For Tuesday: Egan, Devoured, Chapter 6: Diet Evangelism

NOTE: The Paper #3 assignment is in the post BELOW this one, in case you missed class on Thursday (or lost it)

ALSO: You can skip Chapter 5, "Secular Church," since it's less important to our paper assignment. Read if it you like, but I won't hold you accountable for it.

Answer two of the following for Chapter 6:

Q1: What does the word "proselytizing" mean? How does this relate to food and diets? Why can we talk about food (such as "Gluten is the new Satan") in almost Biblical, and apocalyptic, terms?

Q2: How has the 'conversation' about dieting changed over the centuries, especially from the 1800s to the present? What 'science' has been proven wrong, and what new innovations/discoveries might be equally unsound? Related to this, why might it be useful to know the history of dieting to understand the present state of losing weight (and its future)?

Q3: Why might it be easier for diet fads and theories to take root today than say, 50 years ago? And similarly, why is it even harder to today to establish which ones are based in sound scientific fact and which ones are nonsense? Consider that "in 2014 alone, the FDA recalled seven faulty weight-loss products, issued over thirty public notifications and other warning letters, and even sent some people to jail for peddling illegal diet products" (173).

Q4: Quoting Harry Balzer, an expert on food and diet trends, Egan writes, "Food is fashion...we wear our food like we wear our clothes" (184). What do you think this means practically? How can we 'wear' food, and how can it inform and perform our identity? 

Paper #3 Assignment: New and Improved for a Limited Time!

 

English 1113

Paper #3: New and Improved for a Limited Time!

INTRO: One of the most important questions about food, and the one we rarely ask ourselves, is “Why do we think about what we think about when we think about food?” (Egan 9). In other words, what makes us eat what we eat on a daily basis, and why do we often make such bad decisions? Did we ask for these bad decisions, or are we simply buying the every shiny new food product that comes down the line? What could we learn about ourselves from examining the new products that food companies (and restaurants) introduce each year to meet the insatiable demand of their hungry customers? Because after all, this is what we want, right?  

PROMPT: For this paper, I want you to choose a relatively NEW food product that has shown up in grocery stores or on the menu of your favorite fast food restaurant. It should be something that wasn’t available in exactly this form a few years ago, and preferably should have the word “New” or “New and Improved” or “Now With Added…” somewhere on the box or the advertisement. It should also boast some kind of health or wellness claim somewhere, too. Your paper should start a CONVERSATON about this product, discussing some of all of the following:

• Why do you think this product exists? Who asked for it? Or who is it targeted toward? Would YOU eat it? Why or why not?
• What category from Egan’s book helps explain this product? Is it “Food at Work” related? A product of “Having It Our Way”? Do we see an example of “Selling Absence” at work? Is it part of “Diet Evangelism?” Or is a proud member of “The Age of Stunt Foods?” Be sure to quote and use Egan to explain this.
• What does it say about our culture? Why is this product uniquely American?
• What do we need to know about this food that we might not know? What does the name and packaging hide from us? What’s actually IN the food?

RESEARCH: Make sure you’re incorporating not only Egan’s book, but find an additional 2-3 sources that can help you talk about the product. These could be the company or restaurant’s website, articles about this food, about food products, health and wellness, the dangers of what we’re eating, how food products are made, what’s in the food, etc. Make sure you actually TEACH us something about this product and where it comes from. If we leave the paper knowing as much as we started, you haven’t written a useful conversation paper.

REQUIREMENTS

• Should be 3-4 pages double space (at least)
• Double Space and Word Process, please!
• At least 2-3 sources
• Include a Works Cited page at the end with all your sources listed (and you must use all sources in your paper as QUOTES)
• DUE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10^th by 5pm [no class that day]

 

 

For Thursday: Egan, Devoured, Chapter 4 (see below)

 REMEMBER, no questions this time, though please read Chapter 4 of Devoured. We'll do an in-class response to something in this chapter in class, and I'll also give you (and discuss) your Paper #3 assignment. 

Remember, too, we're getting close to the end of the semester, so try to reduce absences and turn in as much work as possible. Every missed response over 2 will hurt your grade, and every absence over 4 does the same. You can also revise papers for a higher grade at any time before the end of the semester.

See you on Thursday! 

For Tuesday: Chapters 2-3, "Food at Work," and "Having It Out Way"

 Answer two of the following for Tuesday's class:

Q1: How has the workplace changed the eating mores of the average American? What eating choices have become hardwired into our food psyche? Why do you think this change occurred so rapidly--within a few years (since most mores take decades or more to become established?).

Q2: Even more than the workplace, technology has changed the way we eat and the way we think about food (and meals). What technology does Egan claim is the most revolutionary in changing our eating habits? Do you feel it's had the same impact on your own--or your family's?

Q3: Why do you think fast-food adopted the "Be Your Way" slogans and began selling a message along with their food? In other words, why did Burger King, McDonald's, etc., try to sell us a philosophy as well as a burger? 

Q4: What is "fast casual," and why has this trend exploded in recent years all across the American fast food landscape? Why does it specially appeal to the American cultural psyche, in ways that it doesn't appeal to people in other countries? 

For THURSDAY (see note below): Egan, Devoured, Introduction and Chapter 1 (pp.1-47)

NOTE: No class on TUESDAY: we'll return on THURSDAY instead. So be sure to read the pages above and answer 2 of these questions for Thursday. 

Be sure to read all or most of the Introduction through Chapter 1 for Tuesday's class--and be sure you have the book! We're spending the rest of the semester on this book, so you absolutely need to have it and to read it to pass the class. Don't try to skimp on the cost of a cheap book! 

Answer two of the following:

Q1: What does Egan mean in the Introduction, when she writes that "This fascinating with food as a mirror for our mind-sets began at an early age for me" (8). How is food a "mirror" for the way we think and conduct our lives? How does it relate to her other question, "Why do we think about what we think about when we think about food?"

Q2: If culture "is made up of a bunch of mores (be sure you know what this term means!)...American food culture is the set of customs, values, and behaviors related to eatinging and drinking" (14). Why do you think we developed this specific mores in America? Are the same throughout the country, or do they vary from state to state or region to region? Why do you think these are specifically American mores?

Q3: The Japanese word for death by overwork is karoshi. We don't have that word, but we do have the same phenomenon. How has increased hours at work, overtime, and working from home changed the way we eat and/or think about food?

Q4: How has the ideal of a meal, and when we eat it, evolved over time? How has the food industry, and the rise of 'food products,' changed our definition of meals? Do you feel this is bad or good? Or is it just evolution? 

Reminder for this Week!

REMEMBER, Paper #2 is due on THURSDAY by 5pm! You can find the assignment sheet a few posts down, but beneath this post are the handouts for finding sources and citing them. Let me know if you have any questions about doing this!

NO CLASS on Thursday! If you missed Tuesday's class, as many of you did, we discussed strategies for writing conversation papers, including the role of the Naysayer. But we'll come back to this soon.  

Next TUESDAY we do have class: I'll introduce you to the next unit of our class, which will focus on food as culture, and what our eating habits (and other culture's eating habits) say about us and them. Be sure to buy the next book, Devoured, since we'll start reading it after Fall Break. 

FALL BREAK starts next Thursday! And Mid-Term grades will be posted next week as well, so if you're not happy with your grade, there's plenty of time to change it. Remember that you can revise all of your papers for a higher grade! 

See you next Tuesday!