Picky Eater By Julia Alvarez

In the article, “Another Year of the Chicken: U.S. Beef Supply Will Fall Again in 2015” (2014) the author, Vanessa Wong, analyzes how the the price of beef and been increasing resulting in more of a demand in chicken. Wong goes on to state that the increase in beef resulted from an extreme drought in 2012 “caused feed prices to spike and, in response, farmers thinned their herds” (Wong, 2012). More of a demand in chicken has also been noticed in restaurants. The price of chicken increased five percent as opposed to the nine percent increase in beef at Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants. However, by the year 2016 Tyson Foods has projected that the cattle supplies will be down to has little as one percent. In truth, the price of beef will decrease.

Postmodern fiction is unique due to it sustained emphasis on indeterminacy and irony. In Eat the Document, Dana Spiotta creates ironic situations when she pairs different characters together. Josh Marshall, Jason, and Henry are three characters that present an ironic twist that help us understand the evolving legacy of Baby Boomers and Generation X.

In Cinderella Ate My Daughter Peggy Orenstein examines the triumphs and pitfalls navigating raising a daughter, in today’s mixed message world. From peer pressure and the need to fit in today’s society, young females have commercialism forced at them at every turn and in very clever ways. Doll creators have been pushing the boundaries of good taste with each new season launch. When the more “mature” actresses at the age of 17 feel the need to do something drastic to remove them from the wholesome image created for by company executives, mothers and consumers feel betrayed, and yet then we need to have a dialog with our kids as to why just last month Miley Cyrus was wonderful but now she is not okay for the viewing household.

Also, the parents expect their kids to clean their plate in order to not waste food which ends up in overeating.

Growing up in today’s society can be traumatizing for any child. When it comes to growing up as a young girl, however, it can be downright devastating, but not only for the child but the parent as well. There are so many decisions to be made when choosing how to raise your child, assuring that you have instilled proper values to develop a healthy sense of self-worth and confidence.

“But, I 'm already resigned to this fate / Looking over my life, I recall / If it hadn 't been / for the loneliness / I 'd have no companion at all. ” This stanza from “Loneliness”, by Lora Colon evokes the negative impact a lonely fate has on a person. Words like “resigned” and “loneliness” establish a sense of depression and resignation. During the times of the Great Depression, many people felt similar feelings of melancholy and stoicism. Jobs were hard to come by, and realistic dreams of success were scarce. John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, allows readers to see the life of the Great Depression. The two main characters, George and Lennie, search for jobs, like many other migrant workers. They dream of owning their own land, however, Lennie’s habit of getting in trouble prevents their dream from being reality. After he accidentally causes more trouble at their new job, George is forced to kill him out of mercy. Throughout the novel, Steinbeck shows that even if one meticulously plans out the road to their American Dream, fate will inevitably intervene and lead one to desolation and loneliness.

Regardless the person, everyone still orders from restaurants, or they microwave a frozen dinner meal once in awhile. In contemporary society, it 's much more efficient to order take out rather than to cook and prepare your own food due to the lack of time. Sadly people even forget the taste of fresh, home cooked meals. Nowadays people don’t know what it’s like to sit down and enjoy a nice hearty home cooked meal, instead they’re always on the run grabbing a quick bite here and there. Unfortunately with such busy lives people don’t have the opportunity to watch cooking shows, go to cooking class, or even cook for their children. People just want to come home and relax they don’t want to have to worry about cooking and all the preparation that comes with it, they would much rather order take out and avoid all the hassle of cooking. In Berry Wendell’s Essay “The Pleasures of Eating”, we are given insight on how very little common people know about where their food comes from and what it goes through. “When a Crop Becomes King” by Michael Pollan reveals how corn, a single crop could be involved in such a wide array of industry and be used in almost everything. David Barboza’s article “If You Pitch It, They Will Eat”, focuses on how in modern society advertising is everywhere and it is taking a big role in everyday life. Through the work of Berry, Pollan, and Barboza we are shown that ignorance is a defining human trait.

