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Six brilliant student essays on the power of food to spark social change.

Read winning essays from our fall 2018 “Feeding Ourselves, Feeding Our Revolutions,” student writing contest.

For the Fall 2018 student writing competition, “Feeding Ourselves, Feeding Our Revolutions,” we invited students to read the YES! Magazine article, “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,”   by Korsha Wilson and respond to this writing prompt: If you were to host a potluck or dinner to discuss a challenge facing your community or country, what food would you cook? Whom would you invite? On what issue would you deliberate? 

The Winners

From the hundreds of essays written, these six—on anti-Semitism, cultural identity, death row prisoners, coming out as transgender, climate change, and addiction—were chosen as essay winners.  Be sure to read the literary gems and catchy titles that caught our eye.

Middle School Winner: India Brown High School Winner: Grace Williams University Winner: Lillia Borodkin Powerful Voice Winner: Paisley Regester Powerful Voice Winner: Emma Lingo Powerful Voice Winner: Hayden Wilson

Literary Gems Clever Titles

Middle School Winner: India Brown  

A Feast for the Future

Close your eyes and imagine the not too distant future: The Statue of Liberty is up to her knees in water, the streets of lower Manhattan resemble the canals of Venice, and hurricanes arrive in the fall and stay until summer. Now, open your eyes and see the beautiful planet that we will destroy if we do not do something. Now is the time for change. Our future is in our control if we take actions, ranging from small steps, such as not using plastic straws, to large ones, such as reducing fossil fuel consumption and electing leaders who take the problem seriously.

 Hosting a dinner party is an extraordinary way to publicize what is at stake. At my potluck, I would serve linguini with clams. The clams would be sautéed in white wine sauce. The pasta tossed with a light coat of butter and topped with freshly shredded parmesan. I choose this meal because it cannot be made if global warming’s patterns persist. Soon enough, the ocean will be too warm to cultivate clams, vineyards will be too sweltering to grow grapes, and wheat fields will dry out, leaving us without pasta.

I think that giving my guests a delicious meal and then breaking the news to them that its ingredients would be unattainable if Earth continues to get hotter is a creative strategy to initiate action. Plus, on the off chance the conversation gets drastically tense, pasta is a relatively difficult food to throw.

In YES! Magazine’s article, “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,” Korsha Wilson says “…beyond the narrow definition of what cooking is, you can see that cooking is and has always been an act of resistance.” I hope that my dish inspires people to be aware of what’s at stake with increasing greenhouse gas emissions and work toward creating a clean energy future.

 My guest list for the potluck would include two groups of people: local farmers, who are directly and personally affected by rising temperatures, increased carbon dioxide, drought, and flooding, and people who either do not believe in human-caused climate change or don’t think it affects anyone. I would invite the farmers or farm owners because their jobs and crops are dependent on the weather. I hope that after hearing a farmer’s perspective, climate-deniers would be awakened by the truth and more receptive to the effort to reverse these catastrophic trends.

Earth is a beautiful planet that provides everything we’ll ever need, but because of our pattern of living—wasteful consumption, fossil fuel burning, and greenhouse gas emissions— our habitat is rapidly deteriorating. Whether you are a farmer, a long-shower-taking teenager, a worker in a pollution-producing factory, or a climate-denier, the future of humankind is in our hands. The choices we make and the actions we take will forever affect planet Earth.

 India Brown is an eighth grader who lives in New York City with her parents and older brother. She enjoys spending time with her friends, walking her dog, Morty, playing volleyball and lacrosse, and swimming.

High School Winner: Grace Williams

Apple Pie Embrace

It’s 1:47 a.m. Thanksgiving smells fill the kitchen. The sweet aroma of sugar-covered apples and buttery dough swirls into my nostrils. Fragrant orange and rosemary permeate the room and every corner smells like a stroll past the open door of a French bakery. My eleven-year-old eyes water, red with drowsiness, and refocus on the oven timer counting down. Behind me, my mom and aunt chat to no end, fueled by the seemingly self-replenishable coffee pot stashed in the corner. Their hands work fast, mashing potatoes, crumbling cornbread, and covering finished dishes in a thin layer of plastic wrap. The most my tired body can do is sit slouched on the backless wooden footstool. I bask in the heat escaping under the oven door.

 As a child, I enjoyed Thanksgiving and the preparations that came with it, but it seemed like more of a bridge between my birthday and Christmas than an actual holiday. Now, it’s a time of year I look forward to, dedicated to family, memories, and, most importantly, food. What I realized as I grew older was that my homemade Thanksgiving apple pie was more than its flaky crust and soft-fruit center. This American food symbolized a rite of passage, my Iraqi family’s ticket to assimilation. 

 Some argue that by adopting American customs like the apple pie, we lose our culture. I would argue that while American culture influences what my family eats and celebrates, it doesn’t define our character. In my family, we eat Iraqi dishes like mesta and tahini, but we also eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch for breakfast. This doesn’t mean we favor one culture over the other; instead, we create a beautiful blend of the two, adapting traditions to make them our own.

 That said, my family has always been more than the “mashed potatoes and turkey” type.

My mom’s family immigrated to the United States in 1976. Upon their arrival, they encountered a deeply divided America. Racism thrived, even after the significant freedoms gained from the Civil Rights Movement a few years before. Here, my family was thrust into a completely unknown world: they didn’t speak the language, they didn’t dress normally, and dinners like riza maraka seemed strange in comparison to the Pop Tarts and Oreos lining grocery store shelves.

