For my experiment with food I decided to eat vegetarian for 4 days. For the first two days it seemed that this would be easy, after all it's only four days until I can eat meat again. I never realized how addicted I am to eating meat. By the end of the second day I was sick of pasta and was craving some kind of meat. I almost gave up at one point, the temptation to eat meat was so strong and it was so easily available and cheap. However I stuck with it eating alot of pasta, sandwhichs without meat, fruits, vegetables, and anything else I could find that would satisfy my hunger but did not have meat in it.
The most difficult part of being vegetarian was the balance between taste and size portion with the cost of the meal. A good filling lunch was easy to find at place such as Organique but a simple sandwhich with cheese, tomato, and basil along with a water came out to 13 dollars. I could have just as easily bought two satisfying non vegetarian meals with that money. Another day I tried to eat ramen noodles from a deli which came out to 8 dollars with a drink and it failed to fill me up. One of the other days I decided to have pizza which filled me up and wasnt to expensive however I felt that it was defeating the point of eating vegetarian because it wasn't particularly healthy. It was a hard balance to find.
Although many movies provide eating healthy although not neccesarily vegetarian I proved my point to myself that it was not that easy. The food industry is so heavily controlled by fast food and other unhealthy sources of food that its hard to find your way around it. Yes you can go to the farmers market or to a place like Organique or the energy kitchen but not everyone has enough money to spend 10 + dollars a day on food. The healthy things to eat are very expensive and money plays a huge factor in what people decide to eat, hence the success of cheap fast food. A dollar pizza slice, although not very good, is much more filling than an apple or some fruit if your running low on money; it is very hard to escape cheap fast food.
Finally the health side of the experiment. Eating vegetarian definitely makes your body feel much better. Eating healthy even if it's not vegetarian makes a very big difference in how you feel. Last week on the day of a soccer game I ate at the energy kitchen and my body felt great during the soccer game and eve after. The day after i decided to have a grease filled pepproni roll from Bravo's and could hardly stay up in my last two classes. Although it was only a four days change I still did feel a positive change in the way I felt, it was enough to make me more conscious about what I eat.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
HW 10
Our food system is dominated by industrialized plants. The plants are filthy and contain many harmful bacteria. The animals are treated as objects rather than a life. They are fed corn, due to the fact corn is subsidized and therefore cheap to use in feeder for the animals. Although there have been many problems with meat packing plants and big food corporations in the past they don't change they way they go about the business they simple find a simple cover up that is many times even more unhealthy; It's like trying to fix a broken leg with a band-aid, just because you put a band-aid on it, it doesn't change the fact it's broken. There are however organic farms such as the farm of Joel Salatin; Mr. Salatins farm is completely organic. The animals are given space to move around rather than being cramped up and living in their own shit. The animals also do all the work for the farm and they are all grass fed. The animals are also slaughtered in the most humane way possible.
The movie offers a visual of the actual plants which has a much more significant affect than the book does. It shows what actually goes on in industrial plants and on organic farms. The movie also offers much more insight in to the life of a farmer and how they are exploited. Fast food nation on the other hand did a much better job of showing the system in which the actual fast food companies and the meat packing plants support each other and work together. It such the choke-hold the two industries have on the diet of many americans. The movie also shows a very adequate alternative to the industrial/ fast food way of life; this being Joel Salatin's farm. Salatin also provides a very philosophical explanition for why things are the way they are. It truly shows the difference of mentality from the organic farmers and the industrial plants. It can be simply put as the industrial farmers treat all relationships(food, animals, workers) as I-it relationships. Meaning the use the latter for their personal benefit and exploit the latter in as many ways as possible to maximize their profits. Where as organic farmers have a more I-thou view in their relationship with the animals and workers. The animals are treated humanely as are the workers. They value life rather than viewing at as simply a means for profit. This was Salatin's conclusion which was one of the best ideas in the entire film. The fact that an organic farmer that they interviewed came up with one of the best insights in the film says a great deal about the difference in the two options.
