Another point made by Pollan that made me think was that kids today aren't eating the same things their parents did. I can attest to this claim as I know that my parents didn't eat Chinese takeout one or two times a week when they were kids. Parents of today's children lived in a generation where everything was made from scratch. Even though it was a choice to make food this way, many people in America decades ago made food the way they did out of necessity. We have so many unhealthy options today, aside from what we can get in the supermarket. I think it's sad when I drive through small towns in the state that have five thousand people and four fast food restaurants. With enticing advertising and marketing, it's no wonder how unhealthy we've gotten today with the food choices we are offered.
The final point I will talk about is that Pollan feels that everyone depends on labels in stores more than the actual food they are buying. I can understand where he's coming from with this claim, but I myself rarely look at labels. I go into a supermarket or general store having a good idea of what I need. I approach the aisle, scan the brand names if anything, grab the product, and purchase it. So the label argument that he brings up about people searching for vitamins and other nutrients doesn't pertain to me personally, but I'm just a college kid looking for the cheapest product with the best taste.
Your last paragraph really epitomizes the way today's American's shop. I disagree with what Pollen says and would argue that we rarely look at food labels and even if we did we wouldn't know how to interpret them. We are merely looking for the cheapest and best tasting product we can find, or we are relying on what the media and advertisements are telling us. Look at the Atkins Diet for example; one “Doctor” said that carbs were the enemy and all of a sudden bread and pasta sales took a dive. This is all well and good sometimes, and you can usually put together a pretty good meal using just about anything you can find in a grocery store, but do we really know what we are eating. Do we really know what is in that can of chili or in what conditions that steak in the meat department was cut? I would argue not really. I would also agree with your second paragraph as well in that we don't eat like our parents did. My mother lived off of homemade meat loaf, goulash, and pot roast. The only time she ever ate out was on special occasions when they went to a local restaurant. She did try and instill this philosophy in our lives but the fact of the matter was we were too busy growing up. Eating out became a necessity because we only had so much time in between band lessons and baseball practice, and fast food became the most convenient thing she could provide. As kids too, we never complained about this because our fragile little minds saw commercials for this fast food and had to have it. But this is just an example of how our eating culture has changed in modern society.
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