Jason Konefal and Maki Hatanaka the authors of our textbook pose some really powerful questions in the Introduction. These are the questions that you will be pondering for this assignment. You will take an in-depth look at the who, what, where, when, why, and how of your food choices for 3 days during January 14-20. When journaling about your food, your journal entry should be approximately 500 words in length for each day.
During the days that you choose to track your food, keep a list of food choices that you have made, why you made the decision to eat the foods you did, who you were with/if you were alone, what things influenced your choices, etc. Then, think about the following questions while composing your journal entry for that day:
How did you decide to eat what you ate?
In deciding what to eat, what factors influence your decisions?
Did you take into consideration cost, convenience, taste, quality, nutrition, and/or health?
How did you decide what foods are nutritious and which are not, or whether a food is safe?
When different factors came into conflict, how did you decide which to prioritize?
Where does your food come from?
Does it come from farms near where you live, or does it come from farms in Mexico, Chile, or China?
Who gets your food from the farm to your plate?
Who are the farmers who grow it, the workers who harvest and process it, the truck drivers who transport it, the stockers who place it on supermarket shelves, and if you are eating out, the cooks who prepare it?
Who are the businesses that employ all these workers from farm to plate? Are they small businesses or multinational corporations?
What practices and technologies are used to produce your food? Was it farmed with synthetic chemical inputs or organically? Does it include genetically modified ingredients? Did it undergo irradiation to reduce microorganisms?
How did your food choices make you feel?
Who were you with when you ate (e.g., friends, family, alone, strangers)?
Where did you eat (e.g., at home, dining service, restaurant)?
When journaling you do not have to answer every question, but you do need to synthesize your answers to these questions within your journal entry each day. Please remember to be professional in your writing paying attention to spelling, grammar, etc.
Each journal entry will be worth 20 points for a total of 60 points. To receive full credit on each journal entry, you must take into consideration the list of questions above and address the questions of your choosing. Each journal entry should be a synthesis of the days food choices and should be approximately 500 words in length.
Following your three days of journaling you will then reflect on your overall eating experience for those three days in a final journal entry that is approximately one page in length (20 points). Within this final reflection please think about:
What do you tend to consume?
Globalized Food
Corporate Food
Standardized Food
Processed Food
Disconnected Food
Why do you consume what you consume?
Choice Editing
Brands and Labels
Food Marketing and Advertising
Shelving and Tracking Data
Can you transform the food and agriculture system?
Ethical Consumerism
Reference:
Konefal, J., & Hatanaka, M. (2019). Introduction. In J. Konefal & M. Hatanaka (Eds.). Twenty Lessons in the Sociology of Food and Agriculture). New York, NY: Oxford.
