Based on: Cow with guns connection to industrial foods
Watching the video “Cows with Guns” was very amusing, this is something I bet cows wish they could really do...but that just isn’t reality. This is a animated version of the life that cows actually live, they are killed and used as meat. This video seemed as if it was created by a animal rights activist, because the point of the cows being free was one that stood out through out the entire video. “We will fight for bovine freedom, And hold our large heads high, We will run free with the Buffalo, or die ,Cows with guns.” This shows that they have fate that cows will fight back and not be victim to the cruel acts that are done to them. Industrial foods and cows probably are the most related than another of animal in my opinion. Beef is one of the most sold meats in fast food restaurants, which means that many cows have to be killed in order to fulfill these fast food requirements to make beef burgers.
“They eat to grow, grow to die, Die to be et at the hamburger fry Cows well done.” This is said perfectly, it describes the life of cows in one sentence. Being that animals are given antibiotics to grow bigger and fatter, the part of this songs “They came with a needle to stick in his thigh” and “The order was given to turn cows to whoppers Enforced by the might of ten thousand coppers” indicates/ relates to how they are drugged, hurt just to be slaughtered and turned into food.
Connection to Animal Cruelty video/ industrial food isn’t cheap
I often hear about the cruelty done to animals, and the harsh things that they put through all because of the need for us humans to eat. Although I have seen many examples of this happening, I personally still haven’t made the choice in my life to go vegetarian. One thing that a lot is “don’t eat too much beef it isn’t good for u, eat chicken.” Never did I think about the increase of how many birds will die if individuals decided to eat more chicken. “As more and more people are switching from beef to poultry, the number of birds raised and killed for meat is sky-rocketing. More than 8 billion "broiler" (meat-type) chickens and over 270 million turkeys are slaughtered each year in the United States.” This is a fact that I came across when reading “Chicken and Turkeys: Bred for pain” In the video it stated that chickens are probably the most abused animals on the face of the planet. Hearing these unpleasant facts about what happens to these different animals not only shows me many of us Americans don’t really care about the things that are done to animals, we don’t think about what goes into making the food that we eat everyday….the only thing we think about is eating instead the pain the animals had to endure in order for us to be eating that specific food.
Something interesting to do would be to play this video of the horrible things done to animals in places where animals are served daily as food...and see how many would still buy it or decide that it is something that they rather not eat.
The animal cruelty video also connects to many fast food restaurants. Why are fast food restaurant so successful, when it is known that it really isn’t good for people?
The basic reason for this businesses being so successful is that fast food is easy and cheap. The cost of food, the time it takes to prepare food are factors that play into a persons every day diet. Would someone rather go grocery shopping and buy food to prepare, prepare the food which will take a long time and then eat? Or would someone rather make a quick run to the store, get their food in less than 10 minutes and not spend too much money? Even though many Americans know the affects that fast food can have on them, being that it is so convenient...that fact that it might not be so good doesn’t really matter. As far as being healthy, people can cook at home and not eat healthy..therefore Fast Food isn't an answer to not eating right. Adults with children also use this as easy way to get their kids food quickly and the fast food restaurants even advertise toys to make the food even more appealing. Another thing that has a big impact on the success of fast food places is how the media portrays these fast food restaurants. They trick the average mind from thinking about all of the calories in each burger, into thinking that it is fun, quick and satisfying.
The food that is served in fast food restaurants are all processed foods. They have been through multiple steps to get the taste that many people crave for in the end. The cows displayed in the animated video by Dana White, show how cows are killed. Those cows are then turned into hamburgers that are sold at Mcdonald’s, Burger King etc.
Connection to Michael Pollan
When watching this I immediately compared it to Pollan’s journey through the industrial food chain and how he described how it was like for animals from the ranch all the way up to the time they were processed. Michael Pollan believes that industrial food is “Any food whose provenance is so complex or obscure that it requires an expert to help ascertain.” Basically food that has been processed and gone through multiple stages to get the taste and look that it upholds when it is sold.
An important idea that I think stood out in this chapter in chapter 2 was Pollans description of George Naylors farm and the conflict that it faced. This is a conflict that I’ve read about plenty of times when the reading is focused on the farming life. Productivity and cost are the main factors that take place. Pollan states “Measured in terms of output per worker, American farmers like Naylor are the most productive humans who have ever lived. Yet George Naylor is all but going broke.”
