is now going to cook a big meal from that food. All the food that was caught and gathered is in season, so this is basically the perfect organic meal. He decides to only buy the salt at the store because the salt that he got out of the salt pond in San Francisco tasted bad. All of Michael's friends and family loved his meal.
Gem- To get salt one must take water and evaporate it.
Thoughts and questions- This Perfect meal that Michael has made is just impossible unless of a special occasion because people just don' have the time to go hunting, look for mushrooms, and cook a meal that takes eleven hours. The only way we can change everybody's food is by changing the food system,
Friday, October 15, 2010
Freakonomics
Today I went to see the movie Freakonomics with school. It is about two guys, an economist and a journalist who talk about economic and social issues. They explore many different topics and use tools to go about explaining or maybe figuring out many of these issues. One important thing that I noticed was that they always refereed to people as a whole. They never really brought in their own personal experiences. When they interviewed people, it would always be a variety of people from the group that is important in the issue. Always looking at the bigger picture in a way. They were also very straight forward with all of their issues. For example when they were talking about the difference in names between blacks and whites they were very straight forward with the type of questions asked. Or it might have just seemed like that because it can be considered slightly controversial. (Not really in my opinion).
I think that the authors pretended that correlation is causation in a way because there was proof that it was true but there was also proof that it wasn't true and that its just a coincidence in many situations. I think that you can usually link it far back to correlation vs. causation but they were talking about specific things. For example, when abortions were legalized the crime rate went down a lot. Is the crime rate dropping due to abortions, maybe we can't know for sure. But that does seem very probable. So they don't know for sure but they believe as much as they can. They most relied on experiments and peoples opinions. Every Segment they did was like an experiment or a review in a way. When they gave the kids money to raise their grades that was a test. When they were looking at names and what it has to do with race they interviewed a lot of people. They relied on people for their experiment. When they were examining sumo wrestling thats like a review where they relied on people once again.
I don't really agree because it wasn't showing anything that wasn't normal. They showed pretty normal issues so I didn't find anything particularly weird. They showed cheating in sports which happens all the time. Kids and their grades which is a common problem. Names may be the most common thing in the world.
I think that the authors pretended that correlation is causation in a way because there was proof that it was true but there was also proof that it wasn't true and that its just a coincidence in many situations. I think that you can usually link it far back to correlation vs. causation but they were talking about specific things. For example, when abortions were legalized the crime rate went down a lot. Is the crime rate dropping due to abortions, maybe we can't know for sure. But that does seem very probable. So they don't know for sure but they believe as much as they can. They most relied on experiments and peoples opinions. Every Segment they did was like an experiment or a review in a way. When they gave the kids money to raise their grades that was a test. When they were looking at names and what it has to do with race they interviewed a lot of people. They relied on people for their experiment. When they were examining sumo wrestling thats like a review where they relied on people once again.
I don't really agree because it wasn't showing anything that wasn't normal. They showed pretty normal issues so I didn't find anything particularly weird. They showed cheating in sports which happens all the time. Kids and their grades which is a common problem. Names may be the most common thing in the world.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Reading Response 7c
Chapter 11 10/13/10
So what is all this hype about organic foods? Some may say that it is healthier. That the animals are treated well on the farms and live a good life. Well some of this may be true but it seems there are a lot of white lies when it comes to organic foods. Just like non organic foods organic food farms have turned into more of a factory. The food isn't all that different either except for the fact that there are no added chemicals. So yes it is healthier but the difference can't be all that much. Also the animals are claimed to have been taken care of better. For example, free range chicken farms. Some of these farms that claim to let their chickens roam free aren't exactly telling the whole truth. Sure they aren't stalked up in cages but they definitely not in a much better environment. These chickens may not be let out until they are 5 weeks old but at that point many wont want to go out. Instead hundreds of thousands of chickens may be packed into a room or maybe a mobile chicken coop. So does that make these organic foods that people think are so great all just one big hoax?
Chapter 12 10/14/10
It seems like there are only really big industrial farms around now. No more happy farms with happy animals, and even people. But there still must be some out there. Yes of course there are, for example there is one called Polyface Farm. It sounds like your normal American farm, or at least what was your normal American farm. They raise all different types of animals and grow all different types of fruits and vegetables. Now the big question is how does this small happy farm compete with the big mean industrial farms and agri-business. Well the farm makes all of its money on corn. I would also think that they have to put in a lot less money in order to grow their foods. They don't need any gas, no manure, they have their farming tools, no chemicals. That sounds pretty good to me. But theres just to much food to grow and too little time for the traditional farm to make money off of meat and fruit. I guess their food is the truly organic meal.
