As very cognitively driven
creatures we are able to use large amounts of logic and reason in every part of
our lives. This is no different when it comes to the foods that we eat. Our
society compiles as much past information as possible to create a perfect diet.
Different people always are saying that they know the new secret to a perfect
diet. All of these new secrets have one thing in common; they never last.
If you look back through our past
you will see the ways that what they thought they should eat are different than
they are today. Melanie Dupuis does just this in her essay “Angels and
Vegetables”. She spends most of the essay talking about food history in early
America, mostly in the 19th century. Pollan on the other hand talks
about the ways that we have changed from “deciding what to eat without expert
help” to using these experts’ scientific evidence to dictate everything that we
eat. These essays combine to form a comprehensive history of recent dietary
changes.
As our world has invented new ways
to spread information we have become increasingly controlled by fads. These
fads never last as a whole, but there are parts of them that hang around. In
both of these essays it is evident that what we eat is controlled, and most of
what we eat runs in fads. While things like the importance of certain vitamins
and minerals come and go, we still retain that they are good for our health
even if we don’t view them as essential as before.
I like how you talked about the logical and scientific side of food trends and diets. Even back in the day, they relied on "experts" to determine what foods were the best to eat. I don't think that relying on these so called experts really is beneficial, when something new always comes up a few years later. Also, your summary of the two articles helps to get your point across and I like how you phrased them.
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