This is issue that farmers go through, making profit. It hard to do when there is a lack of quality because that plays a huge role in the production of food.
Something interesting and important is how Pollan shows that animals die, vegetable come and go...so the main importance of using these two sources is their quality. The quality of the animal and vegetable is only as strong as the quality of the land they are on. Maintaining the health of the fields is a important way to make sure the quality of the animals and vegetable are good. Grazing the grass at the right time is also important, if its grazed too soon it will die off and if its grazed too late animals would not like it. Overall what I understood from this chapter is that the balance of grazing, fertilizing and keeping the field in good condition is the best way to give the animals and land what it needs...which will improve the quality of the food produced overall. This shows the relationship between animals, nature and humans. The animals (chickens) help to remove diseases while making itself a very high protein meat. Just enough chickens and cows can make a big difference in the quality of the food us humans eat.
If we was individuals chose to eat less meat overall or discontinue eating meat, it can help to save the lives of many animals. During a discussion in Andy’s class, a student named Kareem stated that he didn’t believe it would make a difference if him as only one person stopped eating meat. I disagreed because if we as individuals eat around 50 chickens a year, one person discontinuing their choice to eat chicken...at the end can save the lives of 50 chickens that could have been killed.One of the post important facts when discussing industrialized foods, according myself, is the one that focuses on how people are tricked into believing that the food they are eating wasnt tampered with.
In chapter 7 of Pollan’s book, one idea that caught my attention and that I focused on was that the industrial eater is the victim of the industrial food chains use of corn... “Obscure the histories of the foods it produces by processing them to such an extent that they appear as pure products of culture rather than nature” (pg 115) This is basically saying the industrial food chains makes the history of the food invisible to the consumer and only allows the food to seem like they are pure grown products, rather than to be food that has been processed in order to get the taste and look that it has. This is said to be a tool that replaces the real meal that we are actually consuming.
Another attention grabbing aspect of this chapter is how Pollan himself said that when eating fast food he enjoyed it. “I loved everything about fast food: the individual portions all wrapped up like presents (not having to share with my three sisters was a big part of the appeal; fast food was private property at its best); the familiar meaty perfume of the French fries filling the car; and the pleasingly sequenced bite into a burger – the soft, sweet roll, the crunchy pickle, the savory moistness of the meat.” (Pg 11)
This is how most fast food consumers view the food, which is why the fast food industry is so successful. Pollan also states that the food can be eaten with one hand, which I believe is the way the food is seen as a ready to go and easy to eat meal. This goes back to Pollan’s the idea that corn is a cheap and convenient substitute for food. This shows the connection between food, nature and humans because when the corn Is grown on the farm, it then goes to these fast food restaurants in which we as humans take advantage of, and never notice the background of where the food (and the corn that is served in it) actually comes from.
This is a brilliant technique...make it seem to the consumer that the food started out the way it ended up...therefore noone will question how the food got its overall taste/ look! Brilliant, but very sad the millions of people that consume this food.
Connection to organic foods...whether organic is better or not
When doing research on Industrial food its not only associated and connected to conventional farming, but also to organic agriculture. Everything that is organic, is said to the be the best type of food the humans can eat. Its because its said not to have gone through several processing steps, and can be most related to the food that is naturally grown.
I always hear that organic food is the more healthier choice when eating. In chapter 9 of Michael Pollan’s book something interesting that Pollan discusses that products with the word “organic” displayed doesn’t matter. It would also be a mistake to assume that the word “organic” on a label automatically signifies healthfulness, especially when that label appears on heavily processed and long-distance foods that have probably had much of their nutritional value, not to mention flavor, beaten out of them long before they arrive on our tables.”(Pg 181)
Pollan asked questions such as “Is it better for the environment? Better for the farmers who grew it? Better for the public health? For the taxpayer.” This makes me think about a previous blog I wrote which focuses on how we Americans listen to “food experts” and automatically believe facts about food when its told to us by a person who is said to have great knowledge in the food business. When seeing a product with the word “organic” stamped on it, we don’t ask whether or that this is a fact...or even what makes it different from a product that isn’t organic. But because we are brain washed into think that just because a product is said to be organic, than it is automatically better for us.
