Response to “Our National Eating Disorder”

        In Pollan’s article, “Our National Eating Disorder”, he diagnosed the symptoms of the national eating disorder, and he also used some examples to prove his viewpoint.

        In his mind, there are mainly two reasons that make great effect to the national eating disorder. The first one comes from the government. He wrote that, “A scientific study, a new government guideline, a lone crackpot with a medical degree can alter this nation’s diet overnight.” (1) Pollan thought government’s decision made great effect to the national eating disorder. He also used an example to prove that the government did something to affect people’s eating habits in his article, “Once the federal nutritional guidelines tried to asked people who preferred beef not to eat red meat any more.” However, as with the development of the scientific, some wrong orders such as this one would be abolished. Mostly, government guidelines depend on the scientific result. Another reason is the taste. Indeed, the tradition of the food will retain nearly the same between generations because of their cultures. However, the taste will cause people to make different decisions about what they would like to eat.

        The most interesting part in this article is a story between the author and his mother. “When his mother was a child, the menu was always full of food from Eastern European Jewish delicates. However, when the author was young, he ate food from different counties.” Through this story, the author tried to tell us an idea that “In America, each generation has been free to reinvent its cuisine, very often more than once.”(3) Although it is just a story about the change of the food, it also shows how do the varieties of the food become more and more between generations. Another interesting part is that, “some nutrient that Americans have been happily chomping for years is suddenly found to be lethal.” This sounds funny, but it is really harmful. If one day, you are told the food you eat everyday is lethal, it is hard to imagine how do your face look like.

        For myself, actually I do not have a lot of limitations to choose food because I think I am too young to eat different kinds of food. But I still need to make sure weather the food is healthy enough before I decide to eat it. If the food is so fatty, it is possible not become the first choice for me.

Works Cited

Michael Pollan, “Our National Eating Disorder.” October 17,2004