So what is all this hype about organic foods? Some may say that it is healthier. That the animals are treated well on the farms and live a good life. Well some of this may be true but it seems there are a lot of white lies when it comes to organic foods. Just like non organic foods organic food farms have turned into more of a factory. The food isn't all that different either except for the fact that there are no added chemicals. So yes it is healthier but the difference can't be all that much. Also the animals are claimed to have been taken care of better. For example, free range chicken farms. Some of these farms that claim to let their chickens roam free aren't exactly telling the whole truth. Sure they aren't stalked up in cages but they definitely not in a much better environment. These chickens may not be let out until they are 5 weeks old but at that point many wont want to go out. Instead hundreds of thousands of chickens may be packed into a room or maybe a mobile chicken coop. So does that make these organic foods that people think are so great all just one big hoax?
Chapter 12 10/14/10
It seems like there are only really big industrial farms around now. No more happy farms with happy animals, and even people. But there still must be some out there. Yes of course there are, for example there is one called Polyface Farm. It sounds like your normal American farm, or at least what was your normal American farm. They raise all different types of animals and grow all different types of fruits and vegetables. Now the big question is how does this small happy farm compete with the big mean industrial farms and agri-business. Well the farm makes all of its money on corn. I would also think that they have to put in a lot less money in order to grow their foods. They don't need any gas, no manure, they have their farming tools, no chemicals. That sounds pretty good to me. But theres just to much food to grow and too little time for the traditional farm to make money off of meat and fruit. I guess their food is the truly organic meal.
Reading Response 7b
Chapter 6, 7, 8, and 9 10/11/10
We eat corn a lot more then we think we do. Corn is in almost all processed foods. The way it gets into all of our food without us being able to recognize it is by going through a wet mill. The wet mill brakes down the corn so that each part of it can be used differently. The three important things are the skin, the germ, and the endosperm. After the corn has gone through the mill and all of the things that the mill does to it, it is easy to take apart. For example the germ may be separated from the rest of the kernel and then squeezed for corn oil. This made me wonder if they use the empty germ or if they just throw it away. A very popular ingredient in many foods is corn starch. What corn starch is, is basically the rest of the kernel crushed up into mush and then dried until it becomes the powder which is corn starch. Corn starch was able to be turned into the sugars glucose and fructose. You'll definitely see those in a lot of processed foods. Processed foods are very bad for farmers because they sell things in wholes for less and the big companies sell very spread out amounts for more. What I mean is if a farmer sells a cob of corn for lets say a dollar, then the company brakes the corn up and puts it into all of there food and sells that same cob of corn for maybe four times as much as the farmer.
I have always been told since I was little that vegetables are healthy and will help you grow big and strong. Well corn is a vegetable but it seems like corn has become a problem here. As I perviously stated corn is in everything so thats means it is in those fatty foods that don't do to good for your health. Corn tends to have a lot of calories in its products. So with more calories in almost all processed food obesity is bound to rise a lot. This may be a problem but I personally don't think that corn in processed foods is really the problem. If people cared they would watch what they are eating and have the processed food with the corn, but also keep a good diet. Maybe they wouldn't be so obese if they ate less.
Humans are very picky creatures. We have such a wide variety of food that it becomes a problem what and what not to eat. Unlike humans most animals eat only a couple of things, or maybe even one thing. But thats also why the human population is so big, since we can eat almost anything we can spread and live all over the world. A huge impact on what people eat is the taste of a certain food. Its basically what makes humans picky eaters. If we didn't have any preference of taste then we would eat anything that is there to eat just to make us full like every other animal. But I think that it also has to do with the availability of food and the choice of food. I think that the term "beggars can't be choosier's" perfectly explains this in a way because if your begging for food and starving you aren't going to turn down food that you may not like. But if you aren't begging then you can have any food that you want if your in the right place.
