HOW DO OUR EATING HABITS DEFINE WHO WE ARE?

05/09

4 notions :

The idea of progress

Places and forms of power

Spaces and exchanges

Myths and heroes

Food brainstorm :

food & culture : gastronomy / specialities /eating out = pleasure & social activity 

health issues : eating disorders / obesity / excess

environmental issues : shortages - not enough food - hunger - famine - starve / waste / industrial food (GMOs) versus organic food (grown / raised without pesticides, chemical products, antibiotics...)

ethics & life choices : vegetarianism / veganism / activism / conditions in which animals are raised - slaughtered

 

HOW DO OUR EATING HABITS DEFINE WHO WE ARE?

A reflection on food as a life choice involving health, ethics, sustainability and personal responsibility.

06/09

Survey :

1. Food & culture : your favourite food or comfort food often represents some childhood attachement or cultural identity :

pizza - pasta - French toast - couscous - moussaka - porridge - crepes...

2. life choices :

- how many of you are vegan? in your family? None

- how many of you are vegetarian? in your family? Only one.

- how many of your families buy mostly organic food? 9 (a small minority of us)

- how many of your families shop exclusively in supermarkets? 8 (also a small minority)

Interpret these figures in terms of habits.  Write a paragraph to communicate your remarks.

Homework : read the article in the following link.  Take notes and get ready to report what you have understood. 

https://freelymagazine.com/2017/01/07/what-food-tells-us-about-culture/

 10/09

Interpretation of the survey : reasons why there are so few vegans and vegetarians in the class and so few people shop organic.

12/09

Comparing our habits around food. Interaction orale.

13/09

Food & Health

Group work : create what you think is a healthy food pyramid the compare it with the following :

http://www.nutritionaustralia.org/sites/default/files/NA_Pyramid_A5-crop.jpg

According to the Australian "healthy eating pyramid", the most important sources of healthy nutrients are fruit, vegetables and legumes (lentils, chickpeas, beans...)

The second most important part of our diet should consist of grains (rice, wheat-based products like pasta or bread...)

Homework : finish describing the pyramid.  Do a research on Australian economy.  What is it based on? What do you notice?

17/09

Looking at Australian economy, we notice that 3 percent of it is based on agriculture.  This figure goes up to 12 percent when you add other components such as food processing and packageing.

Traditionally, Australia has been growing a number of crops such as wheat and farming sheep.

Our hypothesis is that the economy of a country will shape the guidelines given by the government in terms of food.

Compare the Japanese food "spinning top" with the Australian food pyramid.

https://www.mhlw.go.jp/bunya/kenkou/pdf/eiyou-syokuji5.pdf

You can browse a few food guidelines (United Nations) here:

http://www.fao.org/nutrition/education/food-dietary-guidelines/home/en/

 By observing the Japanese food guidelines we understand that they are influenced by the culture of the country (here, the foundation of the diet is carbs with rice, bread, noodles and pasta.  Vegetables come next and fruit surprisingly comes last whereas Australians or French guidelines promote an important consumption of fruit).

In other words, these guidelines will always be influenced / shaped by health concerns, economic parameters, cultural and geographic characteristics.

Homework :

préparer une prise de parole en continu sur "food & culture" et sur "food & health".

19/09

news flash page 23 (on the quest of an obese American)

For  Steve Vaught, being stopped in the street is now a daily routine. He is an unlikely celebrity. This morbidly obese man has captured the heart of America by walking alone from coast to coast on a quest to lose weight and find his soul. Vaught, aged 40, weighed almost 420 pounds (190 kg) when he left California  For him, it has all come as a shock. “People seem to think I am some kind of American hero, but I am just a guy.” Vaught said. His walk has touched a nerve in an America struggling with an obesity epidemic and a car-celebrating culture. What started as one man’s weight loss has become much more: a symbolic quest for a better way of living. His story is a sad one. He had to fight depression and disaster – he was in a car accident in which two people died – that expressed itself in overeating. Vaught, who has become a counterculture icon, has been flooded with commercial offers. One company wanted him to market a weight-loss pill for a $5m deal. He turned it down. “It’s all about ‘give me a pill’, ‘give me surgery’, do anything but face reality,” Vaught said. “I have done this walk to get my integrity back. I am not going to sell it.

 

 

20/09

- recap

- How to fight the obesity epidemic in the States:

ideas :

It would be a good idea to adopt a healthy diet and limit sugar, salt, junk food...

Exercising is also important.

- Oral Comprehension :

This document is a radio news program (news bulletin) broadcast at 7 o'clock in the evening. The presenter Rupert Clarks has a guest and they are talking about a world problem : obesity.

The guest, Sir John Barnes, is the chairman of the World Health Organization (WHO) and insists on the fact that the WHO used to focus on malnutrition, people starving in developping countries or having limited access to food supplies, but now, their mission is to teach people how to have a balanced diet because of the world-wide obesity epidemic.

The report they are talking about (released in 2005) said that 80 percent of people suffering from obesity lived in developped countries. The US is the first in the list for child obesity and the 2nd is Mexico.

The problem comes from the changes in lifestyle within the past 2 generations. People used to live in the country and led tough (= difficult), active, rural lives but now in the city they do less exercise and eat less healthy food.

24/09

Food & Choices

1. Under influence - Advertizing

Page 30 - ad for Mc Donald's

advertising / advertisers / promoting products... brands.../ buying and selling / making a profit / adapting a message to a particular target... you say the ad targets a specific group within the population (young children, teenagers, young adults, seniors...)

Radio ad n°1 :

This ad targets parents of young children who want what is best for their kids.

We can identify this target because the ad uses the voice of a young child. The product advertized is a fruitjuice called "Fruitshoot" by the brand Robinsons. It is a British ad which insists on the qualities of their product : it is supposed to contain only natural flavours and colorings.

Radio ad n°2 :

This is a British ad where the speaker has an American accent.  It promotes a new Subway menu and targets young adults who work in offices and don't have much time to eat.  It's supposed to be fresh, inexpensive and fast.

26/09

Radio ad n°3 :

This ad for Heinz ketchup targets people who work hard all week and whose lives are organized around a routine.  When they get home, they are tired and get this craving for chip with lots of ketchup...of course!

Video : Whyhunger.org

The video is part of an awareness campaign whose aim is to make people aware that 36 million Americans can't afford (= don't have enough money) to buy the food they need.

Group work :

Imagine you live in a community where some people can't afford to buy food.  As a community, you try to find concrete ideas to make sure everyone has access to information about nutrition, to healthy food... What are your solutions?

The community could organize a communal meal once in a while.

To make sure people know about nutrition, it's important that you talk about it in school and organizing gatherings could be a good idea.

The community could grow their own vegetables.

What happens in the meantime... while the plants are growing? In the meantime, you can pool resources and share.

27/09

- recap

Food & ethics : cruelty to animals

- https://youtu.be/sHgMh2yJ2LQ

- "We are not nuggets" (book page 24)

- What would happen if...

https://youtu.be/ANUoAdXfA60

01/10

Getting ready for the final task.