 If I were to host a dinner party, it would be like Thanksgiving with my Chaldean family. The guests, my extended family, are a diverse people, distinct ingredients in a sweet potato casserole, coming together to create a delicious dish.

In her article “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,” Korsha Wilson writes, “each ingredient that we use, every technique, every spice tells a story about our access, our privilege, our heritage, and our culture.” Voices around the room will echo off the walls into the late hours of the night while the hot apple pie steams at the table’s center.

We will play concan on the blanketed floor and I’ll try to understand my Toto, who, after forty years, still speaks broken English. I’ll listen to my elders as they tell stories about growing up in Unionville, Michigan, a predominately white town where they always felt like outsiders, stories of racism that I have the privilege not to experience. While snacking on sunflower seeds and salted pistachios, we’ll talk about the news- how thousands of people across the country are protesting for justice among immigrants. No one protested to give my family a voice.

Our Thanksgiving food is more than just sustenance, it is a physical representation of my family ’s blended and ever-changing culture, even after 40 years in the United States. No matter how the food on our plates changes, it will always symbolize our sense of family—immediate and extended—and our unbreakable bond.

Grace Williams, a student at Kirkwood High School in Kirkwood, Missouri, enjoys playing tennis, baking, and spending time with her family. Grace also enjoys her time as a writing editor for her school’s yearbook, the Pioneer. In the future, Grace hopes to continue her travels abroad, as well as live near extended family along the sunny beaches of La Jolla, California.

University Winner: Lillia Borodkin

Nourishing Change After Tragedy Strikes

In the Jewish community, food is paramount. We often spend our holidays gathered around a table, sharing a meal and reveling in our people’s story. On other sacred days, we fast, focusing instead on reflection, atonement, and forgiveness.

As a child, I delighted in the comfort of matzo ball soup, the sweetness of hamantaschen, and the beauty of braided challah. But as I grew older and more knowledgeable about my faith, I learned that the origins of these foods are not rooted in joy, but in sacrifice.

The matzo of matzo balls was a necessity as the Jewish people did not have time for their bread to rise as they fled slavery in Egypt. The hamantaschen was an homage to the hat of Haman, the villain of the Purim story who plotted the Jewish people’s destruction. The unbaked portion of braided challah was tithed by commandment to the kohen  or priests. Our food is an expression of our history, commemorating both our struggles and our triumphs.

As I write this, only days have passed since eleven Jews were killed at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. These people, intending only to pray and celebrate the Sabbath with their community, were murdered simply for being Jewish. This brutal event, in a temple and city much like my own, is a reminder that anti-Semitism still exists in this country. A reminder that hatred of Jews, of me, my family, and my community, is alive and flourishing in America today. The thought that a difference in religion would make some believe that others do not have the right to exist is frightening and sickening.  

 This is why, if given the chance, I would sit down the entire Jewish American community at one giant Shabbat table. I’d serve matzo ball soup, pass around loaves of challah, and do my best to offer comfort. We would take time to remember the beautiful souls lost to anti-Semitism this October and the countless others who have been victims of such hatred in the past. I would then ask that we channel all we are feeling—all the fear, confusion, and anger —into the fight.

As suggested in Korsha Wilson’s “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,” I would urge my guests to direct our passion for justice and the comfort and care provided by the food we are eating into resisting anti-Semitism and hatred of all kinds.

We must use the courage this sustenance provides to create change and honor our people’s suffering and strength. We must remind our neighbors, both Jewish and non-Jewish, that anti-Semitism is alive and well today. We must shout and scream and vote until our elected leaders take this threat to our community seriously. And, we must stand with, support, and listen to other communities that are subjected to vengeful hate today in the same way that many of these groups have supported us in the wake of this tragedy.

This terrible shooting is not the first of its kind, and if conflict and loathing are permitted to grow, I fear it will not be the last. While political change may help, the best way to target this hate is through smaller-scale actions in our own communities.

It is critical that we as a Jewish people take time to congregate and heal together, but it is equally necessary to include those outside the Jewish community to build a powerful crusade against hatred and bigotry. While convening with these individuals, we will work to end the dangerous “otherizing” that plagues our society and seek to understand that we share far more in common than we thought. As disagreements arise during our discussions, we will learn to respect and treat each other with the fairness we each desire. Together, we shall share the comfort, strength, and courage that traditional Jewish foods provide and use them to fuel our revolution. 

We are not alone in the fight despite what extremists and anti-semites might like us to believe.  So, like any Jew would do, I invite you to join me at the Shabbat table. First, we will eat. Then, we will get to work.  

Lillia Borodkin is a senior at Kent State University majoring in Psychology with a concentration in Child Psychology. She plans to attend graduate school and become a school psychologist while continuing to pursue her passion for reading and writing. Outside of class, Lillia is involved in research in the psychology department and volunteers at the Women’s Center on campus.   

Powerful Voice Winner: Paisley Regester

As a kid, I remember asking my friends jokingly, ”If you were stuck on a deserted island, what single item of food would you bring?” Some of my friends answered practically and said they’d bring water. Others answered comically and said they’d bring snacks like Flamin’ Hot Cheetos or a banana. However, most of my friends answered sentimentally and listed the foods that made them happy. This seems like fun and games, but what happens if the hypothetical changes? Imagine being asked, on the eve of your death, to choose the final meal you will ever eat. What food would you pick? Something practical? Comical? Sentimental?  