95 percent of this film was very good. It showed what the problems are that are arising from the exploitation done by the industrial meat packing industry, and coruption in the political side of the food industry(USDA, etc.) and what alternatives there are, as well as the cause of the problems. The movie shows the true nature of the owners of these companies and how little regard they have for life in general. However the ending of the film, in my opinion, ruined it. It provided the most naive solution possible. It made it seems as though a change was so simple and the answer to all our problems was so simple. It spent the film giving information to make the average ignorant american much less ignorant but then in the end gave such a simplistic, ignorant, and naive alternative that it was not as effective as it could have been. Rather than go back in to an ignorant way of thinking it could have provided a realistic insight in to what we can do about the problems we face and rather than having people informed about the problems but still stupid in what the solutions should be. It could have made the people think about actual solutions because the fact of the matter is, there is no one simple solution.
The movie offers a visual of the actual plants which has a much more significant affect than the book does. It shows what actually goes on in industrial plants and on organic farms. The movie also offers much more insight in to the life of a farmer and how they are exploited. Fast food nation on the other hand did a much better job of showing the system in which the actual fast food companies and the meat packing plants support each other and work together. It such the choke-hold the two industries have on the diet of many americans. The movie also shows a very adequate alternative to the industrial/ fast food way of life; this being Joel Salatin's farm. Salatin also provides a very philosophical explanition for why things are the way they are. It truly shows the difference of mentality from the organic farmers and the industrial plants. It can be simply put as the industrial farmers treat all relationships(food, animals, workers) as I-it relationships. Meaning the use the latter for their personal benefit and exploit the latter in as many ways as possible to maximize their profits. Where as organic farmers have a more I-thou view in their relationship with the animals and workers. The animals are treated humanely as are the workers. They value life rather than viewing at as simply a means for profit. This was Salatin's conclusion which was one of the best ideas in the entire film. The fact that an organic farmer that they interviewed came up with one of the best insights in the film says a great deal about the difference in the two options.
95 percent of this film was very good. It showed what the problems are that are arising from the exploitation done by the industrial meat packing industry, and coruption in the political side of the food industry(USDA, etc.) and what alternatives there are, as well as the cause of the problems. The movie shows the true nature of the owners of these companies and how little regard they have for life in general. However the ending of the film, in my opinion, ruined it. It provided the most naive solution possible. It made it seems as though a change was so simple and the answer to all our problems was so simple. It spent the film giving information to make the average ignorant american much less ignorant but then in the end gave such a simplistic, ignorant, and naive alternative that it was not as effective as it could have been. Rather than go back in to an ignorant way of thinking it could have provided a realistic insight in to what we can do about the problems we face and rather than having people informed about the problems but still stupid in what the solutions should be. It could have made the people think about actual solutions because the fact of the matter is, there is no one simple solution.
7d
Chapter 9
Précis: the meat that is distributed nationally coming from the big
meat packing plants is very dirty. Since meat packing has become
industrialized all the cattle are packed together in small space and
therefore disease is spread much easier, living conditions are filthy,
and the treatment of animals is inhumane. There was a national
shipment from a meat packing plant that was contaminated with a
dangerous e-Coli bacteria, the plant was aware that the meat was
harmful but did not recall it for several weeks and by the time the
meat was recalled 25 million pounds was already consumed. Prior to the
industrialization of meat packing plants contaminated food would only
affect the local town in which the food was grown; now that meat
packing has become industrialized one plant that distributes
contaminated meat can affect people nationwide since the majority of
meat distributed nation wide comes from a select number of very big,
and hardly regulated plants.
In all aspects the meat packing plants and they industry are causing
harm to the people of America. There is an immense amount of political
corruption and the filthiness of the meatpacking plants is directly
physically hurting and in certain cases killing people. The system
which is set in place has so many faults and the bosses in charge of
major meat packing plants and fast food monopolies refuse to change
the system but rather find ways to cover up the faults in their system
rather than fix them.
Chapter 10
The fast food phenomenon has spread world wide and obesity is now the
second cause of death only behind smoking. Obesity is a new epidemic
that is spreading world wide. The poor wages and conditions are
correlated with the beef consumption in general. In conclusion the
fast food restaurants must be boy-cotted to make significant change.
