"Mom Where Does Food Come From"?

Pollan’s Article AN Animal’s Place was quite an interesting article. In many ways it exposed how our meat is produced in the United States and the manner in which it is done. He started off the piece mentioning that Germany became the first country in the world to grant animals constitutional rights. At first I thought that this was a little silly. But after reading I can see why they did that. I had always known that animals meant for consumption were brutally murdered. However when eating meat I never paid much attention to how these animals were treated so that I didn’t ruin my appetite. I thought it was interesting how Pollan focused on the idea of speciesism, which he compared, to racism. When I first read this I thought it was absurd to compare racism with the way we treat certain animals. Speciesism in a nutshell is the discrimination against animals. After reading this piece I still think it is absurd however I can see how people can make this argument. The way we treat certain animals is cruel. We get offended when we hear of people consuming dogs in other countries, however what we do to chickens cows and pigs is way more offensive. In the United States we hold certain animals above others. For instance we highly value cats and dogs. Because we afford them so much value we become upset when we hear of someone abusing them. Yet everyday thousands of pigs, cow , and chickens are brutally slaughtered and most of us don’t bat an eye. So I can see how one could argue the parallel between racism and speciesism. Yet even though I know that cows are being brutally slaughtered I still enjoy eating steak.

            Tomatoland by Estabrook was another interesting piece, which briefly traced the production of tomatoes in Florida. I thought it was interesting how since 1960 tomatoes have “30 percent less vitamin C, 30 percent less thiamin, 19 percent less niacin, and 62 percent less calcium” (p. x) as compared to today’s tomato. This is contributed to the mass production of tomatoes. Estabrook mentioned that the people working in the tomato fields are treated poorly as compared to other laborers in the United States. Many of the workers are living in poor conditions and receive little pay for the work that they do, yet the United States government turns the other cheek. However what I thought was most interesting was Estabrook’s experience with the tomato that would not break. Every summer since I can remember my parents have always planted tomatoes. These tomatoes are some of the reddest tomatoes I have ever seen and are also some of the most fragile. If you drop one of these tomatoes on the ground it is almost guaranteed that it will break, if not be heavily bruised. I can definitely relate to Estabrook’s experience with the tomato that would not break. During the winter when tomatoes aren’t able to grow in the rainy Oregon climate we buy our tomatoes at the store. I’ve dropped several of these tomatoes on the ground and they really do not break. Most of the time they appear unharmed by the fall.

            The last article to me was the most interesting. Cook’s Fowl trouble showed a picture of the chicken and gave some facts on the environment of the factories that both the chicken and the human must endure so that we can eat chicken. To me this piece gave the most hard-hitting facts. The fact that had the greatest impact on me was the fact about boneless skinless chicken breast which are the most popular chicken product. “workers in “debone” stand shoulder to shoulder, slicing and chopping their way through joints, tendons, and tough gristle, a process that requires 20-20 hard twisting motions per minute. Scissors and knives quickly dull, and workers often lacerate themselves or their neighbors when blades slip off the slimy carcasses” (Cook). I’ve seen plenty of shows and documentaries that expose the ways in which chickens are treated in these factories but never do they show the workers in these environments. I can only imagine what it would be like to work in these conditions making what I assume to be just barely minimum wage.