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Professor Hebert

ENG 111

20 October 201x

Essay #2 Final

Obesity has become a serious topic of debate in the United States. In 2002 David

Zinczenko wrote “Don’t Blame the Eater” where he talks about two important issues: Fast food

restaurants and the need for government action. Years later in 2014, Ian Crouch wrote “Fast

Food Doubles Down” where he talks about the different ‘items’ that fast food restaurants create

such as the KFC’s “Double Down chicken sandwich,” (Crouch) and how fast food lacks good

nutrition. Although they bring up different points in their essays, both authors focus and bring

awareness to the problems caused by consuming fast food, lack of nutrition and need for

government action.

Zinczenko’s essay “Don’t Blame the Eater” focuses on his personal experiences and the

effects that fast food restaurants had in his life as a child/teenager. In addition, Zinczenko talks

about the damage that fast food has on children, and how it’s affecting their lives with health

problems like obesity and Type 2 diabetes for example. Zinczenko’s purpose of his essay is to

bring awareness of the need for government action to provide proper food laws and regulations,

as well as food labeling. In “Fast Food Doubles Down,” one of Crouch’s main points is that even

though the government has created food laws and regulation, fast food restaurants are still

‘creating’ and offering unhealthy food options. He also points out how Americans continue in

making poor eating choices. Crouch demonstrates that even though some government action has

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been taken, food laws and regulations are not being implemented properly and that they still need

improvement.

Zinczenko starts out his essay by telling his personal experience with fast food.

Zinczenko states, “[l]unch and dinner for me, was a daily choice between McDonald’s, Taco

Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken or Pizza Hut” (Zinczenko 241). As a result, “[b]y age 15,”

(Zinczenko 241) he “had packed [on] 212 pounds of torpid” (Zinczenko 241) weight.

Zinczenko’s personal experience of gaining weight due to ‘unhealthy eating’ helps him bring

awareness to readers of one of the consequences of eating too much fast food. In addition, he

points out a very important fact in his essay. Zinczenko writes “according to the National

Institute of Health, Type 2 diabetes accounts for at least 30 percent of all new childhood cases of

diabetes in this country” (Zinczenko 242). He adds these statistics to prove that fast food has

affected children’s health by increasing the percentage of children with type 2 diabetes.

According to Zinczenko, “before 1994, diabetes in children was generally caused by a genetic

disorder-only about 5 percent of childhood cases were obesity related or Type 2, diabetes” (242).

As a result of too much fast food consumption, children in America are becoming more obese

and suffering from diabetes.

Zinczenko’s main point in this essay is to bring awareness to the government of the need

for creating food laws and to require fast food restaurants to provide proper food labeling. He

states, “[w]ithout such warnings, we’ll see more sick, obese children” (Zinczenko 243).

Zinczenko points out that if the government doesn’t take action in this matter, the percentage of

children with obesity and diabetes will continue to increase.

To add to this complex issue, in Ian Crouch’s essay “Fast Food Doubles Down,” Crouch

also shows different points on how fast food restaurants continue to ‘create’ and provide

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unhealthy food choices for Americans. One of the examples that Crouch uses is “an ad for the

Double Down re-release” (Crouch) from KFC restaurants. The ‘famous’ Double Down consisted

of “two pieces of fried chicken in the places where you would normally expect to find a bun”

(Crouch). Crouch quotes Sam Sifton, who is “[t]he Times restaurant critic,” (Crouch) on his

reaction of the KFC’s Double Down. Crouch states that “Sifton called the creation a ‘new low’”

(Crouch). According to Crouch the Double Down was “a deep-fried symbol of American

gluttony gone wild, and a sure harbinger of end times” (Crouch). In other words, Crouch is

warning people of the poor nutrition in the Double Down, and how Americans continue to make

unhealthy eating choices.

In addition, Crouch used nutrition facts to show how the Double Down was a very

unhealthy food choice, just like all the other food options offered in fast food restaurants. Crouch

states that not only is the Double Down “threatening” (Crouch), but it is also “about fifty percent

of a day’s recommended fat, cholesterol, and sodium” (Crouch). He is showing readers how in

one ‘single serving’, a person is consuming half of what is the daily recommended amount.

Aside form the importance of good nutrition in food, Crouch points out that fast food restaurants

are providing food choices with a too many calories. Zinczenko and Crouch both point out in

their essays the importance of improving nutrition in food and the role the government plays in

this debate.

Zinczenko’s essay “Don’t Blame the Eater” was written fourteen years before Crouch’s

“Fast Food Doubles Down” essay. At that time there were no food laws or regulations. The most

important point that they both make is about the governments need to take action. Crouch

explains that “[i]n 2008, New York City passed a law requiring fast-food chains to post calorie

counts on their menus” (Crouch). As time passed more cities started to follow and apply the

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same requirements. Although most fast food restaurants started to provide consumers with

calorie information, Crouch also explains that “not all of government’s attempts at regulation

have been successful,” (Crouch)and that “social scientist have questioned their effectiveness in

improving general health” (Crouch). In other words, Crouch is pointing out that even though fast

food restaurants have implemented some calorie and nutrition laws, there is still much more that

needs to be done by the government to improve health problems like obesity.

Zinczenko and Crouch emphasize throughout their essays the problem that fast food

restaurants have become for Americans. In one hand, Zinczenko experienced first hand the

effects that eating too much fast food can have in a person. Zinczenko explains how important it

is for the government to start food laws and regulations to help lower the percentage of children

and adults with obesity and Type 2 diabetes. On the other hand, Crouch’s essay was written

years after Zinczenko’s attempt in bringing awareness to the government about food laws and

labeling. Crouch explains that although government action has been taken, fast food restaurants

continue to offer food with poor nutrition and a high number of calories.

Unfortunately, the food laws and regulations that have been created are not being

followed as they should, therefore fast food restaurants continue to ‘create’ and provide

unhealthy food choices for Americans. Both authors argue that the government needs to act and

find ways of improving the food options available for Americans. If nothing is changed or done,

Zinczenko and Crouch agree that there will be more and more people affected by the

consumption of fast food and fast food restaurants will continue to be a serious problem for

Americans.

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Works Cited

Crouch, Ian. “Fast Food Doubles Down.” The New Yorker” n.p. 25 April 2014. Web. 27 Oct

2015.

Zinczenko, David. “Don’t Blame the Eater.” “They Say/I Say”: The Moves that Matter in

Academic Writing. Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein. 3rd ed. New York: WW Norton

&Co., 2014. 241-243. Print.