Why Do We Eat & What We Eat?

Essay 3: How We Eat

900 words minimum

Sources Required: Two outside sources plus the two supplied in the prompt. One must support your side of the argument and one must support the other side. You may use more than four sources if you like.

This essay should be written in the third person. The essay must be 900 words minimum. You may write more than 900 words, but do not write less or your grade will be lowered. The amount of points lost will depend on how short the essay is and is at my discretion. Consider the following as a guideline: the amount of points deducted will not exceed the percentage of words missing from the required word count. If you wish to contest the amount deducted for length, you must email me a copy of your essay so that I can see the actual word count minus header and works cited.

Be sure to use textual references to back up your ideas and to use MLA format to cite those textual references in in-text citations and a have a works cited page. Failure to do this will result in a lower grade. Failure to cite appropriately could result in a plagiarism charge. If you are having problems, ask me or visit the Learning Center for help. Not using sources or omitting the works cited page will result in a penalty of 10 points off the essay grade. Remember, no Wikipedia sources will be accepted.

The assignment requires the use of at least two sources outside our text. It is your responsibility to find the sources. At least one of the articles/sources must disagree with the side you are supporting in your essay. If you are having problems, contact the librarian for help. Not using sources or not having a works cited page will reduce your grade by a minimum of 10 points.

All essays must be submitted both onto Canvas and with a hard copy in class on the due date.

Francine Prose, in her essay “The Wages of Sin,” discusses whether there should be organized “societal control” and monitoring of the obese. Caroline Knapp, in “Add Cake, Subtract Self-Esteem,” argues that for the most part society already does that in distinctly unpleasant although less organized ways. For this essay, argue for or against “societal control” over food and weight gain or loss using Prose’s and Knapp’s arguments as the core of your essay. Remember, the essays are to be based on the ideas presented the two articles and either quotation or paraphrase from the two articles is required (using proper citation).

In “Power Steer” by Michael Pollan and Paul Schwennesen's, “The Ethics of Eating Meat,” animal slaughter is discussed. Both discuss views of omnivores, people who eat both meat and vegetables. However, some people believe that all animal consumption is cruel and/or unhealthy. Construct an essay that examines these questions, using Pollan’s and Paul Schwennesen's essays as a starting point. You could compare the health issues involved with both ways of life, talk about how the animals are raised from a financial or ethical standpoint, reasons people become vegetarians or vegans, or any other topic you can come up with that involves the contents of the essays. Remember, the essays are to be based on the ideas presented the two articles and either quotation or paraphrase from the two articles is required (using proper citation).

In the recent past, there has been a lot of discussion about one celebrity or another trying the $29 challenge. This refers to trying to feed a family of four on $29 a week. Of course, they have little success and usually quit before the week is over. Erica Nicole Kendall, in her essay ”No Myths Here: Food Stamps, Food Deserts, and Food Scarcity” and Sam Dolnick, in “The Obesity-Hunger Paradox” discuss some of the issues surrounding the difficulties low-income families have not only in affording healthful groceries, but also finding them. Construct an essay that looks at the problems facing low income families trying to eat a healthy diet, on food stamps or not, using these two essays and any others from the text you might find useful and at least two articles from outside our book. Be careful about using blogs. You can use one as an example of the problems or someone who “took the challenge,” but that will not replace the two outside articles but rather would be in addition to them. This is to ensure a non-biased source base.