Blog 7_MagazineFoodAds

For the purpose of this blog I will be focusing on a 1950’s coca cola ad in a 1952 national geographic issue. I also found it difficult to find an abundance of “food” advertisements but I assume that a lot of the food ads would be conveyed in a similar fashion to this coke ad. The coke ad was very classic. There was a man and women leaning on couches with big smiles, relaxing with cokes in hand, dressed up, and engaging in delightful conversation. There was also another man on the side sifting through records. It portrayed a very happy time, with good laughter and coca cola drinks. This is different from how ads are often created today because advertisers are much more risqué, however it is still similar because it was trying to promote a good time. Food ads often show families talking and eating, or friends dining out and having a good time. They appeal to social interaction because that is what food is most often apart of. The coke ad does have more of a cartoon type effect though and people were extremely dressed up, where as currently a lot of ads for restaurants or milk you’d come across, you won’t find people in gowns and tuxes. If people are used, they look like you and me (but photoshopped). In general it was a very wholesome ad encouraging drinking coke to have an enjoyable time which is the same message that ads today also try to send. Ads just aren’t as wholesome these days.

Brennan, Ross. “Regulation of nutrition and health claims in advertising.” Journal of Advertising Research 48.1 (2008): 57-70

chocolat

First off I will start by saying I love chocolate and was amazed at how many different ways she was able to make chocolate like the chocolates made with chili pepper, little truffles, etc. and the time when they used it as a gravy and poured it over all their meal. It was crazy how much chocolate they had. And the acting was so good that every time they bit into a chocolate I craved one really bad. I do believe that chocolate can arouse people/help brighten their spirits because whenever im having a bad day chocolate can make it a litlle better. The themes I got out of the movie were that you shouldn't judge someone and try to turn against them if they don't do what you think is right. Just do what you think is right. And to go out of the box and try something new even though it's different , it doesn't always mean its bad. Ive learned from trying different foods that sometimes you have to break away from what society says is right and try it because you could be missing out on something wonderful. In Ram Samudralas movie review he brought up the idea that along with the town changing tradition and eating chocolate during lent Vianne learned to chang her ways as well and learned that following tradition can be harmful to her daughter. I didn't think of that theme relating to Vianne until i read the review. I read a few review and all of them enjoyed the movie as did I. And a lot of them all mentioned the great acting ability of Lena Olin and how convincing she changed characters from an abused klepto to a strong woman.

Review:
Vincent,Mal. "'Chocolat' is a tasty concoction flavored with European actresses." Virginian Pilot. Norfolk,VA. December 23, 2000. Pg. E.7 Proquest. Western Libraries, Bellingham. 25 May 2008

Chocolat

Oh my goodness...I like chocolate, but not THAT much chocolate. I read a review written by Marc Lourdes from the New Straits Times, December 1, 2007, titled Film Feast. I do agree with him when he makes the statement that this movie is purely eye candy. The film was definitely "pleasing to the eye," but in my opinion, a little too much pleasing to the eye and there was nothing else to it. There was just too much chocolate and though it was nice to look at, I got sick of it after awhile. I thought the plot of the movie was a really odd...to have a movie centered completely around chocolate. I would argue the person who created the idea of this film was a pure chocoholic. I find it strange that the little chocolate shop Vianne creates stirs up so much controversy in the little town. It seems very unrealistic. My mom mentioned to me that she saw this movie on a plane while on a trip to New York and she thought it was stupid, so I never bothered to watch it (since most of the other people I know that had seen it said roughly the same thing). Now I know why. It was just ridiculous, that chocolate was such a big deal in this village. The chocolate shop attracts a ton of attention, loathing feelings and suspicion, while at the same time arouses emotion and passion. I could see why the little Catholic town was so sheltered and pure, but it just seemed strange that chocolate would be the sin that begins to tear the town apart. It's just candy for crying out loud. The casting in this movie was weird too. Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche were kind of a strange pair. The fact that these too actors are very successful, didn't make the movie any better. I'm not really sure why this movie won several Academy Awards, but it definitely is a sappy, romantic movie that I would only watch with a bunch of girl friends. I doubt I could get my boyfriend to sit down to this whole movie and not be miserable. I do really like chocolate, but to watch an entire movie centered around it that really has no plot and strange combinations of actors, I doubt if I would watch it again by choice.

