Why Do We Desensitize World's Population?

Another important element to look at for food is how our food is made and our options to food. Over time, Dan Barber explains that we have shifted our approach to eating from family style that consisted of a classic meal centered on a large cut of meat with a few vegetables. Later shifting to a cautious approach that we expect our meat is from free range animals and the vegetables are locally sourced. Whereas, today we are more of an integrated system of vegetable, grain, and livestock production that is fully supported by what we choose to cook for dinner. Since we experience no upper limit on the amount of meat we can consume. As a result from the industry becoming too good at producing a lot of animals too cheaply.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma, written by Michael Pollan, gives light to the question, “What should we have for dinner?” that he thinks Americans today cannot answer simply due to the fact that there are too many food options. This book serves as an eye-opener to challenge readers to be more aware and accountable of what is consumed daily. In order to understand fully where our food comes from, we must follow it back to the very beginning. Pollan goes on to discuss three different modern food chains in which we get our food: the industrial, the organic, and the hunter-gatherer. By tracing our food back to the beginning, we can understand that most of the nutritional and health problems America is going through today can be found on the farms that make our food and the government that can decide what happens. America deals with many food related illness such as, heart disease, obesity, and type II diabetes. Majority of a human and animals diet consists of being corn-fed leading to a high cause of obesity in the United States these are just some of the many diseases that come with over processed foods and diets we are unaware of. In this study, we will highlight the environmental and health issues and impacts related with modern agriculture and how these systems can be made more sustainable.

In the book Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, he talks about our national eating disorders started and the impact it has on the world. Pollan argues with the nature of its supermarket and how it is linked to our food production. In saying this where do these foods come from? What are they made of? And who produces it? His self-discoveries covers the ins and out of our food systems through industrials corn, pastoral grass (organic food), and the forest (hunting-gathering). In the Chapter “Our National Eating Disorder”, Pollan points out how we Americans supermarket seems to be artificial and does not progress towards nature; plants and animals. Pollan gives the surprising fact that most of the world eats a fifth of its meals in the car, that fact is absolutely amazing (Pollan 11). The astonishing fact shows that America’s food industry has indeed changed. The debate is whether the change is good or bad. The book entails that the food industry that we currently have tries to keep up with the vastly growing population of the United States. The population of the United States has grown significantly since the 1970s. The industrial food production is designed for all Americans to view our food system as the best food system, but an average consumers lack knowledge of the food they eat which is genetically modified that been taken from nature and created by mankind.

American food culture is not like other countries in the world; the diversity in foods and ethnicity creates its uniqueness. However, Americans mindset of “what should we have for dinner” and the poor decision making about food choices created the “omnivore’s dilemma” or what Pollan, in The Omnivore’s Dilemma calls the American national eating disorder. Pollan explored more about the food that Americans consume in “an investigation of food called the industrial food chain”(Pollan, Omnivore 110). While studying the products in supermarkets, Pollan realized that supermarkets offer a large variety of foods that contain corn, an unhealthy component, in most of its products. While Pollan is compelling claiming that American’s healthy food

With the pros there's the cons as well, "Americans are now eating nearly 200 pounds of meat, poultry and fish every year; an increase of 50 pounds per person in the last 50 years" ( Lumdberg) some very high numbers for what the appropriate amount should actually be.

Tracing back history, food has always been traditionally imperative to humans. Food is what we treasure and really derive pleasure eating. It has been part of every culture and tradition because every culture has its delicacies. In some parts of Nigeria, if you eat a meal that is meatless, people tend to consider you as poor and unable to afford meat. In essence, meat is really considered a big deal in some parts of my country. Growing up as a child, I was taught that I needed the “omnivore’s diet” to grow effectively and be healthy but today, I have discovered that I no longer need animals in my diet. America

This will change your life! For most Americans, the ideal meal is fast, cheap, and tasty. Food, Inc. examines the costs of putting value and convenience over nutrition and environmental impact. Director Robert Kenner explores the subject from all angles, talking to authors, advocates, farmers, and CEOs, like co-producer Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma), Gary Hirschberg (Stonyfield Farms), and Barbara Kowalcyk, who's been lobbying for more rigorous standards since E. coli claimed the life of her two-year-old son.

