Food+Evangelists

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Talk about Michael Pollan and other "food evangelists".

What are these folks saying about our food and the way we eat?

Jamie Oliver's TED Prize - Teach Every Child About Food Chef Ann Cooper -The Renegade Lunch Lady Michael Pollan Slow Food Movement

Intro: Michael Pollan is an author and food activist who strongly believes people should eat organic, local food; and avoid processed foods, or as he puts it "anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't pronounce" in his book // Food Rules, // Pollan considers these processed items " edible food-like substances". In his books, Pollan discusses the impact people have on the Earth with the food we eat, and how we can efficiently improve it.

In Michael Pollan's book //The Omnivore's Dilemma// he states that organic and local food is much better for the environment then produces filled with steroids or covered in pesticides shipped from all over the world. Pollan states that the average chicken purchased from the supermarket contains loads of pesticides and steroids; some of which have been proven to cause cancer, disrupt nerve cells and a person's endocrine system-aka hormones. Although these toxins are extremely dangerous in high levels; the effects of long term exposure to low levels -like that in the average non-organic meal- are unclear. Pollan also discusses the environmental impact cause by eating food grown and produced in other countries. In order to be kept fresh, food must be refrigerated during it's trip and have many pesticides to last longer. The plane/truck transporting the produce must burn a lot of energy to keep; in the short video clip below, Pollan states that lettuce traveling from California to the east coast takes 56 calories of fossil fuel energy for each calorie of energy in the lettuce. Imagine the amount of energy it takes to bring food from other countries much farther away than California. Pollan says eating locally reduces the need for pesticides to maintain freshness during the trip and the energy needed for the food to travel; and eating organic food cuts out pesticides and hormones that are potentially dangerous to consumers. media type="custom" key="8869972"
 * Environmental Impact **

**Ethical Impact** In // Omnivore's Dilemma // Michael Pollan explores the different techniques used to harvest food from animals and the level of humanity in each process. Pollan describes one technique to killing cattle which involves shuffling them along a narrow chute then the cow is "stunned" by a stun gun into their forehead that's about 7 inches long which kills them instantly. Before this method was introduced, the killing of cattle was much less organized and there were cases of cattle being skinned or butchered alive. Still, the living conditions of animals on most non-organic farms before being slaughtered is a lot less than desired. Pollan says that chickens in one egg farm he visited were stuck in a small cage with 6 chickens, because the cage is so small the chickens rub against the wire causing them to bleed or bald. Pollan states that chickens on egg farms are used specifically for eggs; thus,what happens to the chicken its self is of no concern to the farmer, and the living conditions are much more poor. One extremely ethical dilemma presented in Pollan's book, is the fact that cow's in typical non-organic farms are fed "leftover beef scraps" in addition to corn. This diet of mashed up cow brains led to mad cow disease, making laws against feeding cows themselves. Although, there is an exception, beef tallow, which is fat from cows; also, cows can legally be fed other animal remains- like pigs or chicken- in their cattle feed. Thus, cows- simple, herbivores used to an all grass diet- are not only being forced to eat corn (which alone makes them sick), but also other animals and even other cows. This predicament creates an ethical issue in not only the treatment of the cattle; but also the future risks associated with it, could it cause another disease like mad-cow?

Pollan says that the way food is being produced today, feeding animals corn instead of grass to make them grow faster- although extremely unhealthy and unnatural for the animal- allows the animals' meat to be sold cheaply. Because organic meat requires animals to eat grass naturally, which in turn means the animal grows faster; organic meat is more expensive. Another downside to the economic impact is that processed foods are much cheaper than organic food, even though the organic food takes less to produce and generally doesn't travel as much as the inorganic food. The video below is of Michael Pollan illustrating why inorganic food is so much cheaper than organic food.
 * Economic Impact **

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Omnivore: an animal who eats plants and animals. Calorie: The amount of energy needed to increase the temperature of one gram of water. Processed(food): food that has been manufactured artificially and is not organic; full of pesticides or steroids. "eat your view": quote describing how important it is to eat locally and maintain the community's farms. Vegetarian: someone who doesn't eat meat or fish. Pescatarian: someone who doesn't eat meat, but does eat fish or eggs. Vegan: someone who doesn't consume any animal products, e.g. meat, fish, eggs, milk, cheese, ect.
 * Vocab **

**Bibliography**
Chevat, Richie, and Michael Pollan. //The Omnivore's Dilemma: the Secrets behind What You Eat//. New York: Dial, 2009. Print.

Ciesinski, Therese. "A Conversation with Michael Pollan." //Organic Gardening// Nov.-Jan. 2009/10: 52-55. Web.

Pollan, Michael. //In Defense of Food: an Eater's Manifesto//. New York: Penguin, 2008. Print.

 //YouTube - The Truth About Food, Inc.// Perf. Michael Pollan and Robert Kenner. //YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.// 12 June 2009. Web. 23 Mar. 2011. .