1A Lesson Plan for “Big Organic” by Michael Pollan 174 (updated 1-27-09)

 

 

One. Lexicon

 

1. Edenic Quest: Shoppers want more than food. They want to engage in a narrative in which their buying of certain foods affords them a trip to Eden, or Paradise, in which they can return to a world that is free of corruption, cruelty, and toxins. They seek purity and bliss through “healthy eating.” They seek the tranquility of green pastoral glades and meadows over the stress and anxiety of urban life.
2. Self-Congratulatory Shoppers: They seek to massage ego buy purchasing organic foods.  Their food items have “stories” attached, little pamphlets about how cows are given shiatsu massage before yielding their milk and how chickens jog five miles a day in the crisp outdoors and hydrate themselves with spring water before squeezing out an egg. Buying food that tells these heart-warming stories empowers organic shoppers and makes them feel superior to the troglodytes who shop at Ralph’s and other pedestrian low-brow stores. Self-congratulatory shoppers exit Whole Foods with little halos over their heads.
3. Organic Shopping as Us Vs. Them Therapy: Shoppers buy organic to belong to an exclusive club that differentiates them from those Loser Shoppers Who’ve Given In to the Man, the crude Industrial Food Complex. In contrast, organic shoppers patronize small farmers and good-hearted artisans who raise food, not for profit, but to bring love and bounty to planet Earth.
4. Organic Food Hustle (177): Maintaining an image as a small operation when in fact the organic industry imitates the same business practices of the Evil Industrial Food Machine. It’s the same B.S. but marketed to look pure and superior.
5. Supermarket Pastoral: The fiction, story, or lie—whatever you want to call it—that creates the image of organic food being harvested in a way that is morally superior to the Evil Industrial Food Machine.
6. Brown Food Vs. White Food; brown symbolizes pure, unmolested food while white represents food that is processed, bleached, and contaminated . Eggs, wheat, rice, sugar, bread should all be brown. Hipsters eat brown food. Troglodytes (ignorant cave dwellers) eat white food. See page 181.
7. Causality vs. Correlation: Is organic eating the cause of good health or does it coincide with the fact that people who shop organic are health conscious in general and belong to an economic class that reduces certain health risks, such as obesity? Fact: The richer, the skinnier, and skinny means fewer obesity-related health problems. Fact: People who eat organic are healthier, not because they eat organic, but because they eat real food, vs. processed food.
   
8. Operative word is not "organic"; it's "real" food vs. processed food.
9. Mindless eater: one with limited cooking skills, nonexistent nutrition knowledge. He tends to eat animal protein, animal fats, and processed food. The bulk of his diet is cheeseburgers, pizza, and Doritos. His beverage is soda. The Mindless Eater refers to the majority of Americans.
   
10. Mindful eater: He eats thoughtfully, planning his meals, making his own meals and his very sensitive about being "punk-fed" by "The Man." He eats mostly real food. About 40% of his daily food intake is fruits and vegetables. Another 40% is grains, beans, legumes, and nuts; the remaining 20% is protein, either animal or vegetable. He has a wide range of cooking skills. He rarely eats in front of the computer or television, which creates a "mindless eating situation."
    

 

 

Two. What is Michael Pollan’s thesis? See 177, second paragraph.

 

The organic movement has less in common with its marketing image and more in common with the very industry it attempts to differ from. In other words, “Supermarket Pastoral is more fiction than fact.” See 178 top.

 

Pollan restates his thesis in his conclusion on page 194.

 

Three. What are Pollan’s mapping components?

 

1. The idea of cows on the farm is a myth. See 178.
2. The idea of free-range is a myth. See 178 bottom
3. Organic farming has to imitate industrial methods in order to stay competitive. See 187 and 188 bottom.
4. The superiority of organic food is in many ways negligible and not dramatic for the extra money one spends. See 188 bottom
5. Organic food is no better for the environment than other industrialized foods. See 193.

