response to two articles

After reading the two articles "Unhappy meals" and "Angels and vegetables: A brief history of food advice in America", which were written by Michael Pollan and Melanie Du Puis respectively, I found that these two articles both talked about food advice. The difference between these two is that Pollan came up with food advice "eat food, not too much and mostly plants" in his article, however, Puis question the necessity and authenticity of food advice in America. Also, Puis introduced several reasons that why Americans are rely on food advice from government and nutritionists, which includes Americans' faith about religions and science.

In terms of my own eating habits and opinion, I never listen to the suggestion from so-called expert to arrange and restrict my diet. I always eat whatever I want and whenever I need. Still, I understand what Puis explained about the reason why people are used to depend on food advice in her article "Because we have lost our faith in both religion and science as guides to eating, we rely on popular writers to steer us through a welter of confusing and contradictory"(34) after reading her description about the development of food advice. But my opinion is that there is no perfect nutrition arrangement for everyone because every person has his or her own constitution. 

I am also interested in what Pollan wrote "Don't eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food"(15). I am totally disagree with it. There are more than one century between our generation and our great-great grandmother generation. So we definitely have tons of differences about values, lifestyle and eating habit. It is ridiculous that we tell what we should eat or not according to their judgement. 

my food journal

10th May Thursday
Breakfast: skipped
Lunch 11:15am in Dinning hall: a bowl of salad(carrot, celery, tomato, lettuce, and corn); several meatballs; a piece of pepperoni pizza; a glass of low fat milk
Dinner 5:30pm in Dinning hall: a bowl of salad(carrot, celery,olive); two pieces of chili BBQ beef, a bowl of peas, a glass of orange juice


11th May Friday
Breakfast: skipped
Lunch: I just grabbed a box of sushi from the downstairs convenience store.
Dinner 6:10pm in Dinning hall: a bowl of salad(carrot, celery, tomato); a plate of broccoli and corn; a piece of roasted chicken; a glass of apple juice; a piece of cheese cake


12th May Saturday
Breakfast: a bowl of porridge which was made by myself; several pieces of crackers 
Lunch 1:20pm in Dinning hall: a bowl of salad(carrot, celery, tomato); a plate of fried egg(with broccoli, olive, onion, sausage in it); a piece of sandwich(with cheese, turkey, tomato, onion, lettuce in it); a glass of low fat milk
Dinner 6:30pm in Dinning hall: a bowl of salad(carrot,celery,tomato); two roast garlic red potatoes; a piece of pepperoni pizza; a glass of orange juice; a piece of brownie

Response to three articles

According to Michael Pollan, the author of "An Animal Place",  there is a balance relationship between human beings and animals. Pollan thinks that on the one hand, animals usually become the recourse of food for people; on the another hand, it is hard for animals to live in the wild world, and they need human to provide living places, foods and protection for them. The author even states that even though people do not eat animals, the amount of death of animals would not decrease. So Pollan thinks that there is no necessary that human beings should stop eating animals as long as people preserve this balance relationship with animals and respect them, as he writes in the ends of this article "we'd eat them with the consciousness, ceremony and respect they deserve"(12).
In the article "The introduction to Estabrook's Tomatoland", the author introduces the different shapes and tastes of different tomatoes to audiences.  He states the locations where tomatoes were grown impact the characteristics of tomatoes. 
In terms of the third article "Fowl Trouble", which is written by Christopher D.Cook, the harm of broiler chicken is pretty serious. The author did lots of research and listed some data from USDA, and he describes the terrible process of feeding and raising chicks. 
The most shocking part is the harmful broiler chicken. Because there are lots of food problems in China, and I thought there is probably no food problem in America due to the plenty of strict regulations in this field. After reading Cook's article, I feel insecure to eat chicken.  

Response to "Our national eating disorder"

According to Michael Pollan, the author of "Our national eating disorder", the eating habits of Americans have changed a lot, and lots of national food are fading away from Americans' tables. The author states two main reasons for this situation. Firstly, the author thinks that the government made great impact on national eating disorder. The author also lists a example to support his opinion, which is that "A scientific study, a new government guideline, a lone crackpot with a medical degree can alter this nation's diet overnight"(1). According to my experience, I agree with  the author. Because people sometimes believe the official nutrition report or the suggestions of professionals and are willing to choose food depending on these. Another example the author mentions is that "Once the federal nutritional guidelines tried to asked people who preferred beef not to eat red meat any more"(1). From this example, I noticed one of the reason why the government nutritional guidelines can alter American national diet habit more or less is that the food the government suggested are mostly substitutes, so most Americans do not need to do complete changes. Secondly, the author claims that as a immigration country, American national eating habit is easily influenced and reshaped by its various immigrants' food cultures and diet habits. 
In terms of myself, I never constrain myself from choosing different types or flavors of food. I am willing to try various new things, get to know different people and get involve in fresh surroundings all the time. However, it still hard to change my stubborn national diet habit. Although I have tried plenty of delicious American style food, the food making me excited the most are still authentically  traditional flavored Chinese dishes.