HW 11 Group Video

Group video-

Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3gKJoHMYaA

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap3KwU1gZO0

My ending-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr5WpOzAPTw

HW 12

Thesis:  Many of the dominant social practices in our society - practices that define a "normal" life - on further investigation turn out to involve nightmares and industrial atrocities.

Main claim:  Through our dominant culture we view our foods as normal but when it is further investigated you can see that our food is being made differently then we imagine.

Claim 1:  Slaughterhouse conditions

Evidence:  Fast food nation- Animal treatment

Evidence:  Injury statistics in slaughterhouses

Evidence:  E. coli statistics

Claim 2:  Food is sold to society without information about how the food is produced.

Evidence:  Food labeling

Evidence:  Cleaning meat (bleached)- Food Inc.

Evidence:  Overcrowding animals at farms/slaughterhouses

HW 10

The food industry is very corrupt.  Fast food has made a few certain food companies have all the power, these companies then control everything, have too much power and take over and put the smaller farms/slaughterhouses out of business.  The mass production companies try to make all farmers farm their way instead of the healthier ways and they have control of farmers because they're usually in debt so they basically own them.  Many people in the government used to be part of the big food companies, so there isn't any significant changes being made to make our food healthier.  

I felt like the movie made me feel like the companies were so corrupt and powerful because they're tied to the government and it made it seem like it's impossible to beat the mass production food companies.  For example like when the movie was talking about saving seeds and the farmer told the story of when people were following and breaking into his farm trying to get him.  Also a part that I felt was emphasized more was how the big companies make it almost impossible for farmers to do produce food the healthier ways.  That way they make it easier on the farmers if they just do it the way the big companies want it to be done.  On the other hand I felt like the book showed a lot more statistics and that really gets to me because it helps me understand it in numbers and a lot of the statistics were insane and hard to believe.  I felt like the book focused more on the problems in the food industry and not as much on the corruption.   

Something that really stuck with me is how corrupted the food system has become and how it is was able to become like this.  It's pretty scary and it seems very hard to change for example the Kevin law still hasn't past and it's been years.  I can't really blame the people running the major food companies though because I feel like that's how our society/world made them, money is the most important thing everything revolves around money in our society so people will do whatever it takes to make money and that's all they'll think about.  It's messed up though because the farmers that seem like they really care, are forced out of doing things the healthy and proper way.  I'm wondering if there if there's a realistic way to eat healthier and stay away from the bad stuff while staying cheap.

HW 7D

Chapter 9-
Precis:  Beef is unsafe because of the conditions the cattle are kept in they're more likely to spread E. coli.  Many people get food poisoning from eating beef mostly children and some even die at a young age.  Burgers were considered food for poor people and unsafe to eat a long time ago but after World War 2 it became very popular because the cattle prices were low and fast food industry was growing.  There are still thousands of people who get food poisoning each year because of E. coli.

Gem:  "In the eight years since the Jack in the Box outbreak, approximately half a million Americans, the majority of them children, have been made ill by E. coli O157:H7.  Thousands have been hospitalized and hundreds have died."

Thoughts:  I never knew that Burgers used to be considered food for the poor and considered unsafe and unhealthy to eat.  I would've never known nowadays because it is a very popular food.  Once again I think it's sad how because the companies aren't careful enough with their cattle so many people get food poisoning and children are dying just from eating these burgers..  Oh and I was pretty disgusted when it said there's video surveillance of fast food employees sneezing in their hands while preparing food, picking their noses and flicking their cigarettes into meals about to be served, this book really makes you scared to eat anything at all, is it even possible to eat something that is done right and safe to eat?


Chapter 10-
Precis:  Fast food companies are making even more money by being spread around the world now at a much higher rate than before.  The fast food companies are targeting foreign countries in the same way, targeting children all over the world.  Other countries starting to pick up our fast food ways and it is showing people all over the world are getting fatter and fatter especially teenagers and children, but they're also starting to become "Americanized" in a bigger sense.  Although some countries are more human about it for example Sweden cut off all advertising towards children.