What is the biggest most popular food chain on earth? McDonald's of course. But not only that it is very unhealthy. Especially the chicken nuggets. The chicken nuggets from McDonald's have 38 different ingredients, many of which come from corn. Some of the ingredients in a chicken nugget were never even meant to be eaten. Chemicals that keep the food from going bad or looking unappealing. These chemicals aren't harmful enough to kill you but they are sure not good for you. What I now realized is that all fast food really does taste the same. I've never really thought about it enough but it all leaves that kind of nasty fast food taste in your mouth that makes you want to get more just so you can taste the good part of your meal again.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Growing my own food
Growing my own food was an interesting experience. I feel that it didn't really affect me that much because sprouts are not exactly my choice of meal. If it was something that I was more likely to want to eat I may have had a different view on it. Lets say it was strawberries. I would have payed a lot more attention to the strawberries. But still growing the stalks was a good experience. They didn't really look like they were going to taste very good but they ended up tasting not half bad. They tasted a lot like grass but better. I had mine on a sandwich with ham. I really liked it with the sandwich compared to alone. I feel like since this was something that we had to do it took out all of the growing your own food feeling out. It was more of just an assignment rather then providing for yourself. There was no love in the growing, just more work. But I personally found this to be pleasant and interesting.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Reading Response
The Omnivore's Diet, Michael Pollan Chapter 1 & 2
Corn has been around for a very long time. It's been around so long and it was such a successful plant that it is now in almost everything you see and eat today. The reason corn spread is because it adapted to our needs and was regrown by humans. Since it was so useful it spread out across America first by going to indians in the north east. It pushed a lot of other crops that europeans had brought out of the picture. "A single planted corn seed could yield 150 to 300 fat kernels." (Pg. 16) I thought that this was an interesting example of corn having the ability to take over. One seed for that many healthy kernels a lot and would push other crops that farmers grow out of the picture. Corn also had multiple purposes such as food for people and animals, fuel, food that could be stored for the winter, and can be made into drinks like beer or whisky. What I am wondering is how corn first got into America. How did it get from down in Mexico and central America all the way to Canada?
So if corn is in all food and all of everything, then where does something that appears more then frequently in our lives come from? Well of course from a farm but not really the types of farms that you would think. Michael Pollan goes to a farm owned by George Naylor whose family has owned his 470 acres of land since the 1880's. In his 470 acres he only grows two types of crops, corn and soybeans. When I read this I thought to myself, how can a farm survive on only two things? Also with all that land, wouldn't you think that there would be a lot of different things. Back in the early 20th century farming was a lot different then it is today. There would be many different things on a farm as many would think. But now mostly corn is grown on many farms because it is so popular. Big businesses have found ways to cross breed corn so that it may be more durable, sweeter, bigger, ect. But you would have to buy the seeds from these companies you couldn't replant them like the old fashion way. These hybrid corns has caused corn to increase even more on farms to around 180 bushels per acre. That many bushels add up to more then 5 tons of corn. In one day 1.8 million pounds of corn can be planted. Reading this made me think, wow its no wonder corn is everywhere. I believe that this has caused corn to evolve and increase more and more but the farming culture has definitely died out due to this increase.
Chapter 3 10/5/10
These big businesses, called agri-businesses need really cheap corn in order to be successful. Not only do they provide the farmers with seeds to grow the corn. They also sell the farms the tools and fertilizer necessary to grow the corn. In order for corn to stay cheap the agri-businesses needed help from the government. After World War 2 the government had a lot of extra ammonium nitrate from extra explosives. This makes me wonder what else could be in my food if something that is used to kill people is in corn. These fertilizers used the nitrogen from the explosives in order to grow more corn. Because of this extra nitrogen the growth or corn did increase by a lot. The Naylors didn't have to depend on natural nitrogen anymore, this also means that they wouldn't need the animals that made the natural fertilizer. When I heard this I thought to myself, wow this won't turn out good. I'm sure many people thought that back then to but why didn't anything happen? The farms soon had no need for any working animals or even other crops on their farm. Farms have become exactly like factories. Like many factories, farms need a lot of fossil fuels in order to run smoothly or at this point run at all. For one acre of corn it takes 75 gallons to keep the corn alive and healthy. For the Naylors 470 acres, that's a lot of oil. When I heard this I didn't even believe it. That must be horrible for the environment. With all the corn that the Naylors sell, since corn is so cheap they don't make enough money to support their own family. The government has to give them money and even with that money George Naylors wife needs to have a job on the side. The people who get the money are the big agri-businesses who sell to the farmers. When the prices of corn fall farmers need to find ways to grow more corn and the agri-businesses find a way and make more money selling to the farmers.
