"Chicken" Response Paper
Book & movie response [By Luann (Suhr) Akaydin]
The book Chicken: The Dangerous Transformation of America’s Favorite Food reminded me of the film Food Inc. The book, Chicken: The Dangerous Transformation of America’s Favorite Food, shows more of the Mexican, Central & South American experience as illegal immigrants in America working as food handlers in the chicken ‘factories’ and the bad conditions faced by them. The film, Food Inc., explains more of the background information on how the government and big businesses manipulate the food system and genetically enhance and engineer both agricultural crops such as corn and soybeans and livestock such as cows, pigs, and chickens. After reading this book, I feel like I know a lot more about the workers experiences within these institutions. I knew a lot from the documentaries I’ve seen as well but this book showed more of a workers perspective than the documentaries. The films were more so based on the actual production and farming of chicken.
When eating any food product in the United States you have to put these wrong-doings out of your mind or you’ll have nothing left to eat. Is anything really organic? Is organic really safe? If a chicken is not kept in a cage that does not mean it’s roaming in the fields like Mother Nature intended. If a chicken is grain fed, that does not mean that those grains are not genetically modified or that the chicken is not injected with some sort of antibiotics. Every food in the United States seems to be processed or engineered in some way or another. For instance look at how many products have some version of corn in them, most versions being genetically enhanced versions of the vegetable. Chicken is just another thing to add to the list of genetically engineered foods we are eating.
The United States has exploited cheap labor from so many different groups of people over time. America has never really held open arms to anyone that it did not think it could take advantage of. In the past it was the Africans on the plantations, and the Eastern Europeans and children in the factories. Today it is the outsourced people of poorer countries, such as India, and also many immigrants, such as the legal and illegal immigrants from Spanish speaking countries. I knew that immigrants built this country and I know see how much they, whether they are legally here or not, still continue to keep it running. We were all immigrants or come from an immigrant family at one point, no matter how many generations back.
It’s disgusting to think how these workers are brought into the country with the government knowing, a lot of time even assisting in the infiltration of our border, and big business profiting but the workers do not get any rights for themselves. If the government helps to bring them here then they should help them out as well. The workers are in America illegally and therefore cannot fight to improve their situation, as they always have the fear of deportation looming over their head.
It’s been this way many years, that illegal immigrants have been the force behind making our food. I understand that illegal immigrants work in the factories doing all the work that a lot of Americans would be unwilling to do, under poor conditions, and for much less pay. I understand that if we paid the workers more then we would see that increase at the marketplace in terms of price. If I knew I was paying for food and not just genetically engineered ‘things,’ then I, personally, would not mind paying a little extra. Most people probably don’t share this sentiment as food can be a big expense for many families. Bigger is not always better, although we sometimes think it is. Just because you are getting more of something does not make it better, quantity is not more important than quality, especially when it can come to your health.
I don’t think the big businesses of genetically engineered food will change its ways to afford a healthier alternative to Americans. I’m pretty confident the profits of these food corporations are more important to them than the health and well-being of the American people. Not enough people know about genetically engineered food and its effect on health. Not many people are complaining. It’s cheaper, and a lot of people in America are convinced they cannot afford to change their diet. You cannot disband from your acquired culinary lifestyle and join the army against genetically engineered food if it is the only food that you can afford, or think you can afford, to buy, so the army against big business is that much weaker. Although an army of one can be strong, it is not necessarily strong enough to fight against something that has its roots so deep into our institution of government. The question the executives at these companies would ask would be, ‘why change something that is so profitable?,’ and honestly why would they?
I feel the same way as the workers in the book feel when the box of chicken is placed in front of them. Though I know how chicken is ‘made’, if I’m hungry and it’s in front of me I’m not going to avoid eating it, especially if it’s free. I’m in America. Really, what are my options? You want liberties that the United States provides, then, for now at least, you have to give up on tasting real food. It’s kind of like a give and take relationship; you just don’t realize what you’re giving up, unless you leave the country. My last job was as a flight attendant and I traveled all around the world and the thing I loved the most was being able to taste food. Being able to taste real, natural food is amazing experiences a lot of Americans do not even realize they are missing. Here in America though, I feel like I do not have that option.
I think that because food is cheaper now than it has been in the past, because of genetic engineering, this makes people eat more than they need, which would account for our rising obesity rates within the country. When I visited another country for the first time and went to a restaurant in Paris, I was disappointed at my portion size. The plate came and I thought ‘where’s the rest of it?’. I was surprised though because this little plate of food was so flavorful and filled me much more than if I ate a lot more, of the same type of food, at home in America. It was the perfect portion. When I came home I tried to do the same thing, with portion size, but the food, no matter how much I ate, was not satisfying like it was in France.
We read this book about the chicken industry and how horrible the food is and how it's genetically engineered and the only thing I can think of right now is the fact that I want chicken fingers. If chicken is this tasteless thing and it’s so horrible for me to eat the chicken from America, then why am I craving it? Even knowing all the bad things that go into chicken and all the bad things that happen behind the scenes, I just want some chicken. I eat chicken in my house at least 6 times a week. I know I can survive without chicken and that there are plenty of other types of food that I can choose to eat but, if I’m in America and, they’re all genetically engineered anyway, why can’t I just eat my chicken?