"today about 44 million americans are obese"
"in 1991 only four states had obesity rates of 15 percent or higher; today at least 37 states do."
The fast food empire has not only taken over the US but has spread across the world. The fact that obesity has begun to increase at such a drastic rate shows how bad the food is for you, and is a good enough reason to get rid of the system set up. The political side is equally as terrible. Simple regulation will not fix the problems we face. The system in which are food is processed, made, packaged must be completely re-arranged. The people in charge of major meat packing plants and fast food chains don't care about human life, this is obvious since they have killed many people to make money and have no regrets. The only way to make ensure the food we eat is healthy is to have a radical change and too create and enforce a completely new system.
epilogue
it is possible for people to rebel and to fight the system which is set in place. Although one organic farm or one person can not make a difference by themselves. If as a collective people do their part it can be the start of a real change. We simply have to do our part and stop buying fast food.
Although the solution he offers seems to be reasonable, it is not as simple as it sounds. I believe Scholsser realizes its more complex than just "stop buying fast food". Fast food is embedded in our society it seems impossible. The economic side heavily comes in to play and stops many people from being able to rebel against big food companies in the way it neccessary to take them out of business.
Précis: the meat that is distributed nationally coming from the big
meat packing plants is very dirty. Since meat packing has become
industrialized all the cattle are packed together in small space and
therefore disease is spread much easier, living conditions are filthy,
and the treatment of animals is inhumane. There was a national
shipment from a meat packing plant that was contaminated with a
dangerous e-Coli bacteria, the plant was aware that the meat was
harmful but did not recall it for several weeks and by the time the
meat was recalled 25 million pounds was already consumed. Prior to the
industrialization of meat packing plants contaminated food would only
affect the local town in which the food was grown; now that meat
packing has become industrialized one plant that distributes
contaminated meat can affect people nationwide since the majority of
meat distributed nation wide comes from a select number of very big,
and hardly regulated plants.
In all aspects the meat packing plants and they industry are causing
harm to the people of America. There is an immense amount of political
corruption and the filthiness of the meatpacking plants is directly
physically hurting and in certain cases killing people. The system
which is set in place has so many faults and the bosses in charge of
major meat packing plants and fast food monopolies refuse to change
the system but rather find ways to cover up the faults in their system
rather than fix them.
Chapter 10
The fast food phenomenon has spread world wide and obesity is now the
second cause of death only behind smoking. Obesity is a new epidemic
that is spreading world wide. The poor wages and conditions are
correlated with the beef consumption in general. In conclusion the
fast food restaurants must be boy-cotted to make significant change.
"today about 44 million americans are obese"
"in 1991 only four states had obesity rates of 15 percent or higher; today at least 37 states do."
The fast food empire has not only taken over the US but has spread across the world. The fact that obesity has begun to increase at such a drastic rate shows how bad the food is for you, and is a good enough reason to get rid of the system set up. The political side is equally as terrible. Simple regulation will not fix the problems we face. The system in which are food is processed, made, packaged must be completely re-arranged. The people in charge of major meat packing plants and fast food chains don't care about human life, this is obvious since they have killed many people to make money and have no regrets. The only way to make ensure the food we eat is healthy is to have a radical change and too create and enforce a completely new system.
epilogue
it is possible for people to rebel and to fight the system which is set in place. Although one organic farm or one person can not make a difference by themselves. If as a collective people do their part it can be the start of a real change. We simply have to do our part and stop buying fast food.
Although the solution he offers seems to be reasonable, it is not as simple as it sounds. I believe Scholsser realizes its more complex than just "stop buying fast food". Fast food is embedded in our society it seems impossible. The economic side heavily comes in to play and stops many people from being able to rebel against big food companies in the way it neccessary to take them out of business.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
HW 9
The authors of freakonomics used several tools they used in generating and proving their theories on the issues sealt with in this movie. The 3 tools i saw used most frequently were 1) Questioning the common assumptions on certain aspects of our society 2)Figuring out the incentives of the people who have influence over this certain topic and how different situation help or hurt them 3)Finding statistics relevant to their study/theory to help them prove the point they are making.