Chapter 4 10/6/10
Since corn is used in everything do the people who take care of our corn treat it all the same? Well no not really. There is the corn that you eat, which is treated so that it is healthy. But then there is the corn that is for everything else. This corn is not made for eating, by people at least. This corn is call number 2 field corn. This number 2 field corn is not taken care of well at all. There is so much that it doesn't fit in the mill and ends up just laying outside of the mill whatever the conditions may be. This corn may be used for animal feed (which is what most of it is used for), processed foods, high-fructose corn syrup, fuel, ect. This made me think that this corn may not be so bad if its being used for fuel. What does it need to be in good condition for?
Chapter 5 10/7/10
Since 47% of number 2 field corn goes to animal feed I was wondering where most of this corn goes. It turns out that some of it goes to feed lots for cows. Now to me this doesn't really make much sense considering I've grown up knowing cows to eat grass. Well these cows at the feed lots are forced to eat the corn. That is going against nature. Cows are not meant to eat grain like corn. It is not healthy for them and gets them sick. The only good thing about about feeding them corn is that it gets them very fat very fast. But this animal feed is not just corn. It is many numerous things one being the beef that could have been at the same feedlot. They send the extra parts of beef from the slaughterhouse back to the feed lots to put in the animal feed for extra protein. This caused an epidemic in Europe called mad cow disease which happened because a cow infected by this disease, its brains got into the cow feed infecting cows that led to infecting and causing the death of many people. I remember hearing about this as a little kid and it scared me so much that I didn't eat beef or a hamburger until I was in middle school. Now a bacon cheeseburger may be my favorite food. To me it sounds like we are turning the defenseless animals that eat grass all day into cannibalistic diseased creatures. These cannibalistic diseased creatures which are served on many of our plates very often. Some interesting things that are also in the animal feed may be chicken manure, cattle manure, cardboard, cement dust, hooves, feathers, and much more but I listed the ones I found particularly disturbing. How does that stuff get in there? Somebody has to put it in, I'm sure cardboard doesn't just fly into the mills and turn into feed. This also brings up the point, how do we know whats in our food. There could very well be cement dust in our meals everyday. These cows are constantly getting sick, so another thing added to the animal feed is antibiotics. I don't like the over use of antibiotics because it very well can make an bacteria that can not be cured and very dangerous. Especially if its in food as common as beef. Without it though the cows would get sick and die but maybe if the cows weren't forced to eat something that isn't natural for them then maybe there wouldn't be a problem in the first place.
Corn has been around for a very long time. It's been around so long and it was such a successful plant that it is now in almost everything you see and eat today. The reason corn spread is because it adapted to our needs and was regrown by humans. Since it was so useful it spread out across America first by going to indians in the north east. It pushed a lot of other crops that europeans had brought out of the picture. "A single planted corn seed could yield 150 to 300 fat kernels." (Pg. 16) I thought that this was an interesting example of corn having the ability to take over. One seed for that many healthy kernels a lot and would push other crops that farmers grow out of the picture. Corn also had multiple purposes such as food for people and animals, fuel, food that could be stored for the winter, and can be made into drinks like beer or whisky. What I am wondering is how corn first got into America. How did it get from down in Mexico and central America all the way to Canada?
So if corn is in all food and all of everything, then where does something that appears more then frequently in our lives come from? Well of course from a farm but not really the types of farms that you would think. Michael Pollan goes to a farm owned by George Naylor whose family has owned his 470 acres of land since the 1880's. In his 470 acres he only grows two types of crops, corn and soybeans. When I read this I thought to myself, how can a farm survive on only two things? Also with all that land, wouldn't you think that there would be a lot of different things. Back in the early 20th century farming was a lot different then it is today. There would be many different things on a farm as many would think. But now mostly corn is grown on many farms because it is so popular. Big businesses have found ways to cross breed corn so that it may be more durable, sweeter, bigger, ect. But you would have to buy the seeds from these companies you couldn't replant them like the old fashion way. These hybrid corns has caused corn to increase even more on farms to around 180 bushels per acre. That many bushels add up to more then 5 tons of corn. In one day 1.8 million pounds of corn can be planted. Reading this made me think, wow its no wonder corn is everywhere. I believe that this has caused corn to evolve and increase more and more but the farming culture has definitely died out due to this increase.
