Composition and Writing 12/3/1

Ashleigh Palomaria 4

Food Was A Job: Now A Chore

The obesity crisis is a real problem that is affecting America today. As research
has shown, history and culture helps us comprehend why we have the obesity crisis.
Susie Orbach, Carrie Freeman and Debra Merskin all illustrate the importance of
understanding history and culture to understand the obesity crisis. However, Eric
Schlosser, Michael Pollan, and Michelle Obama also show statistics of modern day,
proving that obesity is a modern problem. Although history and culture helps us learn
about where this problem came from, we should be focused on issues of present day.
History and culture tell us why we have this problem but they do not tell us how to solve
this problem. Therefore, history and culture are important when understanding the obesity
crisis; however, we need to focus on todays issues in order to find a solution.
History and culture are important when understanding the obesity crisis; however,
we need to focus on todays issues in order to find a solution. At the turn of the century,
research has shown that today two-thirds of mothers are employed now (Schlosser
1). Assuming most fathers work as well, this means both parents are working and are
unable to gather and prepare food for their children like in the early settlement days.
Thus, women started going into the workforce, leaving less time to prepare meals.
According to Schlosser, women entered into the workforce in record numbers, often
motivated less by a feminist perspective than by a need to pay the bills (Schlosser 1). To
put in another way, women had to get paying jobs to help their families. So Instead of
preparing meals, families spend about half of their money on fast food (Schlosser 1). In
other words, families do not have the time now to make food because they are working.
Work consumes most parents time in order to provide for their childrens modern life

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Ashleigh Palomaria 4
style. In addition, modern studies have shown, Americans spend less than 10 percent of
their income on food [to prepare for meals]; they also spend less than a half hour a day
preparing meals and little more than an hour enjoying them (Pollan 439). That is to say,
families barely spend any money on food to make meals at home; however when they do,
they do not want to spend long periods of time cooking or savoring what they have made.
Michael Pollan even says that other countries and cultures aside from America are able to
do this and are consequently healthier than we are (Michael Pollan 439). Other
countries and cultures are not facing the obesity crisis like American families.
Therefore, Haygood warns us that 24 percent of American adults are obese
(Haygood 407), 50 percent of women are estimated to be overweight (Orbach 448) and
one in three children is overweight or obese (Obama 420). These present statistics
illustrate that obesity is affecting everyone. Obesity is a real crisis that needs to be dealt
with. Consequently, fatal health conditions have developed such as heart failure, cancer
and even on smaller-scale: type 2 diabetes. Zinczenko says, Today, according to the
National Institute of Health, type 2 diabetes accounts for at least 30 percent of all new
childhood cases of diabetes in the country (Zinczenko 392). In other words, children are
not producing enough insulin to break down the sugar glucose that is found in many fast
foods. So if a person is eating fast food twice a day, or sitting watching TV for hours at a
time, they are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than someone who is eating a home
cooked meal and simultaneously being active (Obama 423). These statistics show that the
obesity crisis is a modern issue, not a historical issue. Although history and culture helps
us learn about why we have the obesity crisis, it does not tell us how are we going to
solve this issue. We should be focused on the issues of present day.

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Ashleigh Palomaria 4
In turn, the history and culture of food in pre-agricultural days helps us
understand the starting point of food patterns and eating habits today. In the early days
before communities were formed, pre-historic people ate plants and fruits. According to
Freeman and Merskin, organized hunting of large animals did not begin until
approximately 20,000 years ago (Freeman and Merskin 456). In other words, people did
not kill animals for their meat; they were actually vegetarians. Instead of preparing meat,
they picked berries, gathered plants, and collected nuts. This illustrates that people ate
natural, whole foods that grew from the ground. Pollan says, for most people for most of
history, gathering and preparing food has been an occupation at the very heart of daily
life (Pollan 439). To put it another way, gathering food was the job. In order to survive,
people had to collect and properly prepare food or die. So during the wintertime, the food
would be stored and ready to eat without venturing into the cold weather. Furthermore,
Freeman and Merskin acknowledge that women were the primary foragers of berries,
plants and nuts, which illustrates that men were not the original breadwinners (Freeman
and Merskin 456). Women were the ones who worked to gather food to survive. Thus, the
history of and pre-agricultural days display that people were originally vegetarians and
that the obesity crisis was not an issue. Their first and foremost job was to gather food to
eat. Ultimately, the history and culture of primary gathering days help us comprehend the
start of food patterns and eating habits but we need to focus on todays issue in order to
solve the problem.
Transitioning into early settlements, the history and culture of food in this time
period help us understand why society today relates certain foods to men and certain
foods to women. After the pre-agricultural days, people started to establish communities