1) A perfect example of this tool in use is during the portion of the film in which the protagonists examine the possible reasons for the drop in crime from the 1990's to the 2000's. Mr. Levitt takes the common reasons people give for the crime drop and examines how much of the crime drop can truly be attributed to these different reasons. He then questions what can truly be the determining factor and comes up with the idea of abortion for which he provides multiple data tables and presents an arguement complete with numerical data to prove his theory.
2) A good example of exploring the incentives is the Sumo wrestling part of the movie. They go in to depth on cheating in the world of sumo wrestling. To analyze the statists in an efficient way they think about incentives which lets them see the data and ways it had not been looked at before. The incentive they find for cheating is when a sumo wrestler already has enough wins they can lose one on purpose and the numbers of wins in situations where the sumo wrestlers can afford to lose a fight were much higher. Another example of this was when Levitt was explaining how he saw patterns in the test answers from schools in chicago and when looking at the incentives of the teachers it became clear that there was cheating occuring.
3) The two protagonists found statistics that were not only relevant to their studies but also bery persuasive. For example the abortion data in comparison to crime rates. Not only was the data relevant and had correlation but there were multiple examples of how abortion can lower crime rates. Although the evidence left room for interpretation they used data that help them create and explain an arguement with solid evidence that logically made sense.
On the topic of correlation versus causation I believe the makers of this film could have been a bit more clear on their stance as it was a bit fuzzy. However their film argued that correlation does not neccessarily mean causation but that in some cases correlation does have a somewhat or very significant implication or factor. For example many of the common causes people attribute the crime rate drop to did have somewhat of an affect on the crime rate but could not be solely held liable for the drop in crime rate. They did a good job at not disregarding common opinion as pure lies as many extremeist often do but showed that the issue is much more complex than what is shown or explained which is often the case.
I do think the movie did a good job at showing examples of hiden in plain sight weirdness but nothing they showed in the movie particularly stood out to me as a great discovery. This is partly because our course this year and last year has pointed out many of these hidden in plain sight abnormalities. I would not call this movie an ispiriation but it did have many good aspects although if they were to show the actual evidence rather than saying "we examined the data" it would make the movie much stronger. I think that the idea of examining data through incentives in the way they did was a very useful tool and could be of great use during our food unit and throughout the whole year. Rather than looking at what normal people think, examing the incentives of infulential people in the food business could give us a very different, deeper, and more interesting view on food in our society.
1) A perfect example of this tool in use is during the portion of the film in which the protagonists examine the possible reasons for the drop in crime from the 1990's to the 2000's. Mr. Levitt takes the common reasons people give for the crime drop and examines how much of the crime drop can truly be attributed to these different reasons. He then questions what can truly be the determining factor and comes up with the idea of abortion for which he provides multiple data tables and presents an arguement complete with numerical data to prove his theory.
2) A good example of exploring the incentives is the Sumo wrestling part of the movie. They go in to depth on cheating in the world of sumo wrestling. To analyze the statists in an efficient way they think about incentives which lets them see the data and ways it had not been looked at before. The incentive they find for cheating is when a sumo wrestler already has enough wins they can lose one on purpose and the numbers of wins in situations where the sumo wrestlers can afford to lose a fight were much higher. Another example of this was when Levitt was explaining how he saw patterns in the test answers from schools in chicago and when looking at the incentives of the teachers it became clear that there was cheating occuring.
3) The two protagonists found statistics that were not only relevant to their studies but also bery persuasive. For example the abortion data in comparison to crime rates. Not only was the data relevant and had correlation but there were multiple examples of how abortion can lower crime rates. Although the evidence left room for interpretation they used data that help them create and explain an arguement with solid evidence that logically made sense.
On the topic of correlation versus causation I believe the makers of this film could have been a bit more clear on their stance as it was a bit fuzzy. However their film argued that correlation does not neccessarily mean causation but that in some cases correlation does have a somewhat or very significant implication or factor. For example many of the common causes people attribute the crime rate drop to did have somewhat of an affect on the crime rate but could not be solely held liable for the drop in crime rate. They did a good job at not disregarding common opinion as pure lies as many extremeist often do but showed that the issue is much more complex than what is shown or explained which is often the case.
