Autumn Jones

Autumn Jones
Sonja Stark
Honors American Literature
8 November 2013

In Defense of Food: An Eaters Manifesto

Within the past 100 years, the human races eating habits and health conditions have
changed massively according to Michael Pollans In Defense of Food and a variety of other
sources. Not only have the way people eat worsened, but the quality of the food has as well.
For many centuries, the way people ate made sense according to their lifestyles.
Depending on the location, century, social class, and season, the main meal could be eaten during
any time of the day. The meal was almost always called dinner. Accompanying this was a
lighter meal known as collation, while breakfast was something rarely eaten and very simple
(Epigee). Food reflected traditions; during the 17th and 18th centuries, the food eaten was
representative of ones region and class (Steven Mintz). With jobs that required workers to be
able-bodied, such as mining or working in mills, having a high calorie diet made sense as those
calories would quickly burn off (Epigee).
Nowadays, jobs are not nearly as strenuous and do not require such a hefty diet. Yet,
peoples diets tend to play by the essentials of cost and convenience which is needed in todays
economy (Seth Doane). Countless individuals look to fast-food restaurants as a way to meet their
needs for food. In China, fast-food sales more than doubled between 1999 and 2005 (Epigee). As

Autumn Jones

said by Michael Pollan The food system in the last, say, 50 years, as it has industrialized; it has
made some incredible strides in terms of productivity, efficiency, cheapness. That being said, as
the food system grows more industrialized by nutritionism and agriculture is being strayed away
from, the human races health is declining with the quality of what is eaten.
Since the 1980s, food has been disappearing from the shelves to be replaced by
processed food-like products (Michael Pollan page 19). According to a recent study at the
University of Colorado, the nutrient density of food has declined significantly over the past 100
years. Nutrient density has declined roughly 40-60% within the past 100 years In fact, today the
food eaten has 50% fewer nutrients in comparison to what this generations grandparents ate. A
persons grandparent would have consumed about 131 pounds of homegrown vegetables every
year compared to 11 pounds today (Stoll, Scott).
People choose to eat foods that make health claims. Health claims should be the first sign
that it is not a real food seeing as though since it has a health claim on it, it is probably
processed. Adding to that, at least 1 in 4 Americans eat some type of fast food every day. A poll
also showed that 52 percent of Americans believed doing their taxes was easier than figuring out
how to eat healthy (11 Facts About American Eating Habits). In 1984, 72% of dinners were
home-made and in 2007, only 57% were (Seth Doane). This being said, the majority of mankind
doesnt seem to be occupied with knowing where their food comes from or how well their eating
habits are.
The amount of Americans that are overweight is two-thirds and the rate of having
diabetes has gone up 5% annually since 1990 (Michael Pollan page 89). While obesity is causing
major health problems, societys lust to be thin can be just as much of cause of sickness.

Autumn Jones

Orthorexia, or an unhealthy obsession with being healthy, is equally as bad as obesity.

Nutritionism has taken over the human race advertising products as no fat or singling out
nutrients, when in actuality, that fat and those nutrients are needed. Having those two major
problems, it is hard to get back to the way things were.
Over time, the quality of the human races eating habits has declined as a whole. At the
same time, the different health conditions people having developed has risen. So, what is in store
for the next hundred years in relation to food? Michael Pollans guess is that the food system
will look very different in 100 years, for the simple reason that the present one is in the
precise sense of the word unsustainable. We'll have much bigger problems on our plate than
what to have for dinner.

Autumn Jones

Works Cited
Pollan, Michael. In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. New York: Penguin Books, 2008.
Print.
Doane, Seth. "America's Changing Eating Habits." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 11 Feb. 2009.
Web. 31 Oct. 2013. <http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3445_162-4628085.html>.
"Epigee HOME." Epigee.org. N.p., 2013. Web. 31 Oct. 2013. <http://www.epigee.org/eatingpatterns-in-history.html>.
Mintz, Steven. "Digital History." Digital History. N.p., 13 Oct. 2013. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.
<http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/food.cfm>.
"Michael Pollan, The American Genius." Michael Pollan. Journal of the World Public Health
Nutrition Association, 1 Apr. 2013. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.
<http://michaelpollan.com/profiles/michael-pollan-the-american-genius/>.
Stoll, Scott. Has Your Food Changed Over the Past 100 Years? Fully Alive and Finishing Strong,
2012-2013. Web. 3 Nov. 2013. <http://www.fullyalivetoday.com/healthy- nutritionblogs/messages-from-dr-stoll/201-has-your-food-changed-over-the-past-100-

years>.

"11 Facts About American Eating Habits." Do Something. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-american-eating-habits>.