W8: Time for Some Synthesis

For this week's post, begin by choosing either the Myers reading from the coursepack ("The Moral Crusade Against Foodies") or the Fedoroff reading from the day we worked on editorials ("Genetically Engineered Food for All"). Your blog post should be a response to either Myers or Fedoroff and it should utilize the ideas/perspectives of at least two other composers that we've encountered this quarter. Everything is fair game for the other perspectives--films, assigned readings, and readings from the coursepack. You're also welcome to include additional perspectives (i.e. other outside sources) but you need to work with at least 2 people that the whole class has read.

W7: The Secret Family Recipe

So much of food is about sharing, so why the mystique of the "secret recipe"? Why is it so important to people to keep recipes secret? We can understand that Coke is trying to make a buck, but what about my Aunt Jean, who would never give away her Peach Cream Pie recipe? Would KFC really be so compromised if we knew just which 11 herbs and spices we're dealing with?

Do you have a secret recipe to share (or just write about)?

Food INJustice

Think back through the movie Food, Inc. What did you find most compelling, either in a good way or in a bad way? Use that as a jumping off point to respond to the film.

As an example, to me, all of the sad animal pictures only go so far in persuading me. I'm not an animal person, so that strategy has limited impact on me. (Just to be clear, it's not like I cheer to watch the poor chickens keeling over in the windowless pit of ammonia. But it's not necessarily enough to completely persuade me). What really did piss me off though, was the injustice these companies were perpetrating against "regular people". The old man who was being sued by Monsanto for engaging in completely legal business made me so sad that I was ready to write him a check for his legal bills by the end.

So: what particular aspects of the film were really persuasive to you (or really unpersuasive)?

due October 13 as a comment to this post

W6: Food Histories

For this week's Personal Blog post, give us a blogged version of your Food Histories presentation. Be sure to hyperlink to your sources and includes graphics as appropriate.

W5: Our Fast Food Nation

For this week's post I'm interested in your own "fast food story" but then I really want you to move beyond that and do some thinking about why America is such a fast food nation. I've traveled quite a bit and I know that many of you have too. Nowhere else in the world does fast food like America does fast food. In developing countries, places like McDonald's are luxury items. When you walk inside you'll see a pretty wealthy clientele. In other developed countries (say, in Europe) fast food tends to be relegated to freeway rest stops and a few locations "downtown".


What is it that makes fast food so American? (And, what have you seen fulfilling this role in other countries if you've traveled? How are those foods different from fast foods?)