I do think the movie did a good job at showing examples of hiden in plain sight weirdness but nothing they showed in the movie particularly stood out to me as a great discovery. This is partly because our course this year and last year has pointed out many of these hidden in plain sight abnormalities. I would not call this movie an ispiriation but it did have many good aspects although if they were to show the actual evidence rather than saying "we examined the data" it would make the movie much stronger. I think that the idea of examining data through incentives in the way they did was a very useful tool and could be of great use during our food unit and throughout the whole year. Rather than looking at what normal people think, examing the incentives of infulential people in the food business could give us a very different, deeper, and more interesting view on food in our society.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Hw 7C
Chapter 7
The meat packing industry has turned the job of packing meat into a low skill factory like job, very similar to McDonalds. This changed the meat packing idustry and hurt the workers as the new system allowed the owners to exploit their workers more easily and efficiently to increase their profit. These modern meat packing plants are cautious of labor unions and do all they can to prevent them as that would cut in to their profits. The modern meat packing industry has also greatly hurt smaller communities.
"far from being a liability, a high turnover rate in the meat packing industry - as in the fsat food industry - also helps maintain a work force that is ahrder to unionize and much easier to control"
This chapter once again shows the different parts of the food indusry that are relevant to the fast food industry and how just like the fast food industry the exploit and mis-treat their workers. It shows how the intentions of the heads of these companies is purely financial and they would go to many lengths and screw over as many people as they can to increase their profits.
Chapter 8
The working conditions in meat packing plants are absolutely terrible. It is a very dangeraus and unsafe job, the actual labor is dangerous and the contamination of the plant is equal as dangerous. It is not uncommon that body parts are lost on the job. In the case of Kenny Dobins he was a man who was very loyal to his meat packing plant and endured and immense number of injuries and somehow continued on working. One time when he was ill and was hospitalized the company fired him without notifying him and he was given nothing, basically left to dead.
"they used me to the point where I had no body parts left to give."
I think the quote from Kenny is particularly saddening. As a very hard and loyal worker, soemthing most employers praise, Kenny was simply thrown away and given nothing because that would save the company the most money. The greed and exploitation of the bosses in the food industry does not only get more and more evident but also more and more horrific. They truly have no care for human life.
The meat packing industry has turned the job of packing meat into a low skill factory like job, very similar to McDonalds. This changed the meat packing idustry and hurt the workers as the new system allowed the owners to exploit their workers more easily and efficiently to increase their profit. These modern meat packing plants are cautious of labor unions and do all they can to prevent them as that would cut in to their profits. The modern meat packing industry has also greatly hurt smaller communities.
"far from being a liability, a high turnover rate in the meat packing industry - as in the fsat food industry - also helps maintain a work force that is ahrder to unionize and much easier to control"
This chapter once again shows the different parts of the food indusry that are relevant to the fast food industry and how just like the fast food industry the exploit and mis-treat their workers. It shows how the intentions of the heads of these companies is purely financial and they would go to many lengths and screw over as many people as they can to increase their profits.
Chapter 8
The working conditions in meat packing plants are absolutely terrible. It is a very dangeraus and unsafe job, the actual labor is dangerous and the contamination of the plant is equal as dangerous. It is not uncommon that body parts are lost on the job. In the case of Kenny Dobins he was a man who was very loyal to his meat packing plant and endured and immense number of injuries and somehow continued on working. One time when he was ill and was hospitalized the company fired him without notifying him and he was given nothing, basically left to dead.
"they used me to the point where I had no body parts left to give."