This situation is the reality for the 2,747 American prisoners who are currently awaiting execution on death row. The grim ritual of “last meals,” when prisoners choose their final meal before execution, can reveal a lot about these individuals and what they valued throughout their lives.

It is difficult for us to imagine someone eating steak, lobster tail, apple pie, and vanilla ice cream one moment and being killed by state-approved lethal injection the next. The prisoner can only hope that the apple pie he requested tastes as good as his mom’s. Surprisingly, many people in prison decline the option to request a special last meal. We often think of food as something that keeps us alive, so is there really any point to eating if someone knows they are going to die?

“Controlling food is a means of controlling power,” said chef Sean Sherman in the YES! Magazine article “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,” by Korsha Wilson. There are deeper stories that lie behind the final meals of individuals on death row.

I want to bring awareness to the complex and often controversial conditions of this country’s criminal justice system and change the common perception of prisoners as inhuman. To accomplish this, I would host a potluck where I would recreate the last meals of prisoners sentenced to death.

In front of each plate, there would be a place card with the prisoner’s full name, the date of execution, and the method of execution. These meals could range from a plate of fried chicken, peas with butter, apple pie, and a Dr. Pepper, reminiscent of a Sunday dinner at Grandma’s, to a single olive.

Seeing these meals up close, meals that many may eat at their own table or feed to their own kids, would force attendees to face the reality of the death penalty. It will urge my guests to look at these individuals not just as prisoners, assigned a number and a death date, but as people, capable of love and rehabilitation.  

This potluck is not only about realizing a prisoner’s humanity, but it is also about recognizing a flawed criminal justice system. Over the years, I have become skeptical of the American judicial system, especially when only seven states have judges who ethnically represent the people they serve. I was shocked when I found out that the officers who killed Michael Brown and Anthony Lamar Smith were exonerated for their actions. How could that be possible when so many teens and adults of color have spent years in prison, some even executed, for crimes they never committed?  

Lawmakers, police officers, city officials, and young constituents, along with former prisoners and their families, would be invited to my potluck to start an honest conversation about the role and application of inequality, dehumanization, and racism in the death penalty. Food served at the potluck would represent the humanity of prisoners and push people to acknowledge that many inmates are victims of a racist and corrupt judicial system.

Recognizing these injustices is only the first step towards a more equitable society. The second step would be acting on these injustices to ensure that every voice is heard, even ones separated from us by prison walls. Let’s leave that for the next potluck, where I plan to serve humble pie.

Paisley Regester is a high school senior and devotes her life to activism, the arts, and adventure. Inspired by her experiences traveling abroad to Nicaragua, Mexico, and Scotland, Paisley hopes to someday write about the diverse people and places she has encountered and share her stories with the rest of the world.

Powerful Voice Winner: Emma Lingo

The Empty Seat

“If you aren’t sober, then I don’t want to see you on Christmas.”

Harsh words for my father to hear from his daughter but words he needed to hear. Words I needed him to understand and words he seemed to consider as he fiddled with his wine glass at the head of the table. Our guests, my grandma, and her neighbors remained resolutely silent. They were not about to defend my drunken father–or Charles as I call him–from my anger or my ultimatum.

This was the first dinner we had had together in a year. The last meal we shared ended with Charles slopping his drink all over my birthday presents and my mother explaining heroin addiction to me. So, I wasn’t surprised when Charles threw down some liquid valor before dinner in anticipation of my anger. If he wanted to be welcomed on Christmas, he needed to be sober—or he needed to be gone.

Countless dinners, holidays, and birthdays taught me that my demands for sobriety would fall on deaf ears. But not this time. Charles gave me a gift—a one of a kind, limited edition, absolutely awkward treat. One that I didn’t know how to deal with at all. Charles went home that night, smacked a bright red bow on my father, and hand-delivered him to me on Christmas morning.

He arrived for breakfast freshly showered and looking flustered. He would remember this day for once only because his daughter had scolded him into sobriety. Dad teetered between happiness and shame. Grandma distracted us from Dad’s presence by bringing the piping hot bacon and biscuits from the kitchen to the table, theatrically announcing their arrival. Although these foods were the alleged focus of the meal, the real spotlight shined on the unopened liquor cabinet in my grandma’s kitchen—the cabinet I know Charles was begging Dad to open.

I’ve isolated myself from Charles. My family has too. It means we don’t see Dad, but it’s the best way to avoid confrontation and heartache. Sometimes I find myself wondering what it would be like if we talked with him more or if he still lived nearby. Would he be less inclined to use? If all families with an addict tried to hang on to a relationship with the user, would there be fewer addicts in the world? Christmas breakfast with Dad was followed by Charles whisking him away to Colorado where pot had just been legalized. I haven’t talked to Dad since that Christmas.

As Korsha Wilson stated in her YES! Magazine article, “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,” “Sometimes what we don’t cook says more than what we do cook.” When it comes to addiction, what isn’t served is more important than what is. In quiet moments, I like to imagine a meal with my family–including Dad. He’d have a spot at the table in my little fantasy. No alcohol would push him out of his chair, the cigarettes would remain seated in his back pocket, and the stench of weed wouldn’t invade the dining room. Fruit salad and gumbo would fill the table—foods that Dad likes. We’d talk about trivial matters in life, like how school is going and what we watched last night on TV.