The review:

Lourdes, Marc. "Film Feast." New Strait Times. 1 Dec. 2007: pg 02. Proquest Newspapers. Proquest. Western Libraries, Bellingham. 22 May 2008 .

Blog 8- Chocolat

I remember back when my mom rented Chocolat and forced my dad to watch with her. She told me how good it was, one of her favorites. She may be biased with her love of cooking and baking. I think she really took the film to heart and the simple pleasures of chocolate. After watching the movie, I could see why she enjoyed it so much.

After watching it, I thought it was intriguing how much trouble chocolate could cause a town, but I guess when it’s set during Lent, it can become threatening. It’s amusing to think that chocolate can be threatening in this case or even at all. Yet, we see how drawn together the characters become over this intrigue of this small chocolate shop. Chocolate takes on this role of the supernatural as it changes the lives and relationships of the townspeople. Such a confection is world-renowned and universal and to use such a pleasantry as chocolate is cunning. Food is always something that gets people together.

I was surprised to actually read a review that wasn’t raving about Chocolat. Rob Vaux of the Flipside Movie Emporium: Movie Reviews and Commentary. His review gave Chocolat a C-...wow! There was disappointment in delivering the movie and thought it posed a lot of promising avenues but stuck close to the practical. He felt that there was a lot of “fluff” that moved this film from mediocre to extraordinary. “Like the creations in Vianne's window, Chocolat looks quite inviting... making it all the more bitter when we find its hollow center.” Overall, he was confused why people put this film in such high regard and comparison to the likes of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

Vaux, Rob. "Chocolat: C-." Flipside Movie Emporium: Movie Reviews and Commentary. 1 Mar. 2001. 24 May 2008 .

1950's Magazine Ads

As I looked through the magazines for food ads I didnt come across very many food ads, but thats the same as the magazines today where there arent very many food ads, the ads in magazines are more focused on clothes, alcohol, beauty products, etc. But the food ads I did find were all in color so they definitely stood out against the different articles. The first ad I found was found in the New York Times Magazine during Oct.-Dec. 1959 and it was for Lipton soups its tagline was "hearty fall eating starts with fresh home-cooked tasting lipton." The tagline and the picture of soup surrounded by fall leaves gives you the image that this soup is perfect for fall. But as I looked at the image of the soup it really did not look appetizing to me I think the difference between soup ads today and in the 50s is magazines today use graphics to make the soup look better than it actually is. I also found an ad for Farm House Ready-to serve chocolate cream pie. In the magazine LIFE from March-April 1955 I found canned pineapple and minute rice. Mostly every food item I found was a canned or boxed food item. This makes me think that they are trying to convince people to buy convenience foods. During this time period women were trying to find quicker and easier ways to make meals and I think magazines noticed this growing popularity and started to put canned food items in their magazines.

Academic/Scholarly Article:
Outlaw, Joe L. "Washington Scene." Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm and Resource Issues. 2005 4th quarter. Vol. 20 Issue 4, p 215-216.

The New Yorker in 1950

The first thing that I noticed as I leaf through the pages of December 1949 – February 1950 New Yorker is the name brands that I recognize. From many of the liquors (which I know we are not commenting on, but still) to the airlines company TWA, Norelco razors, and Rolex watches. Although I am not sure if TWA went bankrupt recently or not, I am fairly certain the rest of these companies are still in business today. Even Abercrombie and Fitch had an ad! With few exceptions, the people featured in the advertisements have big bright smiles, looking absolutely thrilled with whatever the product is they are attempting to sell. The people are mostly cartooned figures usually positioned towards the product (very lifelike) with great interest and/or enjoyment. It looks to me like the typewriter that is being advertised on one page is the greatest thing that has ever to the family and will be life changing. The only food advertisement I found that was food related was Kippered Herring, featuring a mother herring bathing her baby herring in the bathtub to show how well cleaned and packaged in the can this brand of herring is. Wow, does mother herring sure look happy about scrubbing her child for your consumption! The message I that this ad seems to be putting out is how much Crosse & Blackwell care about your health and safety by taking the time to package the herring in such a way. Every other ad is mostly for tobacco, alcohol, and clothing/perfume. I suppose readers of The New Yorker were more concerned with fashion and things of that nature that what kind of herring they were going to eat for dinner that night.

