Ethics and Food-
"None of us can avoid being interested in food. Our very existence depends on the supply of
safe, nutritious foods. It is then hardly surprising that food has become the focus of a wide
range of ethical concerns."1
I feel that food has a huge impact on everyone in one way or another. Whether it is people making it, selling it, eating it, or growing it. Food has much importance in the world today. Yes it is fact that we can not live without food. The question remains is, what food do we eat that we will also make us not live.
I was reading an article from the economists print edition that made some really great points when it comes to the ethics of food.
"THERE are no bad foods, only bad diets. So say many nutritionists, who object to the demonisation of some foods as junk. On the evidence, then, there are an awful lot of bad diets around. Two Britons in five are now overweight, and another one in five is obese. A nationwide weigh-in of 11-year-olds last year revealed that at least a fifth were obese—and since being weighed was voluntary and larger children were less likely to step on the scales, this was no doubt an underestimate. In November it was announced that teenagers who are so overweight that their lives are in danger would be able to get their stomachs stapled on the NHS."
This paragraph above was very interesting, in stating that there are no bad foods, yet bad diets...I disagree with this sentence. I feel that there are a lot of foods that simply should not be eaten. I think that kids growing up overweight, is a lack of a balanced between the food they are choosing to feed their kids, and the activities that they push their kids to do. I also feel if there was more of a balance of cooking at home, instead of going out to eat makes a big difference.
Self image has become such a big issue in the world today, that food has also affected people. People are growing up thinking that food is bad for you all together. Which then comes Anorexia,
Many girls already avoid dairy products because they fear gaining weight—but, partly as a result, more than a fifth of them have so little calcium in their diets that they risk going on to develop brittle bones.
This is not the only initiative on the menu to warn consumers off certain foods. Backed by the FSA, manufacturers and retailers are working on a “traffic light” scheme, with green, amber and red signs on the packaging of processed foods denoting whether their salt, sugar and fat content is low, medium or high.
There are quite a bit of differences between how food is used according to ethics. How much food is to much, and how little is to little. There are many different extremes that can affect someone when taking in food.
2 comments:
Hello first off I would like to say I liked how you mentioned children and how obesity is overcoming our youth. I think this should be a major concern and something needs to be done. I also like your other view point about self image and that eating to much or too litle is very important. Two improvements I would have to say are to talk more about each view point giving more examples of what should be done to correct the problem, and the quotation doesn't really support your beliefs so I'm wondering why you used it. The traffic light scheme on food products is new to me and I courious to know more about who is suggesting this and why not just eliminate the food products that are too high all together. Over all I think you have great view points and beliefs.
After reading your essay, I felt that it was effective.
I felt that the two best feutures of your essay were your uses of obesity and anorexia. Both of these examples, with regards to food, are very problematic. I thought they were used very effectively, like the example you used of obese children due to poor food choices and lack of activity, and the example you used of teenage girls avoiding dairy products to stay thin.
I felt that the two things that could of used improvement were your personal experiences with food and your presonal preferences in regards to food. I think those two elements would of really raised your essay to exemplary.
I did learn something new from your essay. I had no idea that companies are going to start adding the colored, warning bar on foods. That is just crazy! People need to get connected with themselves and make healthy food choices for themselves, rather than having a bar tell them.
And, the thing that most surprised me about your essay wasthe fact that Europe is now having higher incidences of obesity. That is scary!
Anyway, good job on your essay.
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