Comments for Food Communication

Comment on Brady – Online Marketing of Food and Beverages to Children by Lovenus Goh

Lovenus Goh — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 17:23:59 +0000

Well written post.

I agree with you that marketing can influence the diet of children.

Healthy food don’t appear as often as junk food.

We must remember not to eat only to feel full, yet we must eat to provide nutrients to our body.

Comment on Food & Environment 2 by Josie Warren

Josie Warren — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 02:03:36 +0000

In response to Maya’s comment, I agree with you in that seafood is something I could not give up either! That’s why in my project for this semester, I end up arriving at the conclusion that pescatarianism (vegetarians who eat seafood) was the best way to go because I did everything in my power to find research that proves such. You should consider trying canned salmon or frozen shrimp instead if you’re concerned about prices. Buying seafood this way is cheaper and easier to make! Also, salmon is low in mercury content, so it’s probably the healthiest fish for you anyway. I agree with you that “it is our responsibility as consumers to be conscious about how and where our food is caught” and to make sure we are not over using our earth’s supply. Before watching Food Inc., I had no idea that not only are we over using our earth’s supply on land, but we are also overusing the animals in the water.

Comment on Food & Environment 2 by Josie Warren

Josie Warren — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 01:47:51 +0000

Yes, I do think seafood is getting an unnecessary bad reputation. Through all my research on my vegetarian project this semester, I have actually found that being a pescatarian, a vegetarian that eats fish, is the healthiest way to go. The concern with fish is that it is high in mercury, but if you find fish with lower levels of mercury, you’re fine. Except when you’re pregnant, ladies! Don’t eat any fish what so ever if you’re pregnant. What was hard for me was not being able to eat my usual tuna fish sandwich everyday because tuna is extremely high in mercury. But as I researched further, I found that salmon has significantly lower levels of mercury than tuna does. I was still frustrated though because salmon is hard to cook and isn’t as convenient as canned tuna. What I did not know is that that they actually sell canned salmon. I thought salmon was only store bought as frozen or sold at restaurants. Canned salmon changes everything and is a simple and satisfying solution to my diet change. Switching to canned salmon is the right choice because it is low in contaminants, sustainably caught, and high in heart-healthy omega-3s. This information should be more well-known by the average American because it could save them, but as you said in your response, seafood just gets an unnecessary bad reputation.

Look at this website for further information: http://www.edf.org/oceans/mercury-alert-canned-tuna-safe-eat

Comment on Food and Globalization! by Josie Warren

Josie Warren — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 01:23:40 +0000

No, I do not think that the mix of Americanized cultures and foods, such as American Chinese food, is healthy for the promotion of diversity in this country because it’s falsely portraying what the Chinese culture actually eats. Most of the meat in actual Chinese Food comes from a dog or a cat. I bet most of Americans don’t know that because we’re all used to the “fake” Chinese Food sold in our country that has what to us is “normal meat,” like chicken. Americanizing the food that the Chinese eat gives American a false portrayal of what Chinese food actually is. When my dad went to China a couple years ago on a business trip, he said he was out to dinner with a bunch of work associates and saw “Kung Pow” on the menu and was like “Hey this should be good because it’s chicken!” WRONG. During the meal, he kept wondering to himself why it tasted different than the Kung Pow Chicken in America, but didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to be rude. At the end of the meal, one of his work associates said to him, “You realize you just ate a cat right?” My dad felt so fooled. Every time he tells this story he always ends it by saying “America made me think Chinese people ate the same meet as us, but I was wrong!!” America should continue serving “normal meat,” like chicken, but on every menu say what meat the Chinese actually fill each dish with. This way we can keep our love for Americanized Chinese Food, while still being educated about what Chinese Culture is actually like.

Comment on Food and Globalization! by Josie Warren

Josie Warren — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 01:06:22 +0000

In response to Emma’s post, I couldn’t agree with you more that the globalization of McDonald’s “allows you to always eat something that you recognize, no matter where you are in the world.” When I was in 5th grade, my family and I went on a vacation to Europe and I’ll never forget McDonald’s in a way saving me while I was in Paris. For some reason the food there did not agree with me and everything I ate would come right back up. My dad was trying everything in his power to find something for me to eat while we were there and it just wasn’t settling right. He then brought home McDonald’s chicken nuggets and I could not have been happier. This was a food I was familiar with and knew wouldn’t make me sick. The globalization of McDonald’s saved me while I was in Paris for those three days.

Comment on Food, Identity, and Resistance by Josie Warren

Josie Warren — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 00:54:28 +0000

In response to Maya’s post, I also found Taylor’s piece on the “Ethics of Eating” very interesting. Though, since my project is revolved around vegetarianism, I already knew that more females tend to be vegetarians than males. It was an eye opening revelation at the time for me too though. I made my facebook status about vegetarianism, reaching out to those who practice this diet to see their thoughts and of the 19 responses I got, only one over them was a guy. It was a shocking revelation. Taylor is most definitely right in that vegetarianism is a way of expressing the female identity.

