TOW #21: How Should We Eat?

On the opinion pages of the New York Times, Mark Bittman talks of is current issues of the modern food industry. In his essay, How Should We Eat? Not only does he critique food processing companies and those that consume their products, he attacks the modern reports sent out with recommendations based on nutrition and health and the lack of enforcement of these recommendations by Americans. To his audience of Americans, those of the country renown for increasingly shocking food issues, he uses facts and statistics and words like "our" and "we" in an attempt to shed light on the importance of remodeling the food industry and how it majorly affects our country. While reciting various facts found within a report released by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, Bittman said, "At least some of the 117 million Americans who have "preventable, chronic diseases" (the reports number, and phrasing) do so at least because of the failings of recommendations like these." This strategic use of a direct statistic directly from one of these specific reports themselves illustrates the fact that Bittman is incredibly well-informed of this current situation. His implementation of logos increases his credibility, thus supporting and strengthening his overall argument. He also uses words such as "our" and "we". Towards the end of the essay, he says, " At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I think it would help if we had an overarching statement defining "food" and our rights regarding it, something like "All Americans have the right to nutritious, affordable, sustainable and fair food." Bittman's inclusion of such small, seemingly unimportant words have a major impact on his essay. It makes it appear to be less of a lecture and it makes him apart of his own audience. It relates him to his audience and supports the idea that his argument is applicable himself also. This increases his ethos because they serve as a disclaimer. Overall, I thought that this essay was extremely well written and that Bittman did a remarkable job of addressing this increasingly prominent issue. In How Should We Eat?, Mark Bittman sheds light on the issue of the modern food industry, something that all Americans should definitely be concerned with.