I think the quote from Kenny is particularly saddening. As a very hard and loyal worker, soemthing most employers praise, Kenny was simply thrown away and given nothing because that would save the company the most money. The greed and exploitation of the bosses in the food industry does not only get more and more evident but also more and more horrific. They truly have no care for human life.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
HW 8
I took some of the seeds from class and grew my sprouts on my own and they got moldy and gross so I threw them out. The process of growing the sprouts was not particularly fun for me and was just another thing I did because it was an assignment. I did not find myself to interested in the sprouts which is probably why they turned moldy. I did not care for them as much as I should have. The process did not lead to many realizations for me because I lacked interest in this project.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
HW 7b
Fast Food Nation
Chapter 4, Success: As fast food restaurants continue to expand cities such an pueblo, CO which prior to the opening of many fast food restaurants lacked much of anything are starting to catch up to the more hip cities of Colorado. Fast food nations have used the method of franchising to expand thier business but now currently run it in more of a real estate way because it gives them more control over their franchisee's.
This chapter focuses on both sides of the franchising process and how the fast food companies have become stricter with the way franchisee's run their business. It shows the fast food chains from the franchisee's perspective which is more innocent and is more of some one trying to make a living where as the company who is leasing space to the franchisee exploits the franchisee and the workers as much as possible.
Chapter 5, Why the fries taste good: JR simplot when from a potato farmer to one of the largest potato distributors and then the success of mcdonalds and its need for french fries gave way from Simplt to be their provider and make alot of money. Since it is in the best interest of potato providers to be suppliers for fast food chains they sell their potatos at lower prices in trun helping the fast food chains but hurting common farmers who now are run out of business or make very little profit because its ahrd for them to compete with the bigger potato suppliers. The fries used to have more saturated beef fat than a hamburger, per ounce. This was due to the oiled they were cooked in. The oil the friess are cooked in gives them their signiture taste but is very unhealthy.
Out of $1.50 fries the farmer only get 2 cents
This chapter does a very good job of showing how the nature of the fast food industy in itself is exploitative and the more the fast food chains find ways to maximize profits the more that their workers and other workers connected to their business and in anyways are hurt and face more difficulties. The maxmization of profits for fast food chains comes at the expense of common farmers and workers profit. It is a classic example the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer.
Chapter 6: Meat packing industries have done the same to farmers as what has happened to potato farmers. Big meat packing industries have taken over the market running local hard working farmers out of business. The chicken industry is regulated by large companies and farmers are in debt and have very little control over their own chicken. Mcdonalds has ended the age in which local farmers could successfully grow crops and make a good profit from thier cattle and other crops.
The author sympathizes with small scale farmers because bigger companies have run them out of business. Mcdonalds and other fast food restaurants are dependant on exploitation and by nature cut out many workers profit to maximize their own, this is simply another example.
Chapter 4, Success: As fast food restaurants continue to expand cities such an pueblo, CO which prior to the opening of many fast food restaurants lacked much of anything are starting to catch up to the more hip cities of Colorado. Fast food nations have used the method of franchising to expand thier business but now currently run it in more of a real estate way because it gives them more control over their franchisee's.
This chapter focuses on both sides of the franchising process and how the fast food companies have become stricter with the way franchisee's run their business. It shows the fast food chains from the franchisee's perspective which is more innocent and is more of some one trying to make a living where as the company who is leasing space to the franchisee exploits the franchisee and the workers as much as possible.
Chapter 5, Why the fries taste good: JR simplot when from a potato farmer to one of the largest potato distributors and then the success of mcdonalds and its need for french fries gave way from Simplt to be their provider and make alot of money. Since it is in the best interest of potato providers to be suppliers for fast food chains they sell their potatos at lower prices in trun helping the fast food chains but hurting common farmers who now are run out of business or make very little profit because its ahrd for them to compete with the bigger potato suppliers. The fries used to have more saturated beef fat than a hamburger, per ounce. This was due to the oiled they were cooked in. The oil the friess are cooked in gives them their signiture taste but is very unhealthy.
Out of $1.50 fries the farmer only get 2 cents
This chapter does a very good job of showing how the nature of the fast food industy in itself is exploitative and the more the fast food chains find ways to maximize profits the more that their workers and other workers connected to their business and in anyways are hurt and face more difficulties. The maxmization of profits for fast food chains comes at the expense of common farmers and workers profit. It is a classic example the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer.
Chapter 6: Meat packing industries have done the same to farmers as what has happened to potato farmers. Big meat packing industries have taken over the market running local hard working farmers out of business. The chicken industry is regulated by large companies and farmers are in debt and have very little control over their own chicken. Mcdonalds has ended the age in which local farmers could successfully grow crops and make a good profit from thier cattle and other crops.