Ameena Batada, Maia Dock Seitz, Margo G Wootan, Mary Story. American Dietetic
Association. Journal of the American Dietetic Association. Chicago: Apr 2008. Vol. 108, Iss. 4; pg. 673

Blog 7- Magazine Ads

It took me awhile to find the magazine section of the library for this blog assignment but it was interesting checking out the lower level of the library. When I finally came to the room I checked through a couple Life magazines. I looked at the 1936 volume which I believe is one of the earliest sets if not, the earliest. It was kind of difficult looking through the already-worn and discolored pages as I tried to flip the pages without making it worse than they already were. There were so many ads for alcohol which I never realized that most of the ads were alcohol with a couple food or item ads. Since we couldn’t use those ones, I came across 2 Campbell’s soup ads- December 7 and 14 of 1936…

The first one’s headline said: Campbell Soups are Condensed to Give You Double Value. It had a scene of a grocery aisle with the shelved soup cans and all the varieties (21 at the time). On the right side was the woman on the right side was younger, dressed in black dress and hat with a huge fur trim, red lip, a hand placed on her hip with red painted nails, and a smile. On the left was the grocery clerk-white older male with his left hand holding up a can and his right hand using a pencil to point at the can. I thought that the woman’s dress and demeanor seemed to outshine the product. It was particularly awkward how the clerk needed a pencil to point at the can. I had no idea how to read that gesture. Overall, the ad pumped up the value of this product because it is a condensed soup but with still reasonable prices. The Campbell’s girl cartoon in the corner highlights this very fact.

The second one’s headline read: An Old Fashioned Soup Goes to Town-with the attention drawn to the chicken noodle soup. It featured two women, one on either side of the headline. The woman on the left is completely covered in an older Victorian dress and her facial expressions were of her eyes closed, very reserved, coy, and quaint. On the opposite side you see the woman is in a fur coat but only reaches below the knee and we actually see her heels. Her face is more attentive from the profile angle which prominently shows her facial features as well as her eyes being open. Event he cartoon girl was featured kind of ashamed or embarrassed to be still in the Victorian era dress.

I was surprised to see that the Campbell’s look has not changed much since then as well as the ads. I thought what set the ads apart from modern advertising was how the people were portrayed and the issues that they threw out to the audience for attention which gauged the changing times. You can see the women of society really changing and advancing already just through Campbell’s soup ads.

Adam Mack. "Food Is Love: Food Advertising and Gender Roles in Modern America. " Journal of Popular Culture 40.2 (2007): 393-395. Research Library. ProQuest. WWU Library. 15 May, 2008.041 http://www.proquest.com.ezproxy.library.wwu.edu/

Help!! :(

Has anyone found sources on Italian weddings and food??? I've been at the library for a good chunk of the day and I've found sources on Italian weddings, but nothing that mentions food in detail...
Should we change our topic?

Blog Assignment #7- Food Ads

I chose to examine the New York Times Magazine from January 4th, 1953 Section 6. It was hard to find food ads, but the 4 ads I did find had many things in common.
Ad #1 was for Carolina Brand Rice. It was a simple ad, with a large simple box packaging the rice. There was a woman in a sexy evening gown holding the box up and singing "praises" to how good the rice was supposed to be. The ad stated, "There's nothing really finer than Carolina...the extra long grain rice." The lettering was bold on the ad and emphasized the main point of the ad, such as "Carolina," "extra long grain" and "finer." This ad, though very simple (and VERY 50's) was strikingly similar to food ads that we see today, using women in sexy clothing to sell a product.
Ad #2 was for Golden Mix (for griddle cakes and waffles). The packaging was, again, a simple box with bold lettering emphasizing the main point of the add. This ad had no people portrayed in it. It was simply a box of the product and big bold letters that stated, "Don't waste syrup, milk and butter on ordinary pancakes! Use Golden Mix and enjoy the world's finest!" Again, we see the word "finest" used once more to explain the status or quality of the product.
The third ad was for Arnold Brick Oven Loaf and the ad had a large fat man in a baker's hat holding the oven loaf, smiling. The ad said, "Brick Oven is the finest white bread we ever baked! The very finest U.S.A butter in the Arnold Brick Loaf is rated a 93." In this advertisement, the rating of "93" is never really explained and I assume people are supposed to assume that means it's rated 93/100, but like I said, it's very unclear. Here we see the word "finest" used two different times in this one ad. Perhaps this word was a popular word in the early 1950's, I really don't know. But it was poppin' up like crazy all over these ads.
The last ad I examined was for Land O' Lakes Sweet Cream Butter. The ad states, "From the rich Land O' Lakes, America's finest butter." And once again, "finest" is used to describe the butter. The ad was very colorful and the bold lettering was used to emphasize "finest."
All of these ads were very simple, with big bold lettering and very similar words used to advertise the products. I noticed in many of the other ads I saw (food, clothing, tobacco, alcohol, etc.) women's sexuality was used to attempt to lure people in to looking at the ad and possibly wanting to but the product. This is something that is very prevalent today, and it was surprising to see that as a common advertising strategy, even in 1953. I'm a sociologist, so don't get me started on the issue of exploiting women for profit, and the abuse of women's sexuality to sell items. My blog will be 100 pages long.