Chapter 3 10/5/10
These big businesses, called agri-businesses need really cheap corn in order to be successful. Not only do they provide the farmers with seeds to grow the corn. They also sell the farms the tools and fertilizer necessary to grow the corn. In order for corn to stay cheap the agri-businesses needed help from the government. After World War 2 the government had a lot of extra ammonium nitrate from extra explosives. This makes me wonder what else could be in my food if something that is used to kill people is in corn. These fertilizers used the nitrogen from the explosives in order to grow more corn. Because of this extra nitrogen the growth or corn did increase by a lot. The Naylors didn't have to depend on natural nitrogen anymore, this also means that they wouldn't need the animals that made the natural fertilizer. When I heard this I thought to myself, wow this won't turn out good. I'm sure many people thought that back then to but why didn't anything happen? The farms soon had no need for any working animals or even other crops on their farm. Farms have become exactly like factories. Like many factories, farms need a lot of fossil fuels in order to run smoothly or at this point run at all. For one acre of corn it takes 75 gallons to keep the corn alive and healthy. For the Naylors 470 acres, that's a lot of oil. When I heard this I didn't even believe it. That must be horrible for the environment. With all the corn that the Naylors sell, since corn is so cheap they don't make enough money to support their own family. The government has to give them money and even with that money George Naylors wife needs to have a job on the side. The people who get the money are the big agri-businesses who sell to the farmers. When the prices of corn fall farmers need to find ways to grow more corn and the agri-businesses find a way and make more money selling to the farmers.
Chapter 4 10/6/10
Since corn is used in everything do the people who take care of our corn treat it all the same? Well no not really. There is the corn that you eat, which is treated so that it is healthy. But then there is the corn that is for everything else. This corn is not made for eating, by people at least. This corn is call number 2 field corn. This number 2 field corn is not taken care of well at all. There is so much that it doesn't fit in the mill and ends up just laying outside of the mill whatever the conditions may be. This corn may be used for animal feed (which is what most of it is used for), processed foods, high-fructose corn syrup, fuel, ect. This made me think that this corn may not be so bad if its being used for fuel. What does it need to be in good condition for?
Chapter 5 10/7/10
Since 47% of number 2 field corn goes to animal feed I was wondering where most of this corn goes. It turns out that some of it goes to feed lots for cows. Now to me this doesn't really make much sense considering I've grown up knowing cows to eat grass. Well these cows at the feed lots are forced to eat the corn. That is going against nature. Cows are not meant to eat grain like corn. It is not healthy for them and gets them sick. The only good thing about about feeding them corn is that it gets them very fat very fast. But this animal feed is not just corn. It is many numerous things one being the beef that could have been at the same feedlot. They send the extra parts of beef from the slaughterhouse back to the feed lots to put in the animal feed for extra protein. This caused an epidemic in Europe called mad cow disease which happened because a cow infected by this disease, its brains got into the cow feed infecting cows that led to infecting and causing the death of many people. I remember hearing about this as a little kid and it scared me so much that I didn't eat beef or a hamburger until I was in middle school. Now a bacon cheeseburger may be my favorite food. To me it sounds like we are turning the defenseless animals that eat grass all day into cannibalistic diseased creatures. These cannibalistic diseased creatures which are served on many of our plates very often. Some interesting things that are also in the animal feed may be chicken manure, cattle manure, cardboard, cement dust, hooves, feathers, and much more but I listed the ones I found particularly disturbing. How does that stuff get in there? Somebody has to put it in, I'm sure cardboard doesn't just fly into the mills and turn into feed. This also brings up the point, how do we know whats in our food. There could very well be cement dust in our meals everyday. These cows are constantly getting sick, so another thing added to the animal feed is antibiotics. I don't like the over use of antibiotics because it very well can make an bacteria that can not be cured and very dangerous. Especially if its in food as common as beef. Without it though the cows would get sick and die but maybe if the cows weren't forced to eat something that isn't natural for them then maybe there wouldn't be a problem in the first place.
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