Dad would feel loved. We would connect. He would feel less alone. At the end of the night, he’d walk me to the door and promise to see me again soon. And I would believe him.

Emma Lingo spends her time working as an editor for her school paper, reading, and being vocal about social justice issues. Emma is active with many clubs such as Youth and Government, KHS Cares, and Peer Helpers. She hopes to be a journalist one day and to be able to continue helping out people by volunteering at local nonprofits.

Powerful Voice Winner: Hayden Wilson

Bittersweet Reunion

I close my eyes and envision a dinner of my wildest dreams. I would invite all of my relatives. Not just my sister who doesn’t ask how I am anymore. Not just my nephews who I’m told are too young to understand me. No, I would gather all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins to introduce them to the me they haven’t met.

For almost two years, I’ve gone by a different name that most of my family refuses to acknowledge. My aunt, a nun of 40 years, told me at a recent birthday dinner that she’d heard of my “nickname.” I didn’t want to start a fight, so I decided not to correct her. Even the ones who’ve adjusted to my name have yet to recognize the bigger issue.

Last year on Facebook, I announced to my friends and family that I am transgender. No one in my family has talked to me about it, but they have plenty to say to my parents. I feel as if this is about my parents more than me—that they’ve made some big parenting mistake. Maybe if I invited everyone to dinner and opened up a discussion, they would voice their concerns to me instead of my parents.

I would serve two different meals of comfort food to remind my family of our good times. For my dad’s family, I would cook heavily salted breakfast food, the kind my grandpa used to enjoy. He took all of his kids to IHOP every Sunday and ordered the least healthy option he could find, usually some combination of an overcooked omelet and a loaded Classic Burger. For my mom’s family, I would buy shakes and burgers from Hardee’s. In my grandma’s final weeks, she let aluminum tins of sympathy meals pile up on her dining table while she made my uncle take her to Hardee’s every day.

In her article on cooking and activism, food writer Korsha Wilson writes, “Everyone puts down their guard over a good meal, and in that space, change is possible.” Hopefully the same will apply to my guests.

When I first thought of this idea, my mind rushed to the endless negative possibilities. My nun-aunt and my two non-nun aunts who live like nuns would whip out their Bibles before I even finished my first sentence. My very liberal, state representative cousin would say how proud she is of the guy I’m becoming, but this would trigger my aunts to accuse her of corrupting my mind. My sister, who has never spoken to me about my genderidentity, would cover her children’s ears and rush them out of the house. My Great-Depression-raised grandparents would roll over in their graves, mumbling about how kids have it easy nowadays.

After mentally mapping out every imaginable terrible outcome this dinner could have, I realized a conversation is unavoidable if I want my family to accept who I am. I long to restore the deep connection I used to have with them. Though I often think these former relationships are out of reach, I won’t know until I try to repair them. For a year and a half, I’ve relied on Facebook and my parents to relay messages about my identity, but I need to tell my own story.

At first, I thought Korsha Wilson’s idea of a cooked meal leading the way to social change was too optimistic, but now I understand that I need to think more like her. Maybe, just maybe, my family could all gather around a table, enjoy some overpriced shakes, and be as close as we were when I was a little girl.

 Hayden Wilson is a 17-year-old high school junior from Missouri. He loves writing, making music, and painting. He’s a part of his school’s writing club, as well as the GSA and a few service clubs.

 Literary Gems

We received many outstanding essays for the Fall 2018 Writing Competition. Though not every participant can win the contest, we’d like to share some excerpts that caught our eye.

Thinking of the main staple of the dish—potatoes, the starchy vegetable that provides sustenance for people around the globe. The onion, the layers of sorrow and joy—a base for this dish served during the holidays.  The oil, symbolic of hope and perseverance. All of these elements come together to form this delicious oval pancake permeating with possibilities. I wonder about future possibilities as I flip the latkes.

—Nikki Markman, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, California

The egg is a treasure. It is a fragile heart of gold that once broken, flows over the blemishless surface of the egg white in dandelion colored streams, like ribbon unraveling from its spool.

—Kaylin Ku, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, Princeton Junction, New Jersey

If I were to bring one food to a potluck to create social change by addressing anti-Semitism, I would bring gefilte fish because it is different from other fish, just like the Jews are different from other people.  It looks more like a matzo ball than fish, smells extraordinarily fishy, and tastes like sweet brine with the consistency of a crab cake.

—Noah Glassman, Ethical Culture Fieldston School,  Bronx, New York

I would not only be serving them something to digest, I would serve them a one-of-a-kind taste of the past, a taste of fear that is felt in the souls of those whose home and land were taken away, a taste of ancestral power that still lives upon us, and a taste of the voices that want to be heard and that want the suffering of the Natives to end.

—Citlalic Anima Guevara, Wichita North High School, Wichita, Kansas

It’s the one thing that your parents make sure you have because they didn’t.  Food is what your mother gives you as she lies, telling you she already ate. It’s something not everybody is fortunate to have and it’s also what we throw away without hesitation.  Food is a blessing to me, but what is it to you?

—Mohamed Omar, Kirkwood High School, Kirkwood, Missouri

Filleted and fried humphead wrasse, mangrove crab with coconut milk, pounded taro, a whole roast pig, and caramelized nuts—cuisines that will not be simplified to just “food.” Because what we eat is the diligence and pride of our people—a culture that has survived and continues to thrive.

—Mayumi Remengesau, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, California

Some people automatically think I’m kosher or ask me to say prayers in Hebrew.  However, guess what? I don’t know many prayers and I eat bacon.