A good read:

Dixon, Helen G., Maree L. Scully, Melanie A. Wakefield, Victoria M. White, and David A. Crawford. "The effects of television advertisements for junk food versus nutritious food on children's attitudes and preferences." Social Science & Medicine 65.7 (2007): 1311-1323.

(the title of the journal is supposed to be underlined and the second and third line of the citation should be indented, but the computer won't do it for some reason, just as an FYI.)

assignment with blog groups

hey group!! how are you? im so sorry i couldnt make class earlier in the week. I've been feeling under the weather and could not muster enough energy to come to class. However,  i talked to our teacher, Paul Piper and spoke to Britani and we have come up with the solution for me to put our paper together and add transitions inbetween each section so the paper flows nicely. Along with putting the paper together i will do the MLA citation. So if you guys would willingly give me the title of your source that'd be great. If there is anything else you would like me to do, then please let me know. However, for now, this is what i have been assigned to do, so if you could all post it by at least sunday night then I will be able to put it together monday and email it out to you. Thanks so much.  See you guys!!!!!!!!!!!

Blog 6- anything food

Do you ever hang out with people and either automatically set a "food hang out" or somehow always find yourself ending up eating anyway? I remember talking with my friends about this as we were waiting for dinner one night- how ironic. We decided to hang out later one evening and as we tried to figure out an agenda it was either too late or too expensive. Yet, for some reason, we all found enough cash to grab some food and chill. It was an interesting observation having been eating with this particular circle of friends a numerous amount of times. It was interesting even outside of my own circle of friends that food was a great subconscious social gathering. I never realized how much food motivates presence and engagement whether to invite people to a meeting/event or to an informal, random, last minute hangout session. In talking with some people at work they feel the same way to the point of effecting their diets.

So, actually we've come to the point of making a joke about how we always eat when we hang out, whether homemade, processed food, fast food, or sit down AND at pretty much all hours of the day. It gave us the idea that we should start documenting our food escapades on film. It was a chance to be a food critique and a kind of guide. This idea catered to our discussions frequently. It made us question about food critiques and jobs associated with food especially the infamous ice-cream taster! On that note, who thought that wasabi ice-cream at Coldstone was a good idea?!

Harris, Marvin , and Eric B. Ross, eds. Food and evolution : toward a theory of human food habits. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1987.

Dickson, Paul. The great American ice cream book. New York : Atheneum, 1972.

We all want food: fast and perfect

A topic related to anything that has to do with food?

Alright, here we go. I work at Little Ceasers and I'm around food a lot! I prepare it, I make it, I cook it, I sell it, I clean up after it. The whole 9 yards.

After working in a food joint for awhile, I've come to realize that people (and I'm generalizing) are very picky and emotional about their food. I really don't understand why. Maybe it's just something we've been socialized into feeling. It kind of ties into the idea of when we shop for produce, we always search for that piece of fruit that hasn't been tainted, scratched, cut, bruised or anything. You know what I'm talking about....

Well, people are the same way about food that is cooked by someone else and they still expect perfection of their own standards. People like food quick, fast and perfectly prepared.

