FI Assignment 3

In this assignment, all three sections have very different writing styles, and I responded to each of them differently. Joel Salatin, who wrote the section entitled, "Declare your Independence," wrote with a very angry, argumentative tone. I'm sure his intent was to make his readers, anyone educated enough to understand that there is a problem with food and anyone willing to do something about it, get angry with the food system and do something about it. However, I only got angry with him. I do not like when people tell me how things are and do not give me the option to believe something else. For example, when he refers to packages of food, he says, "These packages, by and large, having passed through the food inspection fraternity, the industrial food fraternity, and the lethargic cheap-food-purchasing consumer fraternity, represent and incredibly narrow choice," (page 184). He goes on to explain why he has made this assertion, and I believe he justifies it well. However, I do not like the words he uses to describe the industry, like fraternity and lethargic. He starts the section out as if he wants to introduce us to the topic, but he ends up throwing his opinion at us as if it is fact. I do not respond well to that kind of persuasion.

The other two sections are much more informative, thought I must say I found "Questions for a Farmer," to be extremely boring. And I find it hard to believe that any farmer out there would be happy to (honestly) answer all of these questions, so I'm not convinced that this plan would work, and I'm assuming the intended audience is anyone who has already taken an interest but is at a loss of where to start. The next section, however, I found extremely helpful. Instead of taking an environmental approach, Marion Nestle makes the reader think about themselves. And let's be honest, that's always more effective. I, like many of people, want to eat healthy, but I'm not sure what kind of diet (as in food intake, not weight loss plan) is best. I did feel better about myself when I read the part that says, "Nutritionists recommend eating no more than a heaping tablespoon (twenty grams) of saturated fatty acids a day. Beef eaters easily meet or exceed this limit. The smallest McDonald's cheeseburger contains six grams," (page 215). I don't think that statement was meant to make me feel better, but when I go to McDonald's, I always get the smallest cheeseburger and now I don't feel as bad about eating it. I'm sure that wasn't her intent, and I found the rest of the section to be very helpful towards fixing my diet.