Position Paper

Position Paper

Introduction

Pollan's ground-breaking “The Omnivore's Dilemma” (2007) revolutionized thinking patterns about societal issues. Pollan addressed the extremely prevalent social issue of obesity in American society by answering the seemingly simple and uncomplicated question of “what should we have for dinner?” Not only this, the Omnivore's dilemma suggests that the American society holistically faces a “national eating disorder” which translates into the elimination of even the most basic staple foods from the American table - bread.

Criticizing the role of the media, Pollan argues that an array of diet books, research findings and one 'timely' magazine article culminated in the diet-frenzy and re-thinking food attitudes in the American society. He draws on the example of Atkins' recommendation of increasing meat intake in routine diet while maintaining low levels of body fat so as long as individuals eliminated the staple bread from their diet. These diets are chiefly high in proteins and low in carbohydrates. Numerous epidemiological studies reinforced Atkin's view in their findings which culminated in the belief that America's 70's nutritional orthodoxy might not be in accordance with modernity (Pollan, 2007).

The example of Pollan's argument discussed above underlines the notion that existing ideas, frameworks and research about conventional issues is not necessarily an accurate measure of that issue. Since the nature of society is consistently going through change, the nature of societal issues is also consistently changing. This implies that each issue is as complex and evolved as the society itself. This will be reflected throughout the position paper to reinforce its claim by drawing on examples from “The Omnivore's Dilemma” and existing literature on food anthropology. The position paper's stance will restate the claim in a conclusive manner after demonstrating the legitimacy of this claim through a variety of arguments in favor of this notion.

Thesis Statement

This position paper maintains that conventional wisdom about societal issues may not, for all intents and purposes, be accurate.

Discussion

Nutritional and Cultural Wisdom

Homo sapiens are an omnivorous species possessing the ability to adjust to a multitude of environmental shifts, which suggests the capacity of adaptation in diverse environmental settings. The omnivore's diet has a single prerequisite - variety. Numerous nutrients constitute for a healthy metabolism. Rozin (1976) argued that an active and healthy human metabolism needs an array of diverse food types. Human omnivores utilize their freedom in picking food in an atypical way. Men will not only consume foods containing proteins, fat and carbohydrates but also symbols, myths and fantasies (Fischler, 1980). This idea suggests that human beings are extensively conscious about their food choices, to the point that these choices will become central to their food consumption patterns. This explains the increasing interest in dietary needs and desires in the American society.

Rozin (1976) advocated the view that humans, like animals, also enjoy 'nutritional wisdom' which they derive from numerous research findings and empirical data. The evidence of this existing in pragmatic terms is the existence of “specific hungers” during which individuals will be inclined towards rectifying nutritional ...