(Hence the zillions of fast food restaurants in America on every corner). Customers come into Little Ceasers expecting their pizza to magically be ready the moment they get their change and their receipt. And most of the time (key word=most), customers are in a good mood when they come in to order food.

However, that mood instantly changes the moment they are told their pizza will be ready in 15-20 minutes.

It doesn't seem like that long to wait for a pizza, in my opinion. But 15-20 minutes isn't instant and that's what people want: instant, perfect food.

Um, sorry...not really possible.

SOOOOOOO, my question is as follows: how have we, as a society, become so socialized into wanting instant, perfect food? It's obviously something that we all want and strive for. We have science now to help us create bigger, better, greener produce. We have fast food, we have huge stores like Costco that sells in bulk, we have more convenient ways of getting food than any other country.  We want instant food, and perfect food ALL the time.

Things didn't use to be like that. Farming used to be the norm. It took months to grow food, we had to prepare our own meat and dairy, we had to make everything from scratch.

Now, we can get fruit and vegetables anytime of the year, and the only effort needed for harvesting food is making a trip to Fred Meyer to shop conveniently for food that has been fully prepared for us to take home.

What's happened to us?

Do we not have enough time to wait 20 minutes for our pizzas to be ready anymore?

A good read:

Staten, Vince. Can you trust a tomato in January?: everything you wanted to know (and a few things you didn't) about food in the grocery store. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.

(For some reason, my computer won't underline the title. So the title: "Can you trust a tomato in January?: Everything you..." should be underlined in my citation.)

Cars and Calories

While I was a senior in high school, I was required to take a Citizenship class. In hindsight, that is a very strange thing to name a class that students are forced to take in their final year of schooling before being set free into the “real world.” Citizenship class? Was I supposed to be learning to be a good citizen? We had a series of guest speakers come into the class to lecture on various topics. Representatives from the Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian parties came, Vietnam veterans, Iraq war soldiers who were home on leave, and the list goes on and on. A lot of these speakers sparked great conversation and dialogue in class, a chance for students to really engage and debate with one another.

One of the few points that I really remember three and half years later came at the start of class one day. We had no guest speaker that day, but the teacher was joking with the students about some of the food choices we had made during our lunch break. This teacher had a way of getting students engaged and forcing us to think, even if it was in a potentially controversial way. On this day, one student bought some coffee to drink from the cafeteria during lunch. The teacher asked how we all felt that the school was selling us drugs. Caffeine was being pumped into our little blood streams for just three dollars or less every day, a legal drug that surrounds us in some of my favorite drinks. I never thought of caffeine as a drug, or in that way. It was an extreme viewpoint, but it sparked some interesting thoughts.

The teacher then went on to comment on how most people seem to worry more about what they put into their cars than what they put into their bodies. That line in particular struck a chord with me and I often think about that when filling up my gas tank. I’m not one for fast food, and just because it is cheap and easy does not mean it is the best choice for me. The same goes for gasoline I put into my car, but I worry far less about things like that. It seems to be the opposite for most people. I still wonder why that is.

Freeman, Andrea. "Fast Food: Oppression Through Poor Nutrition." California Law Review Dec2007, Vol. 95 Issue 6, p2221-2259, 39p

Blog 6

Food to me is more than just something to give me energy so I can go about my day. It is something I really enjoy and at times I admit I use it as a way to comfort myself when I have a bad day or cook when Im stressed and need a break. One thing that is weird is as a kid I was kind of picky about certain foods, but as I grow up and open my mind to new foods I find that foods I didnt like as a kid i love now, for example I didnt like asparagus or spicy foods and after opening my mind to them I now love them both. I find it very important to try new foods. Traveling to different places has taught me to not be so close minded for example I tried rabbit when I was in Spain which was something I was very stand offish about because when I think of rabbit I think of it as a pet, but after eating it I found it to be pretty good and something I would have again. But if I was to just stay close minded and never try any of the foods I tried I wouldnt be able to experience all the great tastes the world has to offer. Also while traveling I learned that food is more than just something you eat, in other cultures it is a way to show you respect someone. In Spain I was given a full plate of food by a woman who had spent all day cooking and preparing it and I was told by my friend that if I didnt eat the entire plate of food she gave me it would be disrespectful so even though i didn't like all the food that was in the dish and was extremely full I ate it all to show her respect. Also different parts of the world have different customs that they do around dinner time for example, when I was in France a lot of people would take walks after their meals as a social thing and to digest their food. It seems all parts of the world have customary things that they do around food. This summer im going to travel to Italy and I cant wait to try some of their food and experience their customs they have dealing with food.

