Chocolat

For the last blog assignment I chose to watch the movie Chocolat. I had never seen it before because it did not seem interesting. However, I really enjoyed it after watching it for this assignment. The movie was about a woman named Vianne and her daughter who open a chocolate shop in a small French village in France. Due to this, many moral issues arise among the community. The town is very conservative and do not approve of the chocolate shop being run on Sundays. The chocolate shop is also opened during Lent which creates some skepticism among the town members. However, after the town members discover Vianne's chocolates they realize how good it is and begin to love it. They also grow to love Vianne because she is such a warm-loving person. Through her chocolate shop, Vianne teaches the people of the town how to love and accept others while finding love in her own life.

I thought this movie showed great connection between people and food. Without food, life would be pretty dull. Food is a big part of our culture and it helps people come together just like it did in Chocolat. For example, when celebrating holidays or hosting events, food is always the main center of attention. Also, people usually get together by meeting for coffee, lunch or dinner.
It is also interesting how people have connections to certain foods. Eating can be something that makes us happy. I definitley look forward to my meals each day and I often think about what I will eat. Good food makes me happy…especially chocolate.

In the review I found, the critic was not in favor of the movie. He feels that all the movie is trying to claim is that “chocolate is the new sex, or maybe that sex is the new chocolate.” I also thought this about the movie but since I enjoy romantic comedy it didn’t bother me. The critic also claims that the book is a feel good bestseller and the movie does not match up. I have not read the book but since most books are way better than the movie I would not doubt this claim.

Movie Review:

Peter Bradshaw "Friday Review: Quality Street it Ain't:Even Juliette Binoche Cannot Redeem Lasse Hallstrom's Sticky, Soft-Centered Confection, Says Peter Bradshaw: Film of The Week: Chocolat 2/5 Stars Dir: Lasse Hallstrom With: Juliette Binoche et al. 112 Mins, Cert 12 www.Miramax2000.com/chocolat" The Guardian. 2 Mar 2001. ProQuest Newspaper 28 May 2006. http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.library.wwu.edu/pqdweb?index=7&did=69177264&SrchMode=1&sid=6&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1148939026&clientId=9320

Starvation in Sudan

The author of the webpage I found was The American Refugee Committee International. The author is somewhat credible because it is an organization that operates ongoing relief programs in the Darfur region and provide life-saving services such as health care. The intended audience is adults who are willing to help with the current situation.

The information is informative because it talks about what happened in Sudan and explains the tragedy of the situation. There is also no language that is biased or manipulative. However, it can also be persuasive because they are telling people ways that they can help such as donating money so they are somewhat persuading people to get involved. The information is current as of 2006. The information gives you more insight into the causes of the starvation in Darfur. It explains, "Villages were bombed by air and besieged by horse-mounted militia, people were killed and girls were raped."

I think the comment Paul heard is exactly why it is so hard to change the world. Simply, people don’t care enough and the only way they will care is if it directly affects them. It’s sad that most people don’t take action until is impacting them in some way.

American Refugee Committee International. “Emergency in Darfur.” 2006. 21 May 2006 http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=appeals_3_23_06.

Blog 6

The movie and video made me realize how much I am affected by American media and the pop culture in our society today. I am comfortable with my weight and how I look but always find myself wishing I was a few pounds lighter or looked a little different.

Advertising effects what I buy even though I wish so bad that it didn’t. For example, I always get sucked in to buying facial creams that supposedly reduce wrinkles. I end up wasting my money on products that don’t even work.

As for food, I feel that America’s culture has made so many American’s obese today. Portions have gotten so much bigger and it is leading to many health problems in America today. On the other hand, the media portrays what the ideal woman should look like which is leading to eating disorders.

I think that the media is very responsible for eating disorders among women. We are so concerned with what we look like on the outside and how other’s portray us. Due to this we find ourselves lacking in self-esteem to things that are simply unrealistic.

Somehow, there needs to be a balance. We shouldn’t deprive our bodies of food but we shouldn’t overeat. The only way to do this is for us to begin to care about our bodies. By this I mean caring about our health. By eating for nutrition, our bodies will look better and by eating healthy we will feel better about our bodies.

Berkman, Nancy. "Diet & Nutrition; North Carolina Researchers Say Existing Medicines are Ineffective for Treating Anorexia." Mental Health Weekly Digest (2006): 32+. Proquest. Western Washington University, Bellingham. 14 May 2006.

The Future of Food

The film, “The Future of Food” was very interesting to me and represented the cons of genetically modified food. However, even after watching this film I am still supportive towards genetically modified foods.

I do think that it is weird that companies can own living organisms or have a patent on them. However, it’s hard to draw the line on what can be patented and what can’t. The hard part is that the enzymes can’t be controlled and they can contaminate anyone’s crops. Due to this, farmers who are unaware of this can be sued when it isn’t their fault.

