Reading+Responses

__//Fast Food Nation// Ch. 1: "The Founding Fathers"__

Eric Schlosser's purpose for the first chapter of his book Fast Food Nation is to inform the audience of the book (the average American consumer of processed fast food) of the history (the establishment and the progress) of the fast food industry in America; he begins with Carl N. Karcher, founder of one of the first fast food chains in America, Carl's Jr. (which we don't have any of on the east coast, unfortunately) and how he managed to constantly adapt his restaurant to the changing American food market. Ultimately, that ability to change business and adapt is what makes or breaks a fast-food chain. Schlosser goes into heavy detail about the formation of America's #1 fast-food chain, McDonald's Hamburgers. What was originally a drive-in burger stand, which inefficiently employed carhops and cooks, eventually developed a system of efficiency that revolutionized the industry. Schlosser takes on a light and straightforward tone and uses largely concrete diction to inform the audience how the fast-food industry began in its humble beginnings in little hot dog carts in southern California, to drive-in restaurants, to drive-thru franchises across the country, and eventually, the world.

Schlosser claims that food can act as a medium similar to any other medium that can elevate one's status in the world, from no matter what rank one started off at. Carl N. Karcher, founder of Carl's Jr. was born on a farm in Ohio, made his way down to California, started a hot dog stand, which became a hamburger restaurant and fast-food chain. When Karcher was kicked out of his company after it hit a decline, he found a way back in. I can agree with this statement, as there are many, many people out there who have used food as a medium to just make life better for themselves. Wolfgang Puck, Guy Fieri, Ronald McDonald, and Remy the Rat all became self-made men with the power of food.

__//Fast Food Nation// Ch. 5 "Why the Fries Taste So Good"__

In the fifth chapter of Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser's purpose is to inform the audience of the book (again, the average American consumer of processed fast food) just how the french fries of several fast-food and TV dinner corporations stay tasty while being frozen for long periods of time, while also offering history to several key figures in this process. The tone is the same as it was in Chapter One, but the mood is remarkably different from that of Chapter One; where in Chapter One Schlosser created a largely light mood to represent the "good feelings" felt during the golden era of fast food, Schlosser creates a more uneasy mood to describe the surprising and sometimes disturbing secrets behind why exactly processed fries taste so good. The diction is still largely concrete to provide the audience information in a simple manner.

The claim Schlosser makes in this chapter regarding the role of food in our society is that it can sometimes involve unethical practices (such as the artificial flavorings in the french fries, as well just about every other mass produced food product) but even then it still possesses an ability to bring happiness to people. Case in point is when, in the middle of the laboratory where artificial flavors are concocted out of every random ingredient, from bug guts to whatever unpronounceable chemical, Schlosser is given a plate of french fries. After finishing them, he describes them as "delicious" and "asks for more" - he is obviously unaffected by his knowledge of where the fries got their taste. I have experienced similar feelings regarding fast food in my own life: in the fifth grade, I read on the internet just how the chickens KFC harvests for their franchises are kept in the months before they are slaughtered. Frankly, I was appalled and disgusted, and I quit Kentucky Fried Chicken for good - for a week. Then I started eating it again, first expected to taste the pain and suffering described by the article from the internet, but instead tasting the same old chicken they've always served, and realizing that I just don't care about that kind of stuff.

__"The Rich Get Thinner, the Poor Get Fatter" - Warwick Sabin__

In "The Rich Get Thinner, the Poor Get Fatter", Warwick Sabin makes the claim that the nature of the food industry in modern day America, always striving for efficiency and maximum profits, has made it so really unhealthy, processed foods are more easily accessed by lower-class families and individuals, resulting in the highest obesity rates ever; meanwhile, the healthier, naturally produced foods are expensive to the point where only those with high incomes can afford to purchase them on a regular basis. Sabin takes on a largely uncertain and concerned attitude in the essay, and his diction is simple to achieve the purpose of informing the audience, the modern American consumer (of all social classes), how the tables have turned regarding what foods specific social classes normally eat.

Warwick ultimately claims that food has a strong control over society and how it operates. It is a necessity of life after all, but therein lies the problem: people have learned to take this and shape it to their own greedy nature. Somewhere along the line, poor families stopped keeping small farms to support themselves, and instead simply turned to cheap fast-food, while rich, well-off families and individuals are allowed to buy fresh, locally-produced food, which has somehow become a luxury. All social classes need food, but society controls what foods are expensive and thus what social classes are allowed to eat what foods.