Academic Journal citation:
Locher, Julie L., "Comfort foods: An Exploratoty Journey Into The Social and Emotional Significance of Food." Food and Foodways: History and Culture of Human Nourishment. Vol. 13 Issue 4, P 273-297 Oct-Dec 2005. Ebsco. Western Libraries, Bellingham. 11 May 2008. www.webebsco.com

Blog 6_ Food

Food is my best friend and my worst enemy. I love to eat. It takes up a lot of my energy and time. I love going out to eat and enjoying a nice dinner at restaurants with family or friends, but I also love cooking dinner, then having the pleasure of eating food that I have worked hard to prepare. My favorite food is noodles, any type of noodles too really. I love spaghetti and pasta, udon, pad thai noodles, top ramen, yakisoba, etc. Basically anything with noodles in it I will probably be quite fond of. Of course food is my best friend for these obvious reasons. It tastes good, it keeps me energized, and it’s often time to socialize as well when I eat. I love certain dishes from all types of cuisines. Classic American, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Italian, Indian, etc. I can pretty much find a way to eat even when I’m in places where I don’t like what is being offered. For example at some gatherings if there are only hamburgers and other dishes filled with beef or pork or sausage, I will eat buns and cheese with ketchup, which I actually think tastes really good. When I was abroad in Madrid and a lot of there food contained pork and other unknown substances to me, I went to the store and bought crackers, cheese, dip, vegetables, fruits, etc. So I never seem to have a problem with finding some way to eat. However it is my worst enemy because I can never stop. I will eat a meal until I can’t breathe. Then soon after I will be eating dessert, whether its ice cream or candy, or frozen yogurt. I am an emotional eater so when I am really stressed or even bored I will find myself eating everything in my cabinet even when I’m not hungry. It is uncommon that I forgot to eat a meal or pretty rare that I will go very long without eating, but if it doest happen and I go for an extended period of time without eat I get really lightheaded and grouchy. Also, I spend more money on food than anything else. I will look through my statements and see that way too many dollars are spent on groceries and eating out every week. So I would say I definitely have a love-hate relationship with food.

Trela, Christopher. "Dining out and Eating Healthy." OC Metro Business. Spring (2008): p. 18

Blog 5

I thought that the film The Future of Food took on a growing dilemma with our agriculture and farming. It was interesting bearing witness to the development of genetically manipulated foods and the tolls it took on patenting. I never knew about Round Up and the seeds and how the company pretty much bought out the entire market. With the patenting now being able to be used on genes and anything that it can inhabit, the ownership policies are harder to escape. It was surprising how patenting of genes quickly took a toll on food sources. With that, I never realized how much our agriculture and farming really effect other countries in their agriculture and farming habits in their production of crops. I guess I didn't see the extent of the harm of all paperwork and government involvement in patenting but I have come to see the greater effects as time passes on.

The film makes me more weary of the food I eat, then I begin to think about how much of my food isn't already somewhat tainted. I think that even without the genes the soil and our land in itself is a polluted foreground for crops. Another thing I thought about was the goal of the green revolution in feeding everyone was a good idea but the fact of the matter is that we already have enough food to go around, it's just not being shared. the film also brought attention to this but I think one of the most interesting areas that was discussed not in much detail was the suicide gene which allowed the crop to not produce more crop once it is harvested. I never heard about such a thing but it made me more attentive to the effects of this gene if it somehow got out and destroyed needed crops especially in other countries that rely on farming and agriculture life to survive.

Enserink, Martin. "Preliminary Data Touch Off Genetic Food Fight." Science 283.5405 (1999): 1094-96. 2 May 2008.