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Ashleigh Palomaria 4
in order to raise crops and domesticate animals. During this time, the division of [food]
labor amongst men and women ignited because of womens capacity to reproduce
(Orbach 430). Basically, the woman would stay home because it was nearly impossible to
hunt when pregnant, or take care of small children while trying to kill an animal.
According to Orbach the ability to reproduce is used as the basis on which to divide
unequally women and mens labor, powers, roles and expectation (Orbach 450). In other
words, the woman was expected to tend to the plants, fruits, domesticated animals and
the children while the man went to hunt. According to Freeman and Merskin, multiple
anthropologists theorize that men created rituals around hunting, most of which excluded
women, to gain status for themselves (Freeman and Merskin 456). Basically, in addition
to pregnancy, men did not allow women to be part of hunting animals so that they could
be praised and recognized for getting food. Freeman and Merskin credit these women,
however, by saying they most likely invented plant agriculture, which accounts for
womens association with plant food as well as their importance in early agrarian
societies (Freeman and Merskin 456). What Freeman and Merskin really mean is that
women played an important role in the cultivation of food and livestock in order for
communities to thrive. Accordingly, women today are more closely related with mother
nature or fruits and vegetables because of the early settlement history. This exhibits why
society today tells woman that they should eat salads, yogurt and fruits; where as hardy
men eat meat. The history of early settlements also display that the obesity crisis was not
a concern. Although history and culture in early settlements are important to help
understand why men and women are related to certain kinds of food, they do not give us
a solution to the obesity crisis.

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Ashleigh Palomaria 4
Similarly, the history and culture of food in the 20th century helps us understand
that even two generations ago obesity was not an issue. On top of the division of labor
between men and women, black and white people were segregated; thus, not allowing
them to eat together at certain restaurants or even drink from the same water fountains.
African Americans grew up in a community that wasnt rich, not even middle class
(Obama 421). In other words, many African Americans grew up in poverty. This poverty
level forced African Americans to eat whatever they could. Obesity was not an issue
because they were just trying to find something to eat. In addition, the First World War
broke out early on leading into the Great Depression. During this time the stock market
crashed and poverty struck everyone; thus, forcing everyone to have to scrounge for food.
Haygood says, there [was] that feeling of clean your plate in many of the homes You
dont throw food away. So the [children had] to eat all of the food because families
did not know when they were going to eat again (Haygood 411). Schlosser even says that
just a generation ago, three quarters of the money [made were] used to buy food to
prepare meals at home (Schlosser 1). This illustrates that people were not worrying
about being obese but just about getting enough food to put on the table. In sum, history
and culture in the 20th century are important to help illustrate that obesity was not an
issue, but a modern issue, they do not give us a solution to the obesity crisis today.
In conclusion, the obesity crisis is a real issue that is affecting America. History
and culture help us learn why the obesity crisis came to be; however, we should be
focused on how to deal with this problem. In the early pre-agricultural days we observe
that people were originally gathers and foragers: vegetarians. Pre-agricultural people
were not worried about obesity. Once they settled into communities they then became

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cultivators, harvesters and hunters and were still not worried about obesity. Then in the
20th century, two generations ago, they were just struggling to put food on the table. Now
we are busy people that do not have the time to think about preparing food. Both parents
are working; thus, only giving their children fast food to eat because of the lack of time.
Consequently, new food related diseases are sprouting because of the obeseity issue.
Although it is good to understand history so that we can understand how the obesity crisis
came to be, we need to focus on finding a solution to the problems that center around
food.