Gem:  "A decade ago McDonald's had about three thousand restaurants outside the United States; today it has about seventeen thousand restaurants in more than 120 foreign countries.  It currently opens about five new restaurants every day, at least four of them are overseas."

Thoughts:  This chapter made me realize how much fast food is expanding by the day.  I didn't think it was still expanding at such a high rate.  Also it made me realize that our country may be the worst but fastfood is a problem all around the world.  There is no need for one company to open about five new restaurants a DAY.

Epilogue-
Precis:  It is possible to still successfully farm healthy and make healthy meat, there are still farmers that do it and are good in business and the product they make has much less fat and tastes more.  The natural way is easier and makes better food.  It is possible to change the food industry, even do fast food better a perfect example is In-N-Out.  The government needs to get on top of inspections and ways to make foods healthier and prevent things like E. coli, they need to make laws and create one food safety agency to actually protect the public's health.

Gem:  "Every month more than 90 percent of the children in the United States eat at McDonald's."

Thoughts  After this whole book about how everything with our food is so horrible, this last chapter gave me hope and made me think that it is going to be possible to turn the food industry around.  I think the people just all have to demand it.  Like it said that McDonald's is very quick to respond to costumers protesting at one part, everything revolves around what the costumers want.  Also the In-N-Out part was really interesting to me because I traveled out west before and I had In-N-Out and I thought it was just like any other fast food place and I actually thought their food was really good, so to find out that they don't do things like other fast food restaurants was interesting because if they can do things different then  all the fast food restaurants should be able to.  I think it's going to be hard to get the food industry to change and a little while but I'm sure it'll come eventually.  

HW 7C

Chapter 7-

Precis:  Monfort figured out that if cattle were fed grain instead of grass they got fatter and made better meat that was more fatty and lean.  The idea spread and got out of control.  The slaughterhouses changed over time and went from a high paying job to a low paying dangerous job that was designed to move more efficiently and require less skill.  The business was corrupted by rich people at the top trying to make more money than they already were.  

Gem:  "Memorably, a workplace accident in which a man fell into a vat and got turned into lard.  The plant kept running, and the lard was sold to unsuspecting consumers.  Human beings, Sinclair argued, had been made 'cogs in the great packing machine'".

Thoughts:  This chapter made me realize how the idea of fast food wasn't just applied for the food being served fast and cheap but they tried to make the whole business like that.  The meat packing industry was taken over and made into a dangerous low paying job.  They broke up the jobs at factories so they didn't require skill and people would just do one thing and stand there and do that same thing over and over all day such as making a certain cut in meat.  The whole fast food industry is corrupted and people are forced to play into it.

Chapter 8-
Precis:  The meatpacking business has became one of the most dangerous working in slaughterhouses.  There is a very high injury rate, the workers are pushed to work at a faster rate but the faster rate they work at the higher a chance of injury there is.  Workers are usually poor, or illegal immigrants, so they don't want to complain because they can easily be fired and replaced.  This leads to many injuries, the people are often lied to about their injuries so they can get back to work faster.

Gem:  "While Kenny Dobbins was recuperating, Monfort fired him.  Despite the fact that Kenny had been with the company for almost sixteen years, despite the fact  that he was first in seniority at the Greeley plant, that he'd cleaned blood tanks with his bare hands, fought the union, done whatever the company had asked him to do, suffered injuries that would've killed weaker men, nobody from Monfort called him with the news.  Nobody even bothered to write him."

Thoughts:  This chapter showed me even more about how people don't care about others and just want to get things done quickly and make as much money as possible.  It's all money.  The people working at the slaughterhouses are so desperate for money they'll kill helpless animals all day and put up with horrible conditions and they don't even really have a choice.  The story about Kenny Dobbins really showed this to me because this guy had like 10 severe injuries and almost killed himself many times working, saved another workers life, and would do anything for this company and then they just fire him.  They don't care at all.  They don't want there workers taking any days off even if they are really hurt.  I didn't even talk about the killing the animals too...