Blog5_TFOF

The future of Food kept me surprisingly captivated. Since the video covered a lot of information I am going to share my thoughts on certain topics I found most interesting. The video reminded me of how important it is to understand issues with genetic modification and to learn more about the processes. With all this genetic modification going on, the concerns with companies claiming ownership of genes then stating that they own wherever the gene goes definitely is reason to be apprehensive about the future. Corporations have so much power in America it is quite frightening when you really break it down and observe how much control they have because they are driven by profit. Some things that caught my attention were that 80% of beef is processed by four companies’ seeds and that whatever generates the most profit will be in our supermarket if these multination corporations continue to take over the food industry. It was concerning when the video reported that the Food and Drug Administration is responsible for safety of food, but since GMOs are considered substantially equivalent to regular food, it falls into GRAS, meaning the government doesn’t require testing or labeling. Personally if the FDA is convinced that GMOs and fresh food are substantially equivalent then I don’t understand the trouble behind labeling GMOs for consumers. I don’t necessarily have any qualms or fears about eating genetically modified foods but I understand that no one can know for certain there will not be any side effects in the future. Therefore there are surely going to be people who fear eating any type of food that has been genetically modified and I think as consumers who are buying and eating the food, we have a right to know what we are putting into our bodies. I thought a good point raised in the video was when someone mentioned that “without labeling, there’s no real traceability and if there are health effects, it is difficult to collect data of GMO problems, and corporations can’t be held responsible.” If you get a bad reaction from a food that has been genetically modified but you don’t know it has been genetically modified, how is anyone ever going to find out if the genetic modification is correlated with the bad-reaction? I thought it was unfair that USA has sold millions of GMOs to other countries like Mexico. GMOs being exported didn’t seem right especially when there are places where GMO labeling is required. It was upsetting to see the problems it presented for so many Mexicans with the genetically modified corn. Another upsetting part of the video was Percy’s story. The fact that he had to destroy over 1000 pounds of his own seeds because of contamination was devastating to hear. Monsanto was a huge corporation trying to sue thousands of farmers because they have patented this seed that has contaminated places without the farmers’ choice and without any possible way for farmers to control the contamination. They are stripping farmers of their history, pride, love, and work to generate profit.

 Wolfe, Anna. "Labeling The Clones."  Gourmet news 73.3 (2008): 7

Is that why my strawberries are so big...?

Ok, so here's the ironic thing. When I went to the library to watch the video, I smuggled in a few strawberries that I had just bought from Fred Meyer only hours before. And I munched on them as I watched the video. During the video, I couldn't help but examine the strawberries I was eating and realize exactly how abnormally large they were. No strawberry I'd ever grown as a kid in the backyard garden EVER grew to be even close to the size of the ones I was eating today. Genetically modified? Ha...most likely. :(

I'll be honest, I haven't really thought a lot about genetically modified foods and I have a feeling it's because I was never really educated about the subject. Well, until now.  After watching the movie, I'm extremely angry at how our government treats small family farmers.  I felt really bad for all the farmers that lost their court cases. It seems so unfair and I wish big companies didn't have so much power. Eventually, all the small family farmers (that produce AMAZING, DELICIOUS food) will be wiped out. I really think supporting local farmers is extremely important. If all the local family farms are wiped out because they can't compete with the "big boy" companies, than we may be stuck eating a lot more genetically modified food that we'd like to be eating in the very near future.

That brings me to my next idea. Genetically modified food (GMF). In my opinion, it's really gross to think that some food travels thousands of miles before getting to the consumer and on top of it, it may be genetically modified too. When I saw that during the video, I got slightly grossed out. That's a lot of time/distance for many unmentionable things to come in contact with that food, not to mention the lack of freshness. I'm sorry, but any food that travels over a thousand miles isn't fresh, and I won't let anyone else tell me otherwise. And lets talk about the possible horrible long term effects of eating GMF, shall we? Way back in the 20's, everyone smoked tobacco because apparently no one thought it was bad for them. Now, we are all well aware that smoking tobacco has very fatal long term effects on various vital organs in the body. Well, how about GMF? They tell us that eating food that's been altered to being a certain color, to be bigger (like my strawberries, ick!), etc is ok to do, but do we REALLY know the effects of eating a bunch of that stuff.?

No, we don't. And that's a really, really big problem. We don't know the long term effects of eating GMF because it's such a new and recent thing, we haven't gotten a chance to see any bad effects. Give it 25 years or so, and I have a feeling there's going to be bad news with regards to eating food that's been modified.

