"Words are all we have."

Chapter 12 of “Food Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know” by Robert Paarlberg

Chapter 12: Organic and Local Food

Chapter 12 is significant because he really breaks down what the terms organic and local mean. Not only does he define these terms, he explains the history and background. He provides evidence that organic food is not actually any healthier than regular food, and shows that it is actual worse for the environment than regular farming. And on top of this, organic food will not save smaller farms.  Since most companies already source their food from larger farms, they will continue doing so, whether the food is organic or not.

Local food on the other hand is shown to be more costly with less benefits. Paarlberg explains that people are willing to pay top dollar for locally grown food. He also explains that local food actually results in a larger carbon footprint than food from other places, basically proving that the locavore movement has no actual effect on climate change. Paarlberg addresses the slow food movement, which goes hand in hand with the locavore movement. Paarlberg’s book is more objective on the subject of locavores, but his book is meant to explain all the politics behind food, not taking a position on a specific issue. 

CBS News on Locavores

Chapter 11 of “Food Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know” by Robert Paarlberg

Chapter 11: Agribusiness, Super Business and Fast Food

To understand the locavore movement it’s important to also understand the business behind agriculture and fast food.  Part of being a locavore is accepting slow food, so understand fast food is necessary. As farms become more and more industrialized, people began referring to them as agribusiness, on entity rather than multiple seperate entities.  This growing industrialization of the industry is one of the largest issues, a topic that McWilliams focuses on in his book “Just Food.”  This connects these two books.  However, McWilliams takes a strong stance against the locavore movement while Paarlberg focuses on both the pros and the cons. However, both books make it clear that the villains in the industry are the corporations that are making food their business. Four companies provide over 60 percent of our nation’s meat. This serves as evidence for a major change in the agricultural system. This also begs the question that supermarkets and stores control their customers. Paarlberg says “supermarket chains exploit their market power to raise the cost of food to consumers. When food prices rose sharply in the United States in the 1970s, Jim Hightower (of Hard Tomatoes fame) alleged that without the monopoly power of agri-business, food would have been 25 percent cheaper for the American consumer.”  With supermarkets controlling us, how can we make educated decisions on what to buy and what not to buy? This serves as evidence for change.

Chapter 6 of “Just Food: How Locavores are Endangering the Future of Food” by James E. McWilliams

Chapter 6: Merging Ecology and Economy: Perverse Subsidies, Rational Incentives, and the Path to Fair Trade

Subject: The subject of Chapter Six is six ways that people need to change their thoughts about food. By focusing his ideals down into six simple changes, he makes helping the agricultural industry seem easy.

Occasion:  The occasion is McWilliams dislike of the locavore movement. He believes that there are other much better alternatives to help the environment and help Americans to eat healthier than just eating local food. 

Author: The author is witty and well-researched. He clearly is passionate about his cause and his well developed book shows the evidence clearly.  He makes the book as interesting as possible, breaking down larger terms to help his audience understand and throwing in splashes of pathos.

Purpose: The purpose of the book is to show that the locavore movement is not the best way to make change and it’s a waste of energy.  Although it is helpful, we can help more by changing the way we think about food.

Tone: The tone is witty and researched.  He is clever with his words, frequently making puns and being sarcastic. But his wit covers the actual depth of the research he conducted.

Advantages of Eating Locally

Introduction of “Just Food: How Locavores are Endangering the Future of Food” by James E. McWilliams

“In a matter of years, the idea of eating locally produced food has come to seem so indisputably sensible that it’s almost a moral obligation to book a seat on the bandwagon headed for the closest sustainable farm” (McWilliams).

The introduction of “Just Food” already has me hooked. I’ve decided that the stance I’ll take on the locavore movement is that it is not the best solution to the economic, environmental, or global issues that it claims to fix. McWilliams book, in just the introduction, has called out the movement for being just another trend. He commends the locavores for their effort but states the truth plainly, “Eating local is not, in and of itself, a viable answer to sustainable food production on a global level (McWilliams). Despite his skepticism on the ability for the locavore movement to be successful, McWilliams maintains an incredibly respectful tone, reminding his readers that their efforts are worthy, just not the best way of being proactive.  However, regardless of his respect towards them, he makes his opinions very clearly known. He takes a very realistic take toward the issues in the agricultural system, which is refreshing.  In the introduction he addresses his readers directly, asking rhetorical questions and using his wit to make points. But underneath the surface of his flippant and punny writing lies hard evidence, quotes from experts, statistics, and more.  His logical appeal is sound, and his emotional appeal is accomplished through his humor.  I am really looking forward to learning more about the agricultural system and his ideas on how to help it. 

“Fresh and Direct from the Garden an Ocean Away” from the New York Times by John Tierney.

Subject: The subject of this article by John Tierney is how the locavore movement is essentially pointless. He follows Charles Mann, the author of “1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created” who enjoys local food, but understands its background.  

Occasion: As the popularity of the locavore movement grows, many people picking it up like a trendy fad, Tierney seeks to show that preaching about the morality of the movement is silly when the so called local foods actually originated halfway across the world.

Author: The author of the article seems to know a lot about Charles Mann, the focus of the article. He comes across as an incredibly intelligent person who knows a lot about globalization and how it affected society and in particular, food.

Purpose: Tierney purpose is to explain that the food we call local are actually just the results of globalization which has been occurring since Columbus landed in the New World. Through the Columbian Exchange, China got corn, Europe was introduced to the potato, and Brazil got coffee. Monarchs during this time period felt the same uneasiness toward this far away food as locavores are feeling today. But the nutritional benefits from these new foods helped them to quickly overcome these fears.

Tone:  The tone of the article is both informative, and a little condescending. It makes the locavore movement seem childish and uninformed by bringing up such large topics as the Columbian exchange and the fact that local foods originated in other places thousands of years ago.