I believe that genetically modified foods can be helpful to society. It is a new advancement in technology that I personally think will help many problems in the future such as creating more food for the many hungry people in the world. Genetically modified foods can also have more nutrition and can help people eat healthier. I do feel that genetically modified foods should be labeled though especially since not enough research has been done on them yet. Without evidence, consumers are unaware of the consequences, whether they are good or bad. Due to this, genetically modified foods should be labeled so people are aware of what they are eating. Also, without labeling there is no way to trace the food back to the company, which is the point I guess. The best solution would probably be to make sure the product was completely safe before putting it out on the market. But then, who knows if anything is really safe. New research is being produced all of the time. Who knows, in 20 years they’ll be telling us that broccoli is bad for us (not literally).

For more information:

Celec, Peter. "Food Safety; Report Presents Biomedical Aspects of Genetically
Modified Food." Obesity, Fitness and Wellness Week (2006): 828+. ProQuest
Research Library, Health & Medical Complete. Bellingham. 7 May 2006.

Potatoes

I thought the Botany of Desire by Michael Pollen was very interesting. Pollen talked about how the garden is a place for experiment and how everything affects everything else. He said, “It is only by trial and error that my garden ever improves, so I continue to experiment.” This interested me because I recently took Biology 101 where we did a debate on Genetically Modified Crops in our lab. I was for genetically modified crops and when reading this article I was further convinced of the reasons why. I can also see the other point of view of why we shouldn’t alter with nature. However, through experimenting and altering nature people have been able to discover things like cures for diseases and medicines. There are always risks when working on discoveries but sometimes it is a risk worth taking. For example, genetically modified crops have the potential to help prevent diseases and perhaps make the environment better by using less pesticides, fertilizers and water. They can also be grown in areas suffering from drought. Genetically modified crops is one of the best solutions to the problem of world hunger by increasing production and lowering the cost of food. They can also be more nutritious, taste better and last longer.

Check out this Journal Article for more info:

"Environmental Nutrition." Environmental Aspects 13 (1986): 20-26.

Call #: TX341E52

A Modest Proposal

The article "A Modest Proposal" was very interesting to me since I have been learning a lot about culture lately. We view and judge others according to our own culture instead of looking at the culture that they come from. Due to this, it is sometimes hard to establish what is right and what is wrong. Many things that I believe as wrong are viewed as perfectly normal in other cultures and vice versa. Like many others I feel cannibalism is wrong and it seems like a very extreme way of life. I think cannibalism is wrong because of the views of my culture. Eating another human is murder and is disgusting. However, someone who views animals as a very sacred form of life feel that eating animals is disgusting and wrong. People of this culture would think of me the same way that I think of people who eat other humans. When Swift refers to eating babies, many people have a horrible reaction and think that it is immoral. There are not many people who feel cannibalism is moral. However, when asking people about their views on abortion there is a large diversity of opinion. There are many more people who feel that abortion is moral. To me, cannibalism and abortion and somewhat the same. They are both killing human life, so it is surprising to me how different the views are among these subjects.

A book that I would like to recommend:

Rollyson, Carl E. " A Higher Form of Cannibalism?: Adventurues in the Art and Politics of Biography." Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2005.
call #: not given (In WWU Library)

Harvesting Food

As long as people are hunting for the purpose of eating the animals they kill, then I don't consider it immoral. People who are not vegetarians can't argue that hunting for your own food is moral because it isn't any different than buying meat from the grocery store. Someone else just killed it for you.

In Steve Rinella's book, The Scavenger's Guide to Haute Cuisine, Steve shows a clear example of consumption in America. Killing unique animals for forty five different courses to be completed in three nights seems somewhat impossible and unnecessary. It didn't seem like Steve and his friends needed this much food. So, in his case killing his own food didn't necessarily keep him from wasting. However, I think that we might have a greater appreciation for our food if we hunted and prepared it ourselves and therefore would not waste food as much. Often, meat is packaged in large portions at the grocery store. This either leads to too much consumption, leading to our obesity problem in America or too much waste. If we all hunted for ourselves we could learn to appreciate what we are eating more and to not be so wasteful.

I think that it is hard to draw the line of whether hunting is moral or not. I feel that it is not moral as a sport but that it is moral if you are hunting for the purpose of food. However, what about killing animals for clothing or other accessories such as fur? This still serves a purpose. Although I think it is wrong for people to hunt as a sport and not for eating, I don't think that there should be a law against it. Personally, I would not feel comfortable hunting my own food. I think that I would have a much harder time eating meat if I was the one who killed it. When I was a kid I used to go fishing with my dad. If I caught a fish I would immediately put it right back in the water because I felt too guilty killing it. My dad would catch a fish and then gut it apart. I think the reason I felt so guilty is because we would fish just for fun when we went on vacation. We never actually ate the fish. Thinking back on it now, I think that it was wrong to kill a living thing for enjoyment.

For information on harvesting foods in Papua New Guinea check this book out:

Benediktsson, Karl. Harvesting Development: the Construction of Fresh Food Markets in Papua New Guinea. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan P, 2002.

HD9018.P363 B46 2002

Paul- for some reason when I pushed Ctrl U it didn't underline, so the title of the book is not underlined in my paper or my bibliography. Sorry!