 

 

 

 

Four. Questions

 

1. How is food connected to meaning and identity? 174 P1; 175 P3
2. How does the marketing of food confuse shoppers? 175 P2
3. How did organic food become a marketing bonanza? 176 P2-4. It communicates a story or narrative that pulls our heartstrings as the narrative has all to do with the pastoral fantasy.
4. How is organic food a good guy vs. bad guy movie? 176 P3: The story of Supermarket Pastoral makes us feel more “authentic.” 177 top.
5. What contradiction must Whole Foods reconcile and how does it fail? 177 P2; 178 top; 178 P3 in which cows “never see a blade of grass.” And “free-range” is a fraud as well on 178 bottom. Also see 187 top paragraph in which organic method more and more resembles the industrial method.
6. What is “countercuisine”? 181 P3.
7. What does the organic food movement, especially the one connected with Whole Foods, have in common with Starbucks?
8. How was food radically compromised and degraded by the “scientific method”? 184 P2 and 3.
9. What is the opposite of “reductionist science”? 186 top. “Imitating whole natural systems.” See the evolution of organic farmer Gene Kahn whose business becomes more and more like the private model he once demonized: 187 P2-end of the page. And see what he says on bottom of 188.
10. Is there definitive proof that organic is superior to non-organic? See 188-190. Consider correlation over causality: People who seek healthy foods are living healthier lives in general. Produce may be healthier. See 192 bottom.
11. Is organic food better for the environment? See 193 and 194. It appears not much if at all.

 

 

 

Five. What are the 6 principles of effectively marketing “organic food”?

 

 

1. Create an easy to follow narrative about the food chain when in fact the food chain is very complex. See 175 bottom and 176 middle.
2. Create a good guy—the organic farmer—and a bad guy—the evil agribusinessman and make customers feel they are on the right side, namely the side of the “counter culture.” See 176.
3. Create a bond between consumer and producer that creates a sense of intimacy, authenticity, bonding, and good will. See 176 bottom and 177 top.
4. Rely on the supermarket pastoral myth. See 175 middle and 177 top. Create the Garden of Eden or Paradise when people and animals lived in harmony.
5. Use certification to create a story, authenticity, and 2-way communication between shopper and farmer: See 176 top.
6. Convince shoppers that by choosing “countercuisine” and chemical-free food (181) they are improving their health and saving themselves from the dangers of the evil food industry.

 

 

 

 

Six. Writing Assignment on Today’s Reading

 

Option 5: In the context of Michael Pollan’s essay “Big Organic” (174), analyze the fraud and deception the food industry uses to market foods that are allegedly “organic” and “natural.” 5-page outline: In 2 pages, summarize Pollan's major points. Then write a thesis. As my research and Michael Pollan's essay show, the idea of "organic" is a marketing fraud evidenced by _________________, _____________________, ___________________, and ______________________. Your last 3 pages would flesh out these mapping components.

  

Contrary Opinion:

 

Let’s not be so quick to dismiss and disparage those who are on an Organic Quest. While the organic food industry is overpriced and often teeming with false promises, those who embrace the organic lifestyle are better off for their efforts. Their superior wellbeing is evidenced by ________________________, __________________________, ___________________________, and ___________________________________.

 

Another Thesis Option:

Answer this question: Do the health benefits from eating organic justify the extra cost of shopping for organic foods?

 

Sample Thesis in favor of organic food:

 

While some claims from the organic food industry are exaggerated and while organic food is no panacea for good health, the research clearly shows that a diet that emphasizes organic foods will result in superior health evidenced by _______________________, _______________________________, __________________________________, and ____________________________________.

 

Contrary Thesis Example:

I concede that shoppers who buy organic are more health conscious than those who don’t, but this does not mean that organic food, per se, is worth the extra cost. In fact, healthy eating is not predicated on buying organic food. Worse, the misguided organic shopper can wreak havoc on himself when he ____________________________, ______________________, ___________________________, and _________________________________.

Resources

Naturally Dangerous

Eating Organic Offers No Benefits

Buying Organic Food Can Harm the Planet

Organic Food Not More Nutritional

Organic Food No Healthier

The Great Organic Myths

Organic Milk Is Not Healthier

Is Whole Foods Wholesome? (Dark Secrets Exposed)