Stoedter 1 Maverick Stoedter" Michelle Szetela" English 1010" 27 Sept. 2014" " " " " " What are we Eating?" " When asked this question many people will often shrug and reply with whatever is convenient. We live in a very fast paced society with our diets being molded by a Western Civilization. What s wrong with what we eat, a speech given by Mark Bittman for an EG address (2007) takes the question head on analyzing why a Western diet has become hazardous to our health. Bittman goes in depth on the various environmental implications a Western diet is having on our ecosystem. He speaks directly to the food industry and agribusiness putting them in the crosshairs for industrializing our food supply. Using the rhetorical appeals of ethos, logos and pathos Bittman reaches out to anyone consuming a Western style diet and attempts to help them to recognize the obvious health benefits of buying more local, natural foods. But before we go any further let s examine what a Western diet is. " " Using logos Bittman states Our demand for meat, dairy and refined carbohydrates -- the world consumes one billion cans or bottles of Coke a day -- our demand for these things, not our need, our want, drives us to consume way more calories than are good for us (Bittman 2:40). He begins to define what a Western diet is. Bittman puts it very simple claiming that it is what we want rather than what our body nutritionally needs. There s no question, none, that so-called lifestyle diseases -- diabetes, heart disease, stroke, some cancers -- are diseases that are far more prevalent here than anywhere in the rest of the world. And that's the direct result of eating a Western diet (Bittman 2:31). Using logos Bittman makes the link between a Western diet and our health, linking it to various diseases. He uses fear to make it very clear that what we are eating isn t right. Bittman continues by saying Because only once before has the fate of
Stoedter 2 individual people and the fate of all of humanity been so intertwined (Bittman 0:40). He claims that the fate of humanity is at stake if we continue consuming a Western diet. Bittman continues to use logos and begins to focus more on the environmental impact a Western style diet has on the earth. Livestock is the second-highest contributor to atmosphere-altering gases. Nearly one-fifth of all greenhouse gas is generated by livestock production -- more than transportation (Bittman 1:23). Bittman continues by explaining that methane is 20 times more poisonous than CO2 (Bittman 1:35). In a mix of logos and ethos Bittman links land degradation, air pollution and water shortages and even a loss of biodiversity to livestock (Bittman 1:23). We could cut down on all of these things by consuming less animals, Bittman makes it seem like a no brainer. We improve our health and in return we can help the environment in the process. Bittman gives statistic after statistics pushing the logicality of his case. Bittman even mentions global warming and how every scientist now acknowledges it (Bittman 0:50). Bittman is linking livestock to global warming. Inhibiting the emotions of fear that if we continue doing what we are doing we might not be able to breathe or could scorch to death. Bittman continues by stating Overconsumption of animals, and of course, junk food, is the problem, along with our paltry consumption of plants. Now, there's no time to get into the benefits of eating plants here, but the evidence is that plants -- and I want to make this clear -- it's not the ingredients in plants, it's the plants. It's not the beta-carotene, it's the carrot (Bittman 3:33). He repeatedly reminds us how we consume too many animals and we don t eat enough plants. He is particularly effective in using logos because any logical thinker can see that nothing good is coming out of a Western diet. Bittman examines all these different health risks that we didn t even know we were taking until now. Bittman debunks the myth of needing meat to grow big and strong referencing football players, he slams this down by saying it doesn t promote growth and is malnutrition and it s killing us (Bittman 17:40). This gives us a great idea of how misinformed we have become through advertising, we would link things that harm us to growing big and strong. "
Stoedter 3 " Bittman begins to take a different approach and focus more on pathos saying I like animals, and I don't think it's just fine to industrialize their production and to churn them out like they were wrenches. But there's no way to treat animals well, when you're killing 10 billion of them a year. That's our number. 10 billion. If you strung all of them -- chickens, cows, pigs and lambs -- to the moon, they'd go there and back five times, there and back (Bittman 6:05) This is a very strong appeal to pathos, nobody wants to harm animals. Bittman makes it very personal and makes us feel as if we are responsible for all of these animals dying. With pathos Bittman is able to bring out emotions of sadness and anger against these companies. He continues by saying We don't need animal products, and we certainly don't need white bread or Coke. Two: both have been marketed heavily, creating unnatural demand. We're not born craving Whoppers or Skittles (Bittman 3:45). We are killing all these animals and we don t even need them! Everything we have been told is a lie and he reminds us of that constantly. Bittman states that Agribusiness and advertisers are tricking us into consuming more calories than what is good for us (Bittman 2:45). Bittman furthers his environmental points by beautifully introducing oil companies into his speech using pathos. Let's pretend that our government supported an oilbased economy, while discouraging more sustainable forms of energy, knowing all the while that the result would be pollution, war and rising costs. Incredible, isn't it? Yet they do that. And they do this here. It's the same deal (Bittman 4:35). Bittman makes a huge comparison between oil companies and the food industry. Claiming they are even the same thing! Bittman is putting the Western style diet and big oil companies in the same boat knowing the pre existing prejudice people have against big oil companies furthering Bittman s claims massively and bringing out emotions of anger in doing so. He continues by acknowledging the collaboration between agribusiness and congress linking it to the destruction of not only our diets but of our planet (Bittman 11:20). Bittman is able to make us become much more aware of the scale of the issue by comparing it to war and pollution."
Stoedter 4 " Although very subtle and spread out Bittman is able to incorporate ethos into his speech. He often references Ann Cooper who is a award winning journalist to further his points. They share several of the same views when it comes to the Western style diet and it does nothing but build credibility for Bittman. He also makes it very clear how passionate he is about cooking. " I write about food. I write about cooking. I take it quite seriously, but I'm here to talk about something that's become very important to me in the last year or two (Bittman 0:11). It s the first thing Bittman says. He wants everyone to know that this means a lot to him. Bittman also references experts not going into specifics but still building a sense of credibility throughout. Using these tactics Bittman was able to create a large amount of respect for himself that made every point he made that much more powerful. " " What are we eating? Bittman made it clear that we aren t eating what we should be by extensively using logos, ethos and pathos. Bittman tells us we have been lied to deliberately to raise an unnatural demand on foods that not only hurt us but the planet also (Bittman 2:40). He makes it clear that our health is at risk and so is our planet. Using these rhetorical appeals, Bittman makes it clear that we need to break our chains that have been created by false advertising and agribusiness. Bittman links agribusiness to war and pollution while also comparing plants and fresh ingredients to love. Bringing out emotions like these with pathos he is able to give us a clear outline to what we need to do to become healthier. He states that we need to eat real food, he tells us to find ingredients that we love and make them ours. Bittman tells us we need less meat, less junk and more plants. (Bittman 19:09). We as a people need to change our diet to focus more on what our body needs rather than what we want and we will see happiness come from it. Not only in the form of our physical health but the planets health as well. Bittman does a brilliant job at involving the audience in this struggle we now face against the Western style diet. " "
Stoedter 5 Work Cited" Bittman,Mark. What s wrong with what we eat TED. TED. Dec. 2009. Web. 9 Sept. 2014." " " "