—Hannah Reing, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, The Bronx, New York

Everything was placed before me. Rolling up my sleeves I started cracking eggs, mixing flour, and sampling some chocolate chips, because you can never be too sure. Three separate bowls. All different sizes. Carefully, I tipped the smallest, and the medium-sized bowls into the biggest. Next, I plugged in my hand-held mixer and flicked on the switch. The beaters whirl to life. I lowered it into the bowl and witnessed the creation of something magnificent. Cookie dough.

—Cassandra Amaya, Owen Goodnight Middle School, San Marcos, Texas

Biscuits and bisexuality are both things that are in my life…My grandmother’s biscuits are the best: the good old classic Southern biscuits, crunchy on the outside, fluffy on the inside. Except it is mostly Southern people who don’t accept me.

—Jaden Huckaby, Arbor Montessori, Decatur, Georgia

We zest the bright yellow lemons and the peels of flavor fall lightly into the batter.  To make frosting, we keep adding more and more powdered sugar until it looks like fluffy clouds with raspberry seed rain.

—Jane Minus, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, New York

Tamales for my grandma, I can still remember her skillfully spreading the perfect layer of masa on every corn husk, looking at me pitifully as my young hands fumbled with the corn wrapper, always too thick or too thin.

—Brenna Eliaz, San Marcos High School, San Marcos, Texas

Just like fry bread, MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat) remind New Orleanians and others affected by disasters of the devastation throughout our city and the little amount of help we got afterward.

—Madeline Johnson, Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama

I would bring cream corn and buckeyes and have a big debate on whether marijuana should be illegal or not.

—Lillian Martinez, Miller Middle School, San Marcos, Texas

We would finish the meal off with a delicious apple strudel, topped with schlag, schlag, schlag, more schlag, and a cherry, and finally…more schlag (in case you were wondering, schlag is like whipped cream, but 10 times better because it is heavier and sweeter).

—Morgan Sheehan, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, New York

Clever Titles

This year we decided to do something different. We were so impressed by the number of catchy titles that we decided to feature some of our favorites. 

“Eat Like a Baby: Why Shame Has No Place at a Baby’s Dinner Plate”

—Tate Miller, Wichita North High School, Wichita, Kansas 

“The Cheese in Between”

—Jedd Horowitz, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, New York

“Harvey, Michael, Florence or Katrina? Invite Them All Because Now We Are Prepared”

—Molly Mendoza, Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama

“Neglecting Our Children: From Broccoli to Bullets”

—Kylie Rollings, Kirkwood High School, Kirkwood, Missouri  

“The Lasagna of Life”

—Max Williams, Wichita North High School, Wichita, Kansas

“Yum, Yum, Carbon Dioxide In Our Lungs”

—Melanie Eickmeyer, Kirkwood High School, Kirkwood, Missouri

“My Potluck, My Choice”

—Francesca Grossberg, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, New York

“Trumping with Tacos”

—Maya Goncalves, Lincoln Middle School, Ypsilanti, Michigan

“Quiche and Climate Change”

—Bernie Waldman, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, New York

“Biscuits and Bisexuality”

“W(health)”

—Miles Oshan, San Marcos High School, San Marcos, Texas

“Bubula, Come Eat!”

—Jordan Fienberg, Ethical Culture Fieldston School,  Bronx, New York

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Great Argumentative Essay Topics About Food with essay prompts

It can be hard to think of a good Argumentative Essay Topics About Food. You want something that will engage your audience and get them thinking, but you also need to pick a topic that you feel passionate about. In this article, we’ll give you a list of some great Argumentative Essay Topics About Food to get you started!

What You'll Learn

Great Argumentative Essay Topics About Food

Differences Between Food Intoxication and Food Infection

Essay Prompt: Food infections occur when individuals consume food contaminated by infectious organisms such as bacteria, viruses, parasites, and toxins. Food contamination can happen during the production of food.

Food as a Way to Showcase African Americans’ Identity

Essay Prompt: For the majority, there is not much to think about food. Food is simply a means to an end. We eat so we could be full. However, others understand that food is not just a means. They understand that what they eat is a representation of who they are.

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Why Do People Waste Food?

Essay Prompt: Evidence reveals that the food wasted annually could be enough to feed an enormous number of people. There are two main reasons why people waste food. First, when people visit restaurants, they are usually starving. Consequently, they are likely to order more food than they need.

The Food we Eat

Essay Prompt: The food we eat contains nutrients necessary for nourishing and proper functioning of the body. It is important to understand well the food we put into our mouths because it determines our health and wellbeing. The food we eat contains nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, minerals, and vitamins…

Food Preference Identifies Identity

Essay Prompt: Although food variations can be found anywhere in the world whether it is local or adopted; that people are liking food regardless of their roots and preferences; those food varieties these days are being adopted and reformulated from culture to culture, food variation identifies the individual’s culture.  

Please watch the documentary “Food Chains”. Literature & Language

Essay Prompt: Food Chains is a documentary that was produced by Eva Longoria on November 24, 2014. This documentary reveals how farmworkers in the United States are abused by the multibillion-dollar supermarkets and food industries

Essay Prompt: Food wastage refers to the loss of unconsumed food. Food wastage occurs in various stages, such as production, processing, distribution, retail, and consumption. Conversely, food loss refers to the removal of food intended for consumption from the food chain. In most cases, food that ends up.

