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]