Collaborative Research Project

4/9/2012

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                                           Meatless Monday

This past week, our class watched the award winning documentary, Food Inc. This documentary goes into detail about the growth in the United State’s food industry since the 1950’s. Needless to say, it was less than appetizing! For our Collaborative Research Project, we will be analyzing the grassroots movement of “Meatless Monday.” This global campaign encourages people to skip eating meat on Mondays to help our planet’s sustainability and to improve our health. One day a week is all this campaign is supporting to change our planet and improve our well-being.

This campaign was originally started back in 2003, by a non-profit group called “The Mondays Campaign Inc.” They work with the John Hopkins school of Public Health Center for a Livable Future. Guidelines set by the UDSA have been implemented nutritional guidelines. Together as a group:Melanie, Lauren,  Alexis and myself, will research why not eating meat just one day out of the week can improve our lifestyle and also help the planet. We will explore the various ways meat production has made an impact on our economy and the environment. We will also explore alternative ways of eating along with meatless recipes  that can kick start healthy habits and improve our longevity. Below are research questions we came up with individually that we’d be more interested in learning.


Alexis- Have schools implemented Meatless Monday into their lunch program, and have they been successful?
What are the long term effects of scaling back on eating meat?
How does the consumption of meat affect our planet?

Melanie- Is there a significance for Monday versus any other day of the week?
Who has implemented Meatless Mondays with success (companies, organizations, celebrities and families)?
What kinds of yummy meatless recipes are out there?
How can we start our own program and be successful?
Can I replace meat and still be satisfied (protein intake)?

*****Really great video I found on YouTube about Meatless Mondays.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bU8Gg6mRiU

Lauren-Why did The Mondays Campaign come up with the idea of having one day without meat?
What other foods can we intake that are meatless?
How can we implement this in our schools?
Why can't it be meatless everyday of the week by supplementing meatless recipes?
How can consumers benefit from going meatless?

Tiffany-What has caused this movement to be implemented in the first place?
How many people are participating in meatless Monday?
What positive or negative effects on Meatless Monday have individuals noticed?



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Introduction to 2nd Assignment

3/5/2012

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This week’s blog posts by Michael Pollen "Omnivore's Dilemma" and Wendell Berry's
"The Pleasures of Eating" are transitioning us into our second assignment of the semester and giving a slight inside for the movie Food Inc that we will be watching in class.  In Michael Pollen's article it kind of made me think a little bit as to where some food comes from and how they get it the way that they do throughout processing. I am generally pretty conscious as to what I eat. I usually spend the extra couple dollars and shop at Whole Foods to get the organic foods.

               Before I started seeing a nutritionist and working out as much as I do I would eat fast food all the time. Then I realized how processed it is and it doesn't break down like it should, making it just sits in the body (grossssss). Needless to say it has been about 4 years since I've been through a McDonalds, Burger King, or any other fast food chain.  

     Pollen states that many people today seem perfectly content eating at the end of an industrial food chain, without a thought in the world; this book is probably not for them. There are things in it that will ruin their appetites. But in the end this is a book about the pleasures of eating, the kinds of pleasure that are only deepened by knowing. Years ago I would have probably said who cares if it tastes good and is covered with sodium I don't care, I’m eating this.

      Wendell Berry's article I really enjoyed to read. It also made me think more about farming. Berry made a point that got my mind to think when this was stated “And this peculiar specialization of the act of eating is, again, of obvious benefit to the food industry, which has good reasons to obscure the connection between food and farming. It would not do for the consumer to know that the hamburger she is eating came from a steer who spent much of his life standing deep in his own excrement in a feedlot, helping to pollute the local streams, or that the calf that yielded the veal cutlet on her plate spent its life in a box in which it did not have room to turn around.” This made me think, where does it come from, what farm was it on, and what chemicals if any am I ingesting, although its organic food does it really mean it is, and who is monitoring this food making sure it is safe to eat where I won't get sick.

       Food Inc is a movie I am looking forward to watching. I can't wait to see what type of information I can get out of this.
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