food issues for kim woods

ESSAY 2: FOOD ISSUES

ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION In this second essay, you will examine a food-related issue, debate, or problem. This second essay is an argument essay and as such, your ultimate goal is to convince your audience of your position regarding the topic at hand (see below for topic suggestions). As a multiple- source essay, you will be required to use at least five (5) sources. These sources can serve to outline the issues in the debate; they can also serve as evidence to support your argument. GUIDELINES GUIDELINES FOR SOURCES • Minimum 900 words • MLA Format for cited work(s) • Includes well-written and organized paragraphs

• Includes an introduction, clear thesis, and conclusion

• Double-spaced

• Minimum of five (5) sources • Sources can be from academic journals, magazines, newspapers, and other periodicals

• Sources must have an author and come from reputable news sources or periodicals (No blogs or forums discussions)

DUE DATES • Research Question and Outline due Tuesday, May 30 • Workshop Draft Due Thursday, June 1 • Second Draft Due Friday, June 2 by midnight

FOOD FOR THOUGHT While there are have always been debates about how to tackle world hunger or magazines that have offered advice for perfecting the Thanksgiving feast, representations of food and the culture that surrounds it have seen a marked increase within the past decade. With the increased popularity of food shows and celebrity chef-dom, there is no shortage of “food porn,” whether on the television or your Instagram feed. As the visibility of food and good eating have risen, so too have more critical discussions surrounding the very consumption of this food. While your textbook discusses several key relationships, such as food and nutrition, or marketing and healthy lifestyles, the popular media has also begun to question how we understand food. A heightened awareness of the pleasures of food have also brought comes equal awareness of the issues surrounding such conspicuous gluttony. As you focus on possible issues or debates surrounding food, consider the ideas below. (Some of these ideas will be discussed in class): Food and ethics: Are Americans too wasteful in their food consumption?

Food and marketing: Should it be the government’s role to determine how food is marketed to children?

Ethnic food: Is it okay for a white family to open a Japanese restaurant?

Fad diets: What benefits does the paleo diet provide, if any?

Food and globalization: Has the industrialization of food ruined food cultures around the world?

Food and culture: What does it mean to be ‘authentic’ food?

Food and taste: How does one define what ‘tastes good’? What influences taste? CAVEATS While you are open to exploring technologies that you find interesting, there are some limits. You cannot examine the following food related issues (for what one hopes to be obvious reasons):

• Obesity, World Hunger (on a broad scale), Organic Food or GMO food