Michael Pollan, writes in his essay, We Are What We Eat (2005) that if the title of his work were true we would be corn, or a mix of corn and soybeans. Pollan conducted a study in which he traced a bushel of corn through what he calls the “industrial food system” and his findings most always landed back in a corn field somewhere. He uses the essay to expose our overuse of grains such as corn and also to touch on the effects that it has on our health. Pollan is reaching out through a simple, short essay to anyone who is not familiar with the facts he has given.
The essay which can be found on page 107 of our text, Convergences, gives a quick thought to our, Americans’”, use of corn and soybeans as additives in our common food products, namely fast food. This overindulgence is causing more people at a younger age to suffer health problems. Pollan, writes in the essay of the corn being a monoculture. This means that most of the corn being produced is of the same variety. This can be an issue of national security. If something were to happen to this particular variety of corn, such as disease or some type of insect infestation all the corn would be wiped out. This sounds a little strange but it does happen. The most widely used example is the Irish Potato Famine. Potatoes were the main crop in Ireland and they planted only one variety, when the potato developed blight it wiped out the crop for years causing a number in the millions to die.
To combat both the problem of health issues and developing a monoculture we can simply start to change our eating and purchasing habits. By making a shift to buy produce grown locally we are supporting good eating habits by eating more fresh foods as well as supporting local farmers who grow on a smaller scale and are able to raise more diversified crops.
No comments:
Post a Comment