__"Ghosts of Taste" - Edna O'Brien__

Edna O'Brien's purpose in "The Ghosts of Taste" is to describe how memories of food and relating to food in our childhood act as emotional triggers that are never outgrown. She lists several examples of childhood memories of food that "haunt" her to the present day, such as her mother's orange cake; eating any orange cake sets off an emotional response that brings back memories of her mom's. O'Brien establishes a nostalgic, and introspective, tone to her essay. The memories of childhood obviously play into the nostalgia, but O'Brien seems to have used her own childhood memories and their place in her life as a starting point for the essay. Her diction is a mixture of concrete and abstract.

Food is one of the only constants in a person's life (or at least it seriously should be and if it isn't then there's a serious problem). As food reoccurs in a person's life, it can bring up with it memories from previous occurrences. O'Brien's claim regarding the role of food in our society is that food provides an emotional connection with the past. [For more information on Jimmy Malzone's experience with food in memories please see: "Food Memory, Home"]

__"Queen of Mold" - Ruth Reichl__ Ruth Reichl's purpose in writing "Queen of Mold" is to entertain the reader with her recollection of her mother's unusual - and sometimes sickening - taste in food. Reichl's mother would use all food and any foods to make weird and unappealing dishes, utilizing whatever moldy and rotting ingredients she had at her dispense. Somehow, her mother never cared about what her food was comprised of (Reichl describes her "everything stew" which features broccoli, carrots, sour cream, cranberry sauce, and apple pie) and even if it was consisted of rotting ingredients she would serve her tasteless dishes to guests at parties. Reichl adopts an incredulous tone to the essay, as Reichl herself as trouble believing that her mother was like this, and reminds the audience (and herself) at the beginning of the essay that "this is a true story."

Ultimately, Reichl makes the claim that food can aid one in "making sense" of the world. It isn't clear in the essay just what exactly is wrong with Reichl's mom - she might not have a sense of smell or taste, or she simply might not have a sense of what goes in cooking - but she regardless uses cooking and preparing food as a way of dealing with the world. Everyone in her life plays along with her lack of knowledge regarding cooking, including her husband, who often was the first to try her hideous dishes, and the guests contribute illnesses contracted from her dishes to other illnesses.

__"What's the Recipe? Our hunger for cookbooks" - Adam Gopnik //(New Yorke r)//__ media type="custom" key="11909150"

The overall argument made by __Adam Gopnik__ in his work __"What's the Recipe?"__ is that __cookbooks are deceptive in nature, but people are the ones who buy into it..__ More specifically, __Gopnik__ argues that __cookbooks do not possess the ability to teach one how to be a cook, and the average reader of the cookbook is deceiving his or herself by assuming that a cookbook will teach them how to cook__. He claims, " __we reanimate our passions by imagining the possibilities, and the act of wanting ends up mattering more than the fact of getting.__" He is suggesting that a general love of food is healthy but can sometimes cause illusions in self. For example, reading cookbooks can give one the assumption that they are a cook, when in reality the cookbook does nothing more than teach one how to get from point A to point B.

I __agree__ with __Gopnik's__ claim because __of my own personal experience, as well as others, with not just cooking but every recreational activity__. More specifically, __I believe that I have succumbed to the same kind of illusions that Gopnik describes the readers of cookbooks as, as I sometimes fall victim to my little view of how I want my life, where I am good at everything, and try to achieve that.__ Although __Gopnik__ might object that __the rule doesn't necessarily apply to every activity__, I maintain that __it can, and does, and knowing when this occurs might aid one in bettering oneself at an activity__. Therefore, __learning by trial and error is a more effective way of learning to cook than using cookbooks__.

1. The main point Gopnik makes in the essay is:

2.) What is the function of paragraph 3?

3.) What is the technique used in Paragraph 6 line 2?

4.) Paragraph 3 makes use of all of the following techniques EXCEPT:

5.) The diction in the essay can be likely characterized as**:**

__"Rules to Eat By" - Michael Pollen__ media type="custom" key="11909162"