In today’s society a huge issue is that we constantly hear about the food industry in America. We often hear in the news that obesity rates have increased, or that Americans have many diseases that contribute to being obese. “What You Eat is Your Business” by Radley Balko expresses that people are at fault for making such unhealthy food choices. Others argue that the food industry is to blame for being so unhealthy. According to David Zinczenko in “Don’t Blame the Eater” he blames the fast food industry as well as the consumer. Zinczenko asks “shouldn’t we know better than to eat two meals a day in fast food restaurant’s?” (392). So, who is to blame for American’s eating so much unhealthy food? Should it be the consumers’ burden or the fast food companies? On one hand, as consumers we continue to purchase foods that we know are making us overweight. On the other hand, fast food companies continue to offer high in calories foods.

I enjoyed reading this book because the insight the writer provides into the mind of a mentally ill teenager is that of no other. It’s Kind of a Funny Story provides incredible personality to the typical depressed teen and gives a particularly human characterization of Craig. Throughout the book Vizzini pays attention to every single aspect of the life and thought of one with a mental illness. For example, he writes “ It’s so hard to talk when you want to kill yourself. That’s above and beyond everything else, and it’s not a mental complaint—it’s a physical thing, like it’s physically hard to open your mouth and make the words come out.”

“Strange Fruit” was originally written as a poem by Abel Meeropol and was later made into a song by Billie Holiday in 1939. The song was written in protest of racism in the United States which at the time included lynching, segregation, and groups that supported racism such as the KKK.

In these circumstances, when parents attempt to limit children’s ingestion of these foods, they may be inadvertently be reinforcing the children’s desire to consume these unhealthy nutriments (Birch & Fisher, 1998). Other investigators have concluded that when parents leave food selection to the preference of the child, the children often choose a sizable quantity of food of meager nutritional value (Klesges, Stein, Eck, Isbell, & Klesges, 1991).

Amy Tan had many personal experiences in her story. For example, when Amy Tan was living in Northern California, her mother had very high expectations on her. Her mother wanted her to be with the American society and be the best she could be. Amy Tan had to get a haircut very short to the way other famous children were acting in the United States. Amy’s mother was the one who encouraged this. With that, in the story “Two Kinds,” the young girl named Jing-mei live in a part of California and she had to get a very short haircut. Jing-mei’s mother wanted her daughter to look and act the same way Shirley Temple did. Within both of the girls lives, they each had to act like an already famous person exactly to please their mothers.

Being a food critique has its good side and bad side. Ones passion for food has to be above and beyond. Not everyone loves food as much as the New Yorker Jeffrey Steingarten, he may not have a favorite kind of food but he will try just about anything. As an open minded person he is well respected as a judge in food shows, he has developed books about food, and has won many awards for his writing. He has becomes a well successful person.

The article “Don't Blame The Eater,” written by David Zinczenko evokes readers the crucial impact that fast food restaurants have in today's nation's youth causing them to be over weight and have type 2ndiabetes. Throughout Zinczenko's argument he makes the reader view the consumer as a victim yet on the other hand, what he is trying to persuade us to believe by using logos,pathos,and ethos in his argument is that the food industry is the one making the nation's youth to increase obesity. The capacity of impressive questions and personal experience, he composed in the text he is able to comprehensively argue against the fast food industry. The author persuades us right away by starting of with a question: “Kids taking on McDonald's this

As shown by the Neumark-Stainzer et al. (2003), family dinners encourage healthier eating habits among adolescents. It follows then that they also discourage obesity and the social struggles that can result, such as bullying and low self-esteem. As expected, children and adolescents consuming healthier foods with higher levels of nutrients are less at risk for weight related problems, like obesity. A study by Bell, Castellanos, Pelkman, and Thorwart (1998) evaluated the link between fruit/vegetable intake and weight. The results suggested that people will tend to eat until they are full, regardless of whether they are consuming high-energy dense foods or lower-energy dense foods, such as fruits and vegetables. In the study, women received meals in a laboratory environment. The experimental meals contained a high proportion of fruits and vegetables, and a relatively low proportion of fat, (about 16% of the meal). The results showed that the women ate about the same amount of food during meals regardless of what types of food they were given. Because participants consumed the same quantity of food regardless of the meal, those that were given the experimental