SO, moral of this story is that GMF is sketchy and companies should be required to label food that has been genetically modified. I'm sure most people aren't really educated about the issue, so at this point if someone saw a little sticker on their box of strawberries at Freddie's that said GMF, they would be like "whatever." But if they do start to see negative effects on the human body, I would hope to God that companies would have to label GMF. Just like cigarettes, they come with a warning label (or at least, they're supposed to, even if it is ridiculously small print.) But hey, family farmers are awesome. Let's support them! Buy their food because they grow food the way it should be grown; all natural. And like the movie said, if all the third world countries started farming again, people wouldn't be starving. I'm optimistic that big corporations won't take over the food world.

And as for my strawberries, well let's just call that a learning curve....

A good read:

Ellen, Pam Scholder and Paula Fitzgerald Bone. "Stained by the Label? Stigma and the Case of Genetically Modified Foods." Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 27 (2008): 69-82. ebsco reserach library. Ebsco. Western Libraries, Bellingham 4 May 2008.

Genetically Modified Food

This video was very informative for me to watch because i had no idea that large companies were patenting seeds, etc. and taking crops away from farmers who use those seeds or pesticides. This made me angry because when the companies file law suits against farmers they discourage many people from farming, people would rather not want to get into that mess and most farmers today are losing money trying to compete with these large companies so the amount of people farming is decreasing. I think we need to have more people in the world farming; like the video said if people in third world countries brought back farming then not as many people would be starving in the world and with farming you dont have genetically modified food. This video made me think about the future and how genetically modified food is just going to get worse, because of our increasing population we are going to need more food and the government is going to have genetically modified food be the answer to the food shortage problem. I believe that we should have labels on genetically modified foods because many people get sick and dont know the reason for it and if their food was labeled as being genetically modified then they can use the food as a possible factor for their illness. After watching this film it really made me wonder what some of the side effects are for me eating genetically modified foods because for example, i love strawberries and i know the strawberries i get from the store are probably genetically modified but I dont know what exactly the genetically modified foods are doing to my body, it makes me very curious on what the side effects are. Ive been eating genetically modified foods for awhile now and do so without thinking about it or fearing it, but I think that if I knew the harm it was causing me then I would be more concerned.

Citation:
Costa-Font, Montserrat., Gil, Jose., and Traill, W. Bruce. "Consumer Acceptance, Valuation of and Attitudes Towards Genetically Modified Food: Review and Implications for Food Policy." Food Policy April 2008, Ebsco Research Database. Western Libraries, Bellingham. 4 April 2008. http://web.ebscohost.com/

Government Involvement

While watching this film, I felt very frustrated and angry with the way that our government has handled the treatment of family farms throughout the nation, as well as into Canada and Mexico. The information presented made the U.S. seem to be this monster that is set on receiving royalties from everything and everyone they can by patenting organisms and seeds. I think this is plain wrong. I also feel irritated that so many of the politicians that should be the allies of these small family farmers are the same people that are benefiting at their expense, profiting from either part ownership or employment in the very companies that seem to be trying to put these farmers out of business. I feel the same way about Dick Cheney’s involvement with Haliburton. This energy and oil company (and consequently, the vice president) is profiting off the Iraq War after being contracted by the U.S. government to build and maintain military bases in the Middle East through the Army's Logistics Civil Augmentation Program.

I fully support the alternative foods movement, as we’ve been discussing in class, that encourages buying produce from local farmers at Farmer’s Markets. It builds the community by supporting one another and fights the tide of corporate take over with the food that is delivered to groceries stores (which as they said in the film, travel thousands of miles on average before getting to the consumer). I really had no appetite after watching this, and I am now weary and nervous to eat most things for fear they are likely genetically modified. I don’t know what the long-term consequences would be for me physically, but I do understand how it is effecting people globally now, and that is enough to make me want to change my food choices. I hope in the future that foods will be labeled as being genetically modified so we know what we are eating. But I suppose ignorance is bliss, eh?

Smith, Ron. “GMO peanuts could improve health.” Southeast Farm Press; 4/9/2008, Vol.

35 Issue 11, p6-11, 2p. EBSCOhost Research Database. http://web.ebscohost.com.