In part 5 of Ch.9 “My Organic Meal” Pollan buys Organic food items for dinner and compares them to conventionally produced food items in order to see whether or not that belief that organic may be better. This served as something that helped me to see the difference between the two foods..and Pollan stated that evidently the taste is the same and there isn’t a difference in the organic foods or the non organic foods.
Does the stamp on the product define how much it is bought and how much it is sold for?
Does food that is said to be organic bought more by upper class Americans?
This doesn’t openly connect to the video of the cows with guns, but when looking deeper into both situations it raised some similar ideas. When the cow are killed and turned into food, the food isn’t stamped with the word “organic.” However this doesn’t stop people from buying it. The food that is stamped with the word “organic” pulls people into buying it, but overall I believe that there is as much people that buy organic foods, that eat cow! The ratio is probably closer than many of us think. Therefore the main idea and similarity shown is that it can be 2million people who eat organic foods, while there is a whole separate 2million people that eat industrialized foods.
Connection to food convention:
While attending the food convention at John Jay High school, there many workshops targeted informing people on the truth about different topics relating to food.
The most interesting workshop was the one titled “The political economy of food: Why are we all eating Big Macs?” This was a question that we had focused on and class and wrote blogs about, therefor I was interested to see whether or not peoples ideas on this topic was similar to mines or the overall thought of why we eat fast food. The main reason stated for people eating Big Macs was because it taste good, was cheap and very convenient...which was my exact reason for why its eaten. Overall this convention just helped me to get a better understanding of different food and just deepened my thoughts and ideas that I already had.
This connects to the cows and guns video because these cows are what we are eating for these low prices, due to the convenience of the meal. We don’t question where these fast and easy ordered industrialized foods come from
Connection to my personal life, and lives of Americans
In my personal life, use to eat things that I knew weren’t as bad as other things that I would consume, which was due to my parents. This does some how relate to me because the wisdom that my parents had given me based on eating doesn’t seem to be with me now. Its more of a feeling of eating whatever I can get my hands on most days of the week. Figuring out what to eat is something that I also go through a lot. When I was young I didn’t really have a choice of what I would have for dinner, therefor the decision wasn’t a hard one at all. As I became older and more independent I often find myself asking the question of what will I eat almost daily.
“What should we have for dinner?” is such a important and common question. When first reading the book, that question caught my attention because it was so relatable. Every other day (if not everyday) my sister, mom and I always ask each other this question. Whether its through texting, phone call, or in person...this question seems to appear in our everyday conversation. In the morning before getting on the train I call my mother and ask “What are we eating tonight” she goes “I don’t know, what do you guys want?” and I say “I don’t know, I’ll call you at lunch time and tell you.” It seems so hard to come to a final decision on what food we will have, even though to me it seems like a pretty simple question. Simple but yet such a deep question (lol).
Personally I do believe that the foods a lot of us consume are influenced by what we are told by experts. Although we as individuals choose what we eat, the process of choosing it is sometimes based on what we are told about each food, what it can do to your body, what it can cause, what it can prevent and a lot of other things that connects to health. From watching Oprah, Ellen, and a lot of other talk shows, the food segments that they have on their show which includes trainers, doctors and chefs...these shows help me to find out information about foods that I have never known. This is an example of how my foods (along with the other million viewers) are influenced by the thoughts of experts.
When a person sees an authority figure or a person who is somewhat of an expert or leader, we tend to fully engage in whatever it is they are saying and completely believe the comments or rules made by them. Therefore when we as very food indulgent people hear food experts speak about different types of foods, we automatically listen and believe what we are being told. I myself have done this plenty of times, even till this day the “facts.”
When beginning to learn facts on industrial foods, I started to look at food differently. By finding out the “facts” from several internet sources and in class discussion...my outlook in food changed to be believing that everything we eat is processed foods.
After watching this video about the abuse done to animals, I cant honestly say that I will go vegan. Quitting eating meat seems like a very hard thing to do right now, it will push me to search harder for meals when hungry, and spend way more money on meals than I do now.