What is a hamburger without grilled meat, hotdogs without sausages, or Thanksgiving without turkey? These foods contain an excessive amount of meat that people like to enjoy in their foods which make it tasty and delicious. However, an excessive amount of meat is affecting people’s health because people are consuming more meat instead of the necessary fruits and vegetables that are needed in their body. People do not realize that excessive meat is affecting their health. Most of the human diseases such as diabetes and heart disease are caused because people are consuming a great amount of meat. People fail at having a well-balanced scale in which they can balance their diet and consume smaller portions of everything. It is incredible to realize where meat comes from. According to the article in order to obtain 1 pound of meat it takes approximately sixteen pounds of soybeans and grain.

With the seemingly unstoppable growth of the world’s population and a projected global population of nine billion by 2050, the matter of whether or not there will be enough food to support the world’s populace is brought into question (Parfitt, et al., 2010). However, amid the concern for an adequate food supply, there is an immense amount of food waste produced by the world, including the United States. In fact, “according to the Natural Resources Defense Council as much as 40 percent of all food produced in the United States never gets eaten and typically ends up in the landfills or goes unharvested in the field “(King, 2015).

Most Americans are aware of global warming, cancer, heart disease and the fact that the earth’s supply of good water is diminishing. In an effort to conserve our planet people drive hybrid cars, recycle, and use low energy light bulbs and appliances, which is great. However, most Americans are unaware and uninformed about how meat effects global warming, our health, and how much of our planet’s water and resources meat production consumes. Meat contributes to global warming, increases risk for cancer, causes heart disease and uses a tremendous amount of resources to produce, therefore people need to be informed about what they are eating through food labeling and Surgeon General warnings, as well as

Our country is notable for countless aspects in its culture, one of the more prominent aspects being the American Diet. Though our diet is primarily a blend of foods from foreign cultures, there are distinct differences: portion sizes, excess empty calories, and overall nutritional value. To us, food outstrips the three main meals of the day – it is used to celebrate holidays, for comfort, and at many social gatherings. This is where the problem lies.

These are two extremes, but people who live in the developed world on average still eat twice as much meat compared to people living in developing countries. And while people in developing countries might consume less meat and dairy now, growing populations and wealth will strongly increase their consumption. This will have negative impacts on the environment - and on ourselves. More than 25% of climate gases that contribute to climate change are associated with our food. This is also expected to increase over the next decades. But our diets are not only unsustainable, they are also unhealthy leading to malnourishment and obesity.

In the year of 2012, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimated that Americans ate an average of 52.3 pounds of beef, 57.4 pounds of chicken and 43.5 pounds of pork per person.(citation?) Only 5% of Americans are vegetarians and with that much meat eaten by Americans, in one year alone why should you to forced to become vegetarian? With meat being the main staple in the Americans diet there is no reason we should take that of the table. That fact alone shows that most Americans’ diets are made up of meat sources. According to the United States Census Bureau (USCB) the U.S. population was 313.8 million; meaning that 16 billion pounds of beef, 18 billion chicken and 13 billion pounds of pork was eaten by Americans alone in

Consumption of meat by humans creates several problems. First and foremost, raising animals for food compromises the environment. For example, it takes a large amount of natural resources to sustain the meat industry. The use of water, land, and food to raise animals for human consumption is not an efficient use of our limited resources. In contrast, it is more efficient to feed humans directly than to use land, food, and water to feed animals to be used as food. There are shortages of fertile land, clean water, and food in several third world countries. Many of these countries’ resources are allocated to produce feed for animals in developed countries around the world. As a result, the citizens of these countries are stricken with water and food shortages, while their crops are feeding cattle from across the globe. However, this problem can be solved by adopting a vegan diet. The vegan diet will allow a more efficient use of resources that in turn can be used to feed starving men, women, and children throughout the world. Consequently, more people in the world could be fed if the land used to grow feed for animals was used to grow food for humans.

As demonstrated, all of the problems discussed share a root cause in the US’s current diet. But how do the alternatives compare? Based on the issues presented, four main factors are relevant in assessing a diet: nutritional value, economic efficiency, ecological impact, and philanthropy. A diet of superior nutritional value can be said to contain a higher amounts of beneficial substances, such as fiber and antioxidants, while containing lower amounts of harmful substances, such as saturated fats and LDL cholesterol (Mangels). Not all foods require the same amount of resources to produce. An economically superior diet can be expected to nourish a constant number of persons while consuming less resources. The the means of production for foods of a diet also play a role. If the means used to produce food for a certain diet result in less of a harmful environmental impact, the diet can be considered to be ecologically superior. In the same way, if the means of production for foods of a diet result in less harm to human beings, that diet is philanthropically superior. Based on this criteria, and by using the current meat-inclusive diet as a control, the alternative meat-exclusive diet can be assessed to determine its relative grade.