The author sympathizes with small scale farmers because bigger companies have run them out of business. Mcdonalds and other fast food restaurants are dependant on exploitation and by nature cut out many workers profit to maximize their own, this is simply another example.
Monday, October 4, 2010
HW 7
Fast food nation, by Eric Schlosser, chapter 1:
Fast food restaurants were started by common people trying to find new was to make money in the food business. All the biggest fast food chains were started by common people who ended up becoming rich and being able to expand or have their company bought out. Carl Karcher was a good example of an ordinary man who had a fast food chain that got famous and he was able to open up his own company.
Most of the people who started fast food chains seemed to be honest businessmen but the only way to run a fast food chain is to exploit people so in the end they were greedy although the book didn't give that tone. I think the book did a very good job of showing the process of how Anaheim went from being farmland to buildings and how the fast food culture blew up and increased the rate at which farm land was disappearing. In general I thought the book has been started off pretty slow although the first chapter showed interesting changes specifically in California.
Fast Food Nation, Chapter 2:
The founder of disney and the founder of Mcdonalds are very similar man and had a very similar path to wealth although Walt Disney's happened a bit quicker. The owners of McDonalds have realized that kids are a very efficient group to advertise to and have went to great lengths to advertise to kids and other fast food chains and big food companies have done the same. Dan Derose for example helped many schools get funding from big soda companies look to advertise to children.
This chapter got much more interesting. The amount companies are willing to spend to advertise shows how truly effective and important it is. The companies went from giving schools about 27 cents to about 27 dollars per student in schools they advertise in. Advertising to the kids that big companies do has greatly influenced our society. Much of television consists of that and almost 90 percent of children go to Macdonalds in a month. This shows the effectiveness of their advertising.
Fast Food Nation, Chapter 3:
Fast food chains target teens and the poor or unemployed as workers due to the fact that they can pay them low wages, not give them benefits, and control them with relative ease. Fast food chains are strongly opposed to unions and in the past have gone to great lengths to stop any efforts of unionizing amongst workers. Fast food chains treat their workers with very little respect and not surprisingly the majority of robberies of fast food chains are committed by former or current employees.
"and senator Kennedy's pushing hard on a $7.25 minimum wage," he continued. "that'll be fun won't it? I love the idea of that, I sure do - strike me dead!"
"I see the possibility of union" the thought "chilled" him.
These quotes are both from Norman Brinker the owners of the Chili's restaurant chain at the Annual Multi-Unit Foodserver Operator Conference. To me these quotes say it all; a group of millionaires gather together and complain about workers making $7.25 and hour and trying to unionize. The disgusting nature of the conference in itself say enough about these fast food corporations, although they are all in competition they all meet to figure out new and more effiecient ways to exploit their workers and in turn increase their profits.
Fast food restaurants were started by common people trying to find new was to make money in the food business. All the biggest fast food chains were started by common people who ended up becoming rich and being able to expand or have their company bought out. Carl Karcher was a good example of an ordinary man who had a fast food chain that got famous and he was able to open up his own company.
Most of the people who started fast food chains seemed to be honest businessmen but the only way to run a fast food chain is to exploit people so in the end they were greedy although the book didn't give that tone. I think the book did a very good job of showing the process of how Anaheim went from being farmland to buildings and how the fast food culture blew up and increased the rate at which farm land was disappearing. In general I thought the book has been started off pretty slow although the first chapter showed interesting changes specifically in California.
Fast Food Nation, Chapter 2:
The founder of disney and the founder of Mcdonalds are very similar man and had a very similar path to wealth although Walt Disney's happened a bit quicker. The owners of McDonalds have realized that kids are a very efficient group to advertise to and have went to great lengths to advertise to kids and other fast food chains and big food companies have done the same. Dan Derose for example helped many schools get funding from big soda companies look to advertise to children.
