Exposing the evil within the food industry.
Michael Pollan’s article “EAT FOOD: FOOD DEFINED” and Wendell Berry’s article “THE PLEASURES OF EATING”, attempt to open the eyes of readers to the dangers of industrial eating. They attempt to address a population with dietary concerns and how food is made. Pollan, a well-known writer of food uses deductive reasoning to provide us tangible evidence of his claims. He weaves together logical and emotional aspects, which is effective, as his work now stands a higher chance of swaying a broader spectrum of readers. Berry, as well is a prolific writer and a farmer, therefore it is safe to assume that he has a developed understanding about food. He attempts to persuade his audience via an emotional appeal.…show more content… For this reason his article title makes sense as he repeatedly provides guidelines on how to identify or acquire real food. Pollan’s guidelines supported by empirical evidence to make it easy for the readers to observe what he is talking about and make informed decisions about whether to continue to purchase these “food-like substitutes” (pg9) as he refers to them, we see how Pollan makes use of wit and mockery to grab the attention of readers before providing them with his guidelines for identifying real food. Pollan makes a few logical steps like identifying other food experts who have made similar claims to himself, most of whom believe that what is sold by the industry today is not real food. This leads to Pollan first and wittiest guideline which is not to eat anything that our great grandmothers wouldn’t recognize as food which is understandable as it is likely that our great grandmothers where involved in farming or food production hence would be more capable of identifying real food. This is an example of how Pollan uses logic and analogy to appeal to the readers. Pollan also makes use of allusion by referring to how the food industries like Sara Lee’s Soft & Smooth Loaf attempt use science as a sword to cut through the Gordian knot of consumer demands to create a “no compromise loaf.”- (pg12). By…show more content… He goes on to initiate feelings of anger and betrayal in his readers by exposing the fact that the “overriding concerns”- (pg 67) for the food industry is not the quality and health of the food but maximization of profit, and calling the readers victims. This makes Berry’s article particularly persuasive because he involves his readers and shows them how they have been victimized before telling them how to avoid being taking advantage off. Which is ironic because on pages 64 and 66 Berry blames the industries advertisements making consumers prefer industrial food to real food, but, he is somewhat persuading or advertising to readers why they should avoid these food industries and by speaking to their emotions Berry makes the readers want to follow him. He indicates that one does not have to be a vegetarian to dislike the fact that an animal was made miserable to feed him. Berry further manipulates the emotions of his readers by explaining to them that these food industries replace labor with capital to keep up with the fast-paced lifestyles of the consumers, and because of this people lose their jobs, he argues