Unique Argumentative Essay Topics About Food

The topic is fast Food and health

Essay Prompt: Fast food refers to types of foods that are prepared within a short time before they are served. They are relatively cheaper than ordinary food cooked in homes. In most restaurants, fast foods are readily available and one does not need time to wait for it to be prepared.  

Food Security and Reasons Why LDCs Are Food-Deficit Countries

Essay Prompt: Food security entails the availability of adequate, nutritious, sufficient, and safe food that enable people to maintain their health and have active lives. In particular, food security comprises of three primary elements, namely availability, access, and utilization. (Argumentative Essay Topics About Food)

The Slow Food Movement will improve the Condition of the Environment

Essay Prompt: The slow food movement has been popularized due to the positive effects that it has on the environment. The movement supports the consumption of locally manufactured food instead of imported foods, which ultimately cuts the use of fossil fuel in the transportation of food.

The Concept of Right to Food, Justice, and Sovereignty and the Food Insecurity

Essay Prompt: From the video, key concepts discussed are the right to food, justice, and sovereignty. Every human being has a right to food, which involves the right to have adequate food which is correspondent to their cultural tradition, as well as enhance physical and mental status for a dignified and fulfilling life.

Here are additional 60+ Top And Best Argumentative Essay Topics For Different Contexts

Food Policy and Public Health’s Impacts on Mexican Food System

Essay Prompt: Food policy and public health are always a major concern to different countries across the globe. Food policy is the way a government manages and regulates the food system and industry, the laws governing the trading of food products and inputs.

Food History. Could slow Food be the best choice for producing Food for humanity?

Essay Prompt: Slow Food mainly seeks to attain the goal of producing food that is good, clean, and fair. Additionally, it also seeks to continue feeding the world without necessarily harming the environment. Unique Argumentative Essay Topics About Food.

Find out more on  Argumentative Essay Topics About Social Media [Updated]

Reflection on the Lecture About Food Justice

Essay Prompt: This lecture explores diverse concepts, with food justice attracting significant attention. Food justice ensures that everybody acquires access to nutritional and affordable food, not forgetting the safety of those involved in food production.

Research Paper Topics on Food

Cause and Effect Eating out at Fast Food

Essay Prompt: Fast food was made famous in the 1950s through Mc Donald’s company. The industry has been growing vast in the past years. This has been a result of the high demand from customers and improvements in the products and services.

Facts Impacting Food Choices

Essay Prompt: The state of human health is predominantly a faction of food choices that an individual makes every day. My daily food choices are mostly affected by cultural influences, time, and cost. My cultural background affects my daily food choices.

How Food Affects Human Health

Essay Prompt: Currently, the numbers of teenagers with poor eating habits have drastically improved as the sizes of fast-food restaurants also increase. Specifically, the issue has been observed in the US where several new fast-food businesses continue to emerge which produce unhealthy food products.

Global Food Politics

Essay Prompt: After viewing the week eight lecture recording, different key concepts can be unpacked from the discussion, such as student overall essay performance, global food politics, and diabetics. Global food politics is one of the critical concepts that caught my attention.

Traceability, Suitability, and Regenerative Agriculture in Food Supply Chain

Essay Prompt: The Food Industry plays a significant part in providing fundamental necessities and essentials with which diverse human behaviors and activities are given. When food is harvested or manufactured, it must go through several processes.

How can Food supply chains prepare for the future in terms of traceability, suitability, and regenerative agriculture?

Food Insecurity and the Strategies for Solving It

Essay Prompt: A key concept that was clarified in the Zoom Lecture is food insecurity. Food insecurity is an issue that faces a significant number of households globally. During the pandemic, many people experienced food insecurity.

Eating Unhealthily and Our Expectations in How Others Eat

Essay Prompt: Is It Ethical to Eat Unhealthily? People’s food intake comprises the food systems, which are composed of elements such as the workforce, infrastructures, environment, institutions, and other activities associated with food.

How should a developing country improve its Food security? Select a single developing country to consider?

Essay Prompt: Food is critical to human sustenance. Through mankind’s journey, food has been front and center of major events including wars, social rituals, worship and child-bearing.

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Should Ban or Limit GMO Food

Essay Prompt: In the recent years, the GMO foods have flooded the consumer market with over 30,000 different food products.

Global Food Politics: The Food System

Essay Prompt: The movement of people across Mexico and the USA has been on the rise in recent years. There have been several cases of undocumented migration. According to the zoom meeting lecture, the policies put on the line to prevent the undocumented migration of people have not been effective.

Pros of a Single Food Agency

Essay Prompt: Master’s level Essay: Pros of a Single Food Agency: What are some of the pros and cons of creating a single food agency?

Food Industry’s System Structure and Misaligned Interests with Public Health

Essay Prompt: The food industry has introduced a fierce competition for consumers’ money through aggressive advertising efforts and their display of products on supermarket shelves. The fierce competition imposes poor diets worldwide, characterized by immense consumption of ultra-processed packaged food products manufactured.

Why People Work to Reduce Food Wastage?

Essay Prompt: The primary reason why people work to reduce food wastage is because of hunger and saving the resources used to produce food; for example, 28 percent of global land coverage is used for producing food, which eventually goes to waste. Not everybody can afford to buy food from the supermarket, and the grocery.