Comment on Food, Identity, and Resistance by Josie Warren

Josie Warren — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 00:45:49 +0000

Of German’s three categories, I would say the recipes I grew up with are most similar to “recipes as markers of identity.” Earlier in the semester, I mentioned that since my family is Italian, every year the day after Christmas, we make pasta from scratch and then use a recipe that has been in our family for over 50yrs now to make sauce. Since I participate in making this recipe every year, it has become apart of my cultural identity. In the article “Foucault Studies,” as you said, Taylor mentions that food adds to our identity in that it is “a product of self discipline” and “a vegetarian diet can be theorized as an aesthetics and ethics of the self, a resistance to discipline.” I could not agree more. As you know, for my semester project for this class, I experimented with being a Vegetarian for two weeks and learned a lot about a part of my identity that I didn’t know before: My self control and discipline. Not eating meat for two whole weeks was the hardest thing I have ever had to do, but I got through it because I have more self-control than I thought I had. I learned vegetarian recipes that will remain apart of my identity throughout my life.

Comment on Food and Corporate Discourses by Josie Warren

Josie Warren — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 23:44:56 +0000

In response to tamulida’s comment, I also agree that children are easily persuaded by certain marketers that add toys to unhealthy food. But the blame for eating unhealthy food still resides in the parents of those children, not the corporation. Children don’t have the capability of knowing what is or isn’t healthy; they’re too young. It’s up to the parents to teach them these things. Remember the happy meals that sold mini beanie babies at McDonald’s? Definitely a smart move on McDonald’s part, as beanie babies at that time were insanely popular. So, by taking a toy that all kids are seeming to collect at that time and making it “mini” will sell a ton more happy meals. In most collections, there are probably only about 12 toys to buy in order to reach a complete collection. However, with beanie babies, there are billions of different kinds of beanie babies and in a sense your collection is never complete. Picking this certain toy collection made McDonald’s a ton of money, but was promoting unhealthy eating behavior for children. However, still in this case, it is ultimately the parent’s decision to take their kid to McDonald’s, not the corporation’s decision. So, therefore, it is still the consumer’s fault that unhealthy eating behavior is taking place.

Comment on Food and Corporate Discourses by Josie Warren

Josie Warren — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 23:04:44 +0000

I think it is definitely the consumer’s fault over the corporation’s fault as to why there is a consumption of unhealthy food. The quote you mention in the article you found by Muller, B. (2007) helped me better give reason as to why it’s the consumer’s fault. He says: “As consumers…we expect that promotional materials on behalf of these products are neither false nor misleading. But, increasingly, we expect marketers to go beyond this – to additionally take on responsibility for our consumption behaviour.” Consumers need to be more aware of the motives behind most promotions. Obviously the corporation is promoting it for a reason: Because it’s going to make them more money! Same with how Mcdonald’s fooled it’s consumers into thinking the Supersize option was a good deal, Outback did the same thing when they promoted their Outback Special, a 9 oz sirloin. They said “Hey if you get the bigger sirloin you can get two sides with your meal, as opposed to one!” However, if the consumers really looked into this “deal,” they would see that they DO in fact already get two sides with the smaller 6oz sirloin. Outback fooled their customers into thinking they were getting an extra side by going with the bigger steak, when really you get 2 sides regardless. Corporations do this ALL the time and consumers need to learn to actually look into the “deal” being promoted and see whether or not it is misleading. Consumers can’t expect corporations to take “responsibility for their consumption behavior” because a corporation’s main goal is to make money and they will trick you and mislead you anyway they can to get it!

Comment on Food and Mass Media Discourses by Josie Warren

Josie Warren — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 13:26:30 +0000

I absolutely think meat is a masculine food. Just look at the statistics on Wikipedia: 68% of vegetarians in America are female and only 32% are male. The case for most people is the females want to be skinnier and males want to be bigger. That’s how it’s always been. Guys are seen as more attractive if they’re bigger and muscular and since meat helps achieve this, they eat it.

This contributes to my opinion that meat is a masculine food, but the way advertisements portray meat also adds to my opinion. It’s like you said, “The advertisements communicate that men may continue to consume meat to stay true to their group identity as males.” Couldn’t have said it better myself. One of my male friends is a vegetarian and I always hear our other male friends say to him, “Dude, are you a woman?” Eating meat to males is seen as the “male thing” to do and how they can be a mocho man with big muscles. It’s seen as the stereotypical part of a masculine’s identity. Since I’m doing my project on vegetarians, I asked my brother if he could ever turn vegetarian and he said “No way.” “But, I’ve come to find it’s way healthier for you and can help you live longer.” “I don’t care. I’m a guy. Guys eat meat. I’ll die earlier if it means I can keep meat in my life.” My brother sees eating meat as part of the typical masculine identity and is willing to ignore the facts to secure this identity.

Advertisements are what contribute to making us think that meat is a masculine food. For example, in the Beef Cambells Soup advertisement found on http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2009/05/20/for-men-only-vintage-campbells-soup-ad/, it shows in big letters “FOR MEN ONLY.” Then in little letters below it says, “but ladies you’ll like em’ too!” Other Cambells Soup advertisements tend to reach out to both genders, but since this one has beef in it, it is clearly directed towards men. The fact that the main focus of the advertisement is this huge sign saying “FOR MEN ONLY” conveys this to us.