Post 7

P7: Read Pollan’s “An Animal’s Place,” the introduction to Estabrook’s Tomatoland, and the infographic by Cook. In what ways do these pieces trace the history and production of our food? How do they compare in their methodologies and findings?

 

All three of these articles argue the wrong-doings of the respective food industry that they are covering and how they should be different.  Pollan’s “An Animal’s Place” discusses the industrialized animal food industry and how terribly the animals are treated.  He explains that in different countries, mainly Europe, animals are now obtaining laws protecting them from certain execution and farming methods. Pollan also illuminates various ways we can eliminate this problem, something as simple as glass slaughter-houses so people may see what happens there.  Estabrook’s Tomatoland on the other hand deals with tomatoes, and how the industry in Florida affects the workers and the overall taste of the industrial tomato.  The infographic by Cook is merely a picture of chicken with mini-paragraphs around it, explaining the chicken industry in America and its effects on both the chicken and the worker.  None of these articles really go into great detail about the history behind these food methods, they really focus on the methods of production and how it affects the product and the laborer.  Surprisingly, most of them focus heavily on the laborer, more so than expected.  It’s amazing how terrible the working conditions are in some places in the U.S., Estabrook even said that there is actual slavery in the tomato fields of Florida, that it is a fact an American eats a tomato product picked by a salve here in the US.  The tomatoes don’t have any real feelings that compare to animals, which the other two articles focus on as well.  They both explain the conditions that animals endure; their whole lives are spent without doing something as simple as turning around or properly sitting.  Despite the differences on what is covered, they all explain how to fix these issues, if not hint at them.  Pollan said to create glass slaughterhouses, have better animal rights laws to prohibit certain farming methods and also different safety laws on both laborers and planting methods of tomatoes.