Sociology Paper #1

I remember watching and reading Super Size Me in middle school and Food INC. as well in high school. My initial reaction to Super Size Me was disgust. I found the way they treated chickens and how McDonald’s made their food disgusting. Just prior to viewing Super Size Me, I was already visiting fast food places like McDonald’s less frequently and after viewing Super Size Me I rarely ate at a fast food place. My visits to fast food places decreased at a rate to around once a year. However, as time passed my visits to fast food places slowly increased and by sophomore to junior year in high school I actually started to enjoy eating fast food again. By the time I saw Food INC around sophomore to junior year, I was desensitized to eating fast food because of the good taste, the speed, and especially the cheap prices. When I viewed Food INC for the first time in high school, I found it quite boring because I rationalized a belief that “food is food” so I didn’t care at all how food is made as long as it could fill my stomach.
Coincidentally, before my second viewing of Food INC in our first sociology class, I was in a renaissance of eating healthier. I wanted to lose some weight and maintain that healthier weight not by using a temporary diet but by changing my lifestyle. I decided to cut out processed foods as much as possible. I was also interested in the organic option over the conventional options at a Safeway for example so I did my research on organic food. While there isn’t hard conclusive evidence that non-organic food is surely harmful to the body, there were some interesting correlations with non-organic food and negative effects. Upon further research and article reading, I read that some foods should definitely be eaten organic versus food that doesn’t have to be eaten organically. For example fruits or vegetables with a thick covering like pineapple will be less affected by pesticides because the hard “shell” prevents the pesticides from getting to the edible parts. However, foods where you also eat the skin like apple should be eaten organically because one is eating where the pesticide has been sprayed on. I also read that meats don’t necessarily needed to be eaten organically because proper cooking kills the antibiotics used in meat. I personally would only eat certain vegetables and fruits organic because going completely organic is quite expensive. With this new knowledge of eating healthier, I understood Food INC very well during my second viewing. However, at first I felt like the movie was a big promotion to promote organic food because from what I read not everything needs to be eaten organically, but what I learned appreciated most from this movie was how sanitary organic farms were. Yes organic food may not necessarily be better for you, but the dirty work environments of non-organic farms and how they mistreat their workers have caused illnesses and job loss. For that reason only which I just learned, I support organic food. Not so much that organic is healthier for you; I’m starting to believe that organic is healthier is a placebo effect promoted by the organic companies. To really eat healthier, cutting out processed foods is the key, and not necessarily eating everything organic in my opinion.