Pollan, Estabrook, and Cook

Before reading these pieces, I had already previously been exposed to the horrors of the food industry. A couple years ago, I read Fast Food Nation, which let me into the world of the fast food industry and showed me the terrible things that happen in that industry. However, most of that had all gone to the back of my mind before reading these. These pieces really brought back all of those memories and reinforced them. I previously had some knowledge to how bad the poultry industry was, but I did not realize the exact extent that it went to.

            Each of these different pieces goes about the different food industries in a different way. For example, the infographic by Cook goes through the process of how chicken’s go from the factory to the sale, and all the dangers that are involved in that process. It shows a bunch of numbers that really make you realize the extent to which this industry goes. It tells how many chickens are killed each day, how many workers are injured in this process, as well as how chicken consumption in the US has increased in recent years.

            The introduction to Tomatoland shed some light on a subject I had never considered before. I had no idea that the tomato industry was so bad and that they essentially use slaves to work there. The introduction uses a personal story to lead into his overall message and brings up points that he will elaborate on later in the book. He discusses the process of creating these industrial tomatoes and how they look perfect but have nearly no taste at all. He compares them to home grown tomatoes that while they look terrible, taste delicious. His way of explaining these processes is easy to understand since he uses personal references to relate the content to the reader. 

The final piece by Pollan essentially is a review on a book written by Peter Singer. He discusses how he tries to defend his personal views against what Singer says in the book. It seems as though Singer has a come back to every statement Pollan would try to make against the book. He makes a few valid points about animals and how society treats them.