This chapter got much more interesting. The amount companies are willing to spend to advertise shows how truly effective and important it is. The companies went from giving schools about 27 cents to about 27 dollars per student in schools they advertise in. Advertising to the kids that big companies do has greatly influenced our society. Much of television consists of that and almost 90 percent of children go to Macdonalds in a month. This shows the effectiveness of their advertising.
Fast Food Nation, Chapter 3:
Fast food chains target teens and the poor or unemployed as workers due to the fact that they can pay them low wages, not give them benefits, and control them with relative ease. Fast food chains are strongly opposed to unions and in the past have gone to great lengths to stop any efforts of unionizing amongst workers. Fast food chains treat their workers with very little respect and not surprisingly the majority of robberies of fast food chains are committed by former or current employees.
"and senator Kennedy's pushing hard on a $7.25 minimum wage," he continued. "that'll be fun won't it? I love the idea of that, I sure do - strike me dead!"
"I see the possibility of union" the thought "chilled" him.
These quotes are both from Norman Brinker the owners of the Chili's restaurant chain at the Annual Multi-Unit Foodserver Operator Conference. To me these quotes say it all; a group of millionaires gather together and complain about workers making $7.25 and hour and trying to unionize. The disgusting nature of the conference in itself say enough about these fast food corporations, although they are all in competition they all meet to figure out new and more effiecient ways to exploit their workers and in turn increase their profits.
Friday, October 1, 2010
HW 6
To start the day off I had to natures valley granola bars and a bottle of water. The bars were 360 calories together and water of course no calories. For lunch I then ate two slices of pizza which is approximately 300 calories. All the grease on the pizza didnt help either. To go along with the pizza I had a vitamin water which is 150 calories. To finish the day off i had some frozen burritos which were 500 calories and a glass of orange juice which is 110 calories but my serving size was quite big so I think 200 calories would be more accurate. That means for the first day I consumed 1510 calories which is less than what my daily intake should be. However I did not eat to healthy.
The second day I ate a bacon egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast which is about 500 calories. I had orange juice with that which is 110 calories. For lunch I ate pizza once again. I had two slices therefore it was about 300 calories. Finally for dinner I had pasta and meatballs which is around 650 calories. I drank a tall glass of orange juice once again so that is another 200 calories. All together that is 1860 calories.
It seems although I am not eating particularly healthy I am still under the amount of calories I should. Obviously my count of calories is not completely accurate and they may have been higher than what I recorded. However both days I did a lot of physical activity and felt fine both times. My decisions for food were mostly based on convinience and what was available to me at the moment.
I do not think much when I am choosing what to eat during the day. It is like a repetitive motion, I am so used to it I just do it rather than think about it first. My choices on what to eat are not thought through but the decision is made on simply what I feel like eating. I am so used to just picking whatever sounds tasty that I dont think about what I am eating. I do feel a difference when I eat healthy and when I dont but I can still get away with eating unhealthy since I am young and play sports constantly. I think because eating unhealthy does not have any affect on my appearance although i know i should have a better diet it is not a priority for me and therefore I don't follow through with eating healthier food.
The second day I ate a bacon egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast which is about 500 calories. I had orange juice with that which is 110 calories. For lunch I ate pizza once again. I had two slices therefore it was about 300 calories. Finally for dinner I had pasta and meatballs which is around 650 calories. I drank a tall glass of orange juice once again so that is another 200 calories. All together that is 1860 calories.
It seems although I am not eating particularly healthy I am still under the amount of calories I should. Obviously my count of calories is not completely accurate and they may have been higher than what I recorded. However both days I did a lot of physical activity and felt fine both times. My decisions for food were mostly based on convinience and what was available to me at the moment.
I do not think much when I am choosing what to eat during the day. It is like a repetitive motion, I am so used to it I just do it rather than think about it first. My choices on what to eat are not thought through but the decision is made on simply what I feel like eating. I am so used to just picking whatever sounds tasty that I dont think about what I am eating. I do feel a difference when I eat healthy and when I dont but I can still get away with eating unhealthy since I am young and play sports constantly. I think because eating unhealthy does not have any affect on my appearance although i know i should have a better diet it is not a priority for me and therefore I don't follow through with eating healthier food.
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