Blog Post #4 Revised

In the book, In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan centers many of his arguments around the “Western Diet.” He defines the western diet as consuming “lots of processed foods and meats, lots of added fat and sugar, lots of everything except fruits, vegetables, and whole grains” (page 89). Pollan’s argument to “Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.” is simple enough, and possible, but when he goes on to explain what food to eat it becomes more complicated. The industry is providing the public with what it deems necessary for survival. The food it’s providing might not be the best, but as long as the public isn’t complaining then the industry will continue to do what it can to make a profit.

Even with his advice however, it is hard to get away from the foods Pollan identifies as being bad for us, even our meats and vegetables are processed. The cows we get our meat from are fed on pastures that were probably fertilized, were fed a diet rich in corn and supplements, and injected with hormones and antibiotics. So the products we think are relatively organic and free from processing are just as processed as the sugary, low cholesterol, low fat breakfast cereals we’ve come to associate with “bad foods.” Our vegetables and fruits are genetically altered to produce high yield corn, two inch across strawberries, and large bunches of broccoli, all at the cost of poor nutrition.

If people wanted to change the way they are eating then they would. There have been uprisings before. People have overthrown governments they weren’t happy with, so why not the food industry? If it was really that much of a problem then people would change it. They would put their forks down and tell the industry “No, I will not eat this over processed, unhealthy food.” The public chooses not to. They have decided to eat whatever the industry puts in front of them. There are people who are rebelling, those who are going organic for example, but there isn’t enough force to change the whole industry. People need to eat. As long as they are being provided with some sort of sustenance they won’t mind much what they are putting in their mouths. It’s food, it’s cheap, it works.

Pollan makes some great arguments, but the truth is, not many of them are well supported. The “Western diet” (however untrue that title may be) is what it is because there aren’t many alternatives. Pollan’s logic in his argument that people can change the food industry isn’t even plausible. People are going to eat what they are given as long as they aren’t directly dying from it. It also doesn’t help that they are being told what they are eating is healthy and good for them even if it might not be. Pollan makes arguments, tries to back them up, but in reality they are relatively weak. Sure he has lots of evidence but the logic of it just doesn’t hold. The state of the people who eat the Western diet are perfectly okay with what they are eating, otherwise they might try to change it.