Is GMO Food safe? They are more nutritious. FDA has approved GMO Foods

Essay Prompt: The safety of GMO foods has sparked heated debates and, in many countries, there is legislation on their consumption. The proponents of GMO foods assert that they cannot be dismissed as categorically harmful….

Write a topic About Food that affects health. Is GMO Food safe?…

The Relationship Between Overproduction and Hunger with the Commodification of Food

Essay Prompt: A commodity is a primary resource utilized as a raw material in manufacturing goods and services. Coffee, beans, and wheat are just a few examples of commodities. The transformation of resources and services into commodities is a significant factor influencing all cultures.

You can also check out 150+ Top-Notch Argumentative Essay Topic Ideas

Identifying the Meaning of Organic

Essay Prompt: Organic implies that the food or agricultural products meet quality standards without the use of synthetic chemicals and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Fruits, vegetables, grains, and even meat can be produced organically but is mostly the food crops than meat…

College Students Who Go Full Time to School Should Be Able to Get Free Food

Essay Prompt: While in high school, many students yearn for the opportunity to complete their studies and join college little do they know what one goes through in college. College comes with huge expenses and it may be costlier for those who reside in the campus.

Food Symbolism in Society

Essay Prompt: Research on food thrives, from the history of contradictory types of charge to the relationship between provisioning and values, gender responsibilities, and eating maladies.

Raw Fresh Foods versus Cooked Processed Foods: Which is better for the Body?

Essay Prompt: The irony that while most people agree that raw fresh foods are better for the body and yet most people also eat more processed food than fresh food.

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Essay on Importance of Food

Students are often asked to write an essay on Importance of Food in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Importance of Food

The vital role of food.

Food plays a crucial role in our lives. It provides us with the energy we need to carry out our daily activities. We cannot survive without food, as it is the fuel for our body.

Nutrition and Growth

Nutrition is essential for growth, especially in children. It helps in building strong bones and muscles. A balanced diet ensures we get all the nutrients required for healthy growth.

Food and Health

Eating healthy food helps prevent diseases. Fruits, vegetables, and whole grains boost our immunity, keeping us healthy and strong. It’s important to eat a variety of foods for overall wellbeing.

Food and Culture

Food also brings people together. It’s a vital part of our culture and traditions, helping us connect with our roots and each other. Every culture has unique dishes that reflect its history and lifestyle.

Also check:

• Paragraph on Importance of Food

250 Words Essay on Importance of Food

Introduction.

Food is the fundamental necessity of life. It provides us with the energy to carry out daily tasks, supports our immune system, and contributes to the healthy functioning of our body and mind. Understanding the importance of food transcends beyond the realm of basic sustenance and delves into the realms of health, culture, and socio-economic dynamics.

Nutrition and Health

Food is the primary source of nutrients that our bodies need to function effectively. It provides us with carbohydrates for energy, proteins for muscle development, fats for cell function, and vitamins and minerals for immune support and other essential bodily functions. A balanced diet can prevent malnutrition and a multitude of health issues, emphasizing the importance of food in maintaining good health.

Cultural Significance

Food also carries cultural significance. It is an integral part of traditions, rituals, and celebrations, reflecting the unique identity of different cultures. Food brings people together, fostering a sense of community and belonging.

Economic Implication

On a larger scale, food plays a pivotal role in the economy. The food industry generates employment, contributes to GDP, and is a significant factor in trade relations between countries. Moreover, food security is a critical aspect of national security, underlining the strategic importance of food.

In conclusion, food is much more than mere sustenance. It is a vital cog in the wheel of life, impacting our health, culture, and economy. Understanding the importance of food can lead us towards a healthier, more inclusive, and sustainable world.

500 Words Essay on Importance of Food

Introduction: the necessity of food.

Food is an indispensable part of our lives. It is not just about satisfying our taste buds, but it is a basic necessity for survival. Beyond survival, food plays a pivotal role in our overall growth, development, and well-being.

The Biological Importance of Food

Food is the primary source of energy for all organisms. The human body needs a variety of nutrients to function optimally, and these nutrients are obtained from the food we consume. Proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals are all critical for various biological processes. For instance, proteins are essential for tissue repair and muscle growth, carbohydrates provide energy, fats serve as energy storage, and vitamins and minerals are crucial for several metabolic activities.

Food and Physical Health

The link between food and physical health is undeniable. A well-balanced diet can help maintain a healthy weight, strengthen the immune system, and reduce the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Conversely, poor dietary choices can lead to obesity, malnutrition, and various health complications. Therefore, understanding the nutritional value of food and making informed dietary choices is crucial for maintaining physical health.

Food and Mental Health

The importance of food extends to our mental health as well. Various studies suggest a strong correlation between diet and mental health. Certain nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins, and antioxidants are known to support brain health. They can enhance cognitive functions, improve mood, and even reduce the risk of mental disorders like depression and anxiety. On the other hand, a diet high in processed foods and sugars can adversely affect brain function and mood.

Food and Cultural Significance

Food also holds significant cultural and social value. It is an integral part of our cultural identity and heritage. Different cultures have unique cuisines, food habits, and rituals, reflecting their history, geography, and lifestyle. Sharing meals is a universal way of fostering social connections and community bonds.

Food and Environmental Impact

The food we consume also has a profound impact on the environment. Sustainable food practices can help conserve natural resources, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and promote biodiversity. Conversely, unsustainable agricultural practices and food wastage can lead to environmental degradation. Therefore, conscious food choices can contribute to environmental sustainability.

