Bich Minh Nguyen Goodbye To My Twinkies Analysis

Fat Land Book Review Every new year brings with it a host of new pressing issues and challenges that our nation must confront and overcome, and though economic and global concerns certainly deserve a large part of our attention, as a nation we have almost entirely forgotten or ignored many problems that have been plaguing us for decades. Chiefly among these concerns is the ever growing obesity epidemic, which has seen a dramatic increase over the past several decades and looks to be continuing its trend into our near future. In his book, Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World, Greg Critser delves into many of the significant causes behind this staggering increase in girth our nation has been experiencing, and offers

In Michael Pollan’s essay “Escape from the Western Diet,” he directly to Americans about the western diet and why he believes they need to escape from it. The reason Americans should escape the western diet is to avoid the harmful effects associated with it such as “western diseases” (Pollan, 420). To support his view on the issue, Pollan describes factors of the western diet that dictate what Americans believe they should eat. These factors include scientists with their theories of nutritionist, the food industry supporting the theories by making products, and the health industry making medication to support those same theories. Overall, Pollan feels that in order to escape this diet, people need to get the idea of it out of their heads.

In A Viet Cong Memoir, we receive excellent first hands accounts of events that unfolded in Vietnam during the Vietnam War from the author of this autobiography: Truong Nhu Tang. Truong was Vietnamese at heart, growing up in Saigon, but he studied in Paris for a time where he met and learned from the future leader Ho Chi Minh. Truong was able to learn from Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary ideas and gain a great political perspective of the conflicts arising in Vietnam during the war. His autobiography shows the readers the perspective of the average Vietnamese citizen (especially those involved with the NLF) and the attitudes towards war with the United States. In the book, Truong exclaims that although many people may say the Americans never lost on the battlefield in Vietnam — it is irrelevant.

At the first glance the article is about a woman who reminisces about her childhood though the love of Twinkies, she is now grown and understands the truth about Twinkies and how unhealthy they are but still longs for the “snack cake” as her guilty pleasure. The meaning of the Twinkie changes and evolves though out the article and can be interpreted to represent multiple things. While labor issues were a factor in Hostesses bankruptcy, some of the blame can be placed on the migration of people leaning towards heathier options of food. Nguyen encapsulate this concept into a metaphor for the expansion of tolerance and open mindedness in the US now creating a heathier society. Even though the society she lives in now is ‘heathier’ she still reminisces about the Twinkie days where she could digest Twinkies (American culture) without worrying about its effect on her health (mind).

In David Freedman’s essay How Junk food Can End Obesity, Freedman makes the claim to policy arguing that instead of demonizing processed foods, Americans should instead support the idea and production of healthier processed and junk foods. He calls on the public to recognize that while many products on the market these days are labeled as “wholesome” and “healthy”, consumers should learn to become aware of the fat and calorie content in these products because many times they have the same- if not more- fat and calorie contents as that of a typical Big Mac or Whopper. In his essay, Freedman primarily places blame on the media and the wholesome food movement for the condemnation of the fast and processed food industries saying, “An enormous amount of media space has been dedicated to promoting the notion that all processed food, and only processed food, us making us sickly and overweight” (Freedman), he further expresses that this portrayal of the

When the dinner bell rings in America, many families are not flocking to the table, but running to the car and the call of the “Golden Arches”. In today’s over-scheduled world, food has now become an afterthought and America is paying the price, literally. Obesity is now an epidemic and a crisis that is not slowing down. The nation is not only paying the price with sky-rocketing medical bills from the effects of the American diet, but also with the deteriorating health of its citizens and for the first time in history, a generation with a shorter life expectancy than the generation before. Food today looks nothing like the food of just 40 years ago, and now instead, is making people sick and obese.

In the essay “Green monster” who do you believe is his intended audience and why? In “The Green Monster,” James McWilliams informs the reader about GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) and the affects it has on animals, plants, farmers and our food. Through multiple illustrations of the affects of GMO, he contends that GMO has various potential consequences, which may in fact be more positive than detrimental to food sustainability. His intended audience seems to be food consumers but more specifically, those uninterested in or wary of products which are genetically modified.