HW 8 Growing our own food

.....My sandwich.....  It's a sandwich with turkey, cheese, mayo and my own grown sprouts!  This is experience was not necessarily bad but not special to me either.  My first sprouts never grew and I was told to consider if I am cold hearted and not loving, so then I took more seeds and loved them more and sure enough they grew.  I found it kind of annoying to have to remember to water them twice a day but it wasn't bad at all.  On the sandwich it seemed something like putting lettuce on a sandwich it wasn't one of the main tastes of the sandwich but it was there.  I didn't think it tasted bad but I didn't find it special and something I really enjoyed on my sandwich.  The only thing bad was that it took me like 2 weeks to get some sprouts grown and it only lasted one sandwich, that was eaten in a couple minutes.  It's all good though because I grew my own food.

HW 7b

Chapter 4-

Precis:  Small businesses such as pizza shops get sold out by bigger fast food chains.  Local businesses are go out of business because a fast food restaurant such as McDonalds is being built across the street.  The government gives more money to the larger chains.  

Gem:"None of it matters"-Christopher Reeve

Thoughts:  At the end of it all it's not worth it to have so much money.  Christopher Reeve is being connected to the fast food chains because they have all this money and they're not caring about small businesses and they're making peoples lives horrible but at the end of the day Christopher Reeve points out that all the money that they're making none of that really matters.  I thought this connection was very interesting.  

Chapter 5-

Precis:  Drying potatoes and onions began during World War 2 to feed people in the military.  It is now used for fast foods making the potatoes are dried and frozen eventually made into french fries.  They're made with technology, they are given a certain fragrance to make the food more appealing to people. 

Gem:  "About 90% of the money that Americans spend on food is used to buy processed food"

Thoughts:  This is insane, these fast food chains really will do anything to make you want their food.  It's pretty insane how far they will go, making a food smell different then it actually does to make people eat it…. They're brainwashing everyone!

Chapter 6-

Precis:  The fast food chains took over the poultry and now are taking over the meatpacking industry.  This gives the top 4 companies almost all the power and makes it almost impossible for local small companies.  The fast food companies purchasing the meat have control over the meatpacking industry and they buy the meat for very cheap and the ranchers get less money for their cattle.  All this puts farmers and ranchers in a bad situation unless they are part of the top 4 meatpacking firms.

Gem:  "The suicide rate among ranchers and farmers in the United States is now about three times higher than the national average."

Thoughts:  This chapter just is sad once again, the fast food companies are just doing what works out best for them and what will make them the most money.  They aren't thinking about the people's lives they're ruining.  They are making people go out of business and even kill themselves.

HW 7

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser 

Intro-

There is a military base inside Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado, the only food close are fast food restaurants which is what the workers eat mostly,  if it were all to be bombed the only thing people would find would be remains of fast food.  Fast food has become a huge part of American society.  Hundreds of millions of people buy fast food every day without thinking about it and what that really means. 

"A survey of American schoolchildren found that 96 precent could i denitrify Ronald McDonald.  The only fictional character with a higher degree of recognition was Santa Claus."

I agree with everything that was said in the intro but I don't know myself about all the bad things associated with fast foods.  I think that this book is going to teach me about how fast food has turned into a really bad thing.  I have a feeling there will be many scary statistics relate to fast foods.  

Chapter 1-   

Carl N. Karcher was one of the founding fathers of fast food.  He was a regular guy who grew up on a farm, he started with his restaurant and traveled around the country with his ideas.  The people that started fast food were just regular people trying to make money and spread this idea of getting people food fast and conveniently.  Then fast food's progress exploded.

"Thinking that he'd misunderstood the question, I rephrased it, asking if he ever missed the old Anaheim, the ranches and citrus groves.  'No,' he answered.  'I believe in Progress'."

I think it's interesting that the people who started fast foods had no idea on how it would expand and become such an important thing.  They just had the intentions of selling their foods and spreading the idea of convenient food.

Chapter 2-

Fast food restaurants often target towards children which introduces fast food's to their life styles.  The fast food restaurants have commercials all over TV and give children toys with the food and advertising with cartoons and characters.  The fast food chains are brainwashing as many people as possible to buy their food. 

"The chains often distribute numerous versions of a toy, encouraging repeat visits by small children".

I think this chapter is disturbing because the food that fast food places sell often is unhealthy.  They're using methods that they know will lure children into asking for the food, and then if they keep getting fast foods it becomes part of their lifestyles.  It's one thing if you're trying to get adults to buy your food but children don't understand as much and are lured in just from bright colored toys.  

Chapter 3-

All around America places are starting to look almost identical with tons of fast food restaurants side by side.  Colorado Springs is a place in America that doesn't quite have an identity yet, it is open to new things and it is often used as a place to test fast food ideas, problems that were in California where fast food started are now showing up in Colorado Springs.  The fast food restaurants employ so many people, they employees are not paid very well or trained, they base who they chose for employees based on obedience.  

"The three corporations now employ about 3.7 million people worldwide".

I think this chapter is scary.  To me it seems like the fast food companies have a whole system where they lure people into buying there food in many ways and there a strict system to it.  It seems like an art of brainwashing people and getting people to buy your product.  They find out where the best places for the restaurants are, how to draw in different groups of people including children and how to keep people coming back more and more.    

HW 6 - Food Diary

 Aha classic...  Subways footlong oven roasted chicken breast on italian herbs and cheese bread, with cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and honey mustard.  I like this sandwich for many reasons.  Chicken is one of my favorite foods, I like all the other things I put on the sandwich.  Also because it is a good amount of food for a relatively cheap price.  I think this is one of the healthier things I eat for lunch and it's $5.44 for this sandwich that's good bread.  Not quite as good as dollar pizza and dollar menu at McDonalds but it's good enough.  I don't really know how to explain how I feel while I eat but I'll try...  I was pretty satisfied the tastes go good together with the chicken and cheese and the vegetables and honey mustard.  Although this specific time the tomatoes tasted kind of weird and the bread was a little too hard, so I have had better experiences but satisfying none the less.

 This was dinner that my father made Wednesday night.  I'm not the biggest fan of this but I eat whatever's put in front of me, plus it's healthy so it's good to get some healthy in my diet so I don't die from a heart attack.  This is a salad with spinach with sweet potatoes.  I had three servings of the salad because it takes more to fill me up because it's a salad.  I also had two pillsbury biscuits which I really like.  This happens usually I will eat healthy dinners because it's what my parents make and they like eating healthy.  I don't have a problem with it usually because it isn't horrible and sometimes I like how it tastes but even if I don't I know it's good for me.



This was breakfast Thursday morning. I had left over biscuits from the night before with jelly on them, a peach yogurt, cantaloupe, strawberries, and chocolate milk.  This is a bigger breakfast then I usually eat, I usually have a bowl of cereal and some type of fruit.  I enjoyed this meal because I like the biscuits, the fruits were sweet, the chocolate milk had just enough Nesquik in it and the yogurt was just a normal yogurt.  I ate more then usual so I would stay full for longer and not be as hungry at lunch because I didn't have much money to spend.  That worked successfully and the meal was on point.


I couldn't exactly figure out the calories that I ate over the 48 hours.  But I have figured out before how many calories I should be taking in and how many calories I do take in and I figured out that I take in more than I am supposed to but I don't pay too much mind to it.  I know that I really like eating and I don't believe in counting calories (I was just interested in seeing that one time).  The nutrition for the meals above that I ate vary.  I think that all of the foods that I posted up are somewhat healthy, the other two foods I had were beef tacos, and a crispy chicken deluxe meal from Wendy's.  So I think that some of my foods are healthy but some are also very unhealthy.  I feel I picked the food I did because I like the  taste of the food and because it is cheap, there were also foods that I ate that I didn't pick but was just meals that my parents made for me.  I feel good about the food I ate over the past 48 hours because I thought it all tasted good and there was a balance in the healthiness.