Conclusion: The Multifaceted Importance of Food

In conclusion, food is not just a means of survival. It is a complex entity that influences our physical and mental health, reflects our cultural identity, fosters social connections, and impacts the environment. Understanding the importance of food in these multiple dimensions can guide us towards healthier, more sustainable, and culturally rich lifestyles. As we move forward, let us acknowledge the power of food and use it responsibly to nourish ourselves and the planet.

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9 Food Resources

Matthew R. Fisher

Food Security

Progress continues in the fight against hunger, yet an unacceptably large number of people lack the food they need for an active and healthy life. The latest available estimates indicate that about 795 million people in the world – just over one in nine –still go to bed hungry every night, and an even greater number live in poverty (defined as living on less than $1.25 per day). Poverty—not food availability—is the major driver of food insecurity. Improvements in agricultural productivity are necessary to increase rural household incomes and access to available food but are insufficient to ensure food security. Evidence indicates that poverty reduction and food security do not necessarily move in tandem. The main problem is lack of economic (social and physical) access to food at national and household levels and inadequate nutrition (or hidden hunger). Food security not only requires an adequate supply of food but also entails availability, access, and utilization by all—people of all ages, gender, ethnicity, religion, and socioeconomic levels.

Food security is essentially built on four pillars:  availability ,  access ,  utilization  and  stability . An individual must have access to sufficient food of the right dietary mix (quality) at all times to be food secure. Those who never have sufficient quality food are  chronically food insecure .

When food security is analyzed at the national level, an understanding not only of national production is important, but also of the country’s  access to food from the global market, its foreign exchange earnings, and its citizens’ consumer choices. Food security analyzed at the household level is conditioned by a household’s own food production and household members’ ability to purchase food of the right quality and diversity in the market place. However, it is only at the individual level that the analysis can be truly accurate because only through understanding who consumes what can we appreciate the impact of sociocultural and gender inequalities on people’s ability to meet their nutritional needs. The definition of food security is often applied at varying levels of aggregation, despite its articulation at the individual level. The importance of a pillar depends on the level of aggregation being addressed. At a global level, the important pillar is food  availability . Does global agricultural activity produce sufficient food to feed all the world’s inhabitants? The answer today is yes, but it may not be true in the future given the impact of a growing world population, emerging plant and animal pests and diseases, declining soil productivity and environmental quality, increasing use of land for fuel rather than food, and lack of attention to agricultural research and development, among other factors.

The third pillar, food  utilization , essentially translates the food available to a household into nutritional security for its members. One aspect of utilization is analyzed in terms of distribution according to need. Nutritional standards exist for the actual nutritional needs of men, women, boys, and girls of different ages and life phases (that is, pregnant women), but these “needs” are often socially constructed based on culture. For example, in South Asia evidence shows that women eat after everyone else has eaten and are less likely than men in the same household to consume preferred foods such as meats and fish.  Hidden hunger  commonly results from poor food utilization: that is, a person’s diet lacks the appropriate balance of macro- (calories) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). Individuals may look well nourished and consume sufficient calories but be deficient in key micronutrients such as vitamin A, iron, and iodine.

When food security is analyzed at the national level, an understanding not only of national production is important, but also of the country’s access to food from the global market, its foreign exchange earnings, and its citizens’ consumer choices. Food security analyzed at the household level is conditioned by a household’s own food production and household members’ ability to purchase food of the right quality and diversity in the market place. However, it is only at the individual level that the analysis can be truly accurate because only through understanding who consumes what can we appreciate the impact of sociocultural and gender inequalities on people’s ability to meet their nutritional needs.

Food  stability  is when a population, household, or individual has access to food at all times and does not risk losing access as a consequence of cyclical events, such as the dry season .  When some lacks food stability, they have  malnutrition,  a lack of essential nutrients.  This is economically costly because it can cost individuals 10 percent of their lifetime earnings and nations 2 to 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the worst-affected countries (Alderman 2005). Achieving food security is even more challenging in the context of HIV and AIDS. HIV affects people’s physical ability to produce and use food, reallocating household labor, increasing the work burden on women, and preventing widows and children from inheriting land and productive resources.

Obesity means having too much body fat. It is not the same as overweight, which means weighing too much. Obesity has become a significant global health challenge, yet is preventable and reversible. Over the past 20 years, a global overweight/obesity epidemic has emerged, initially in industrial countries and now increasingly in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in urban settings, resulting in a triple burden of undernutrition, micronutrient deficiency, and overweight/obesity. There is significant variation by region; some have very high rates of undernourishment and low rates of obesity, while in other regions the opposite is true.

However, obesity has increased to the extent that the number of overweight people now exceeds the number of underwei ght people worldwide. The economic cost of obesity has been estimated at $2 trillion, accounting for about 5% of deaths worldwide. Almost 30% of the world’s population, or 2.1 billion people, are overweight or obese, 62% of whom live in developing countries.

Obesity accounts  for a growing level and share of worldwide  noncommunicable diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers that can reduce quality of life and increase public health costs of already under-resourced developing  countries. The number of overweight children is projected to double by 2030.  Driven primarily by increasing availability of processed, affordable, and effectively marketed food, the global food system is falling short with rising obesity and related poor health outcomes. Due to established health implications and rapid increase in prevalence, obesity is now a recognized major global health challenge.

Agriculture

Agriculture is the human enterprise by which natural ecosystems are transformed into ones devoted to the production of food, fiber, and, increasingly, fuel