“French Fries” by Jane Martin is a monologue that utilizes vivid imagery, both natural and environmental. The main character, Anna-Mae, talks about her love for a popular fast-food chain (McDonald’s), however, while reading, I found the monologue to be more than just a passion for the nationwide restaurant chain. While it is true that the monologue initially appears to only be talking about McDonald’s, upon analyzing further there’s a clear deeper meaning within the speech. Jane Martin’s writing, as well as the envisioned delivery of the monologue by Anna-Mae’s character, uses vivid imagery and metaphors to capture a deeper meaning than the words themselves convey. When introducing the brand to readers and listeners, Anna Mae uses the word “rainbow” in discussing the famous double-arched logo McDonald’s is known for.

In 2013 when Viet Thanh Nguyen began to write The Sympathizer, it had been 40 years since the Vietnam War. It had been 40 years since French and American military involvement ravaged a once beautiful countryside and littered lush forests with napalm. It had been 40 years since 2 million people were displaced from their country and left to die in the Pacific Ocean. In those 40 years, many works were published about the Vietnam War. These stories came from many, contrasting, perspectives.

Madeleine Thien’s “Simple Recipes” is not mainly about the father cooking food and his treatment towards his son, instead, the author uses food to symbolize the struggles her immigrated family experienced in Canada. While it is possible to only look at the narratives that food symbolizes, the idea is fully expressed when the father is compared with the food. The theme of food and the recipes are able to convey the overall troubles the narrator’s family encountered. Although, food is usually a fulfilling necessity in life, however, Thien uses food to illustrate the struggle, tensions, and downfall of the family. Yet, each food does represent different themes, but the food, fish, is the most intriguing because of the different environment

Choi then quotes the Director of food studies at New York University, providing relevancy and authenticity to her work. The statement also establishes a link between what we eat and how it connects to particular memories and places in our minds. Moving on, the article is divided into six different subheadings. Each subheading explains the origin of indigenous food in different countries and what that denotes particular culture. Broadly speaking, food is necessary for survival, signifies status denotes pleasure, brings communities together and is essential for humanity.

Article “If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?” was published in 1999 in the Kenyon Review. The author describes her childhood life growing up with Indian immigrants. She feels a deep separation from not just her parents but her culture as well. Writer Geeta Kothari explores her personal identity through food. Kothari uses unique writing structure and personal stories to form a well-written piece.

Lily Wong, in her article about food, entitled “Eating the Hyphen,” states, “Perhaps this combination (ketchup and dumplings) has something to do with the fact that since both my parents grew up in the States, we’ve embraced many American traditions while abandoning or significantly modifying many Chinese ones” (95). Wong expresses how being a Chinese American has affected her life in a positive way. Wong eats some of her food Americanized, with ketchup, but also eats food that the majority of American’s would not touch (i.e. jellyfish and sea cucumber). Comparatively, Wong eats dumplings (which derive from the Chinese culture) with a fork, knife, and ketchup (which are all culturally American). Geeta Kothari, who wrote the article, If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?

Zinczenko strategically uses emotional pathos through his example of obesity in children. Children are innocent in tone, therefore helping him explain that they are innocent in spite of the manipulation of the fast food industry. The author presents the issue of the lack of nutrition information in fast food. He’s not dissing the fast food industry; rather, he is stating the problem at hand that should be taken care of. He sympathizes with the fact that he too was once a kid whose two daily meals were from typical fast food restaurants.

To begin, enjoying a meal from McDonald’s is the symbol of American culture. The fast food industry was one other major forces to shape modern life in the U.S. When asked to think of a word to describe America, majority of citizens as well as immigrants would say the “fast food”. For example,in 2001 a rebel group led by Jose Bove decided to protest the restrictions on trade set by Unites States in France and as a form of protest they destroyed a symbol of United States, a local McDonald 's, which demonstrates that McDonald 's is a representation of American culture and thus eating at this establishment is seen as an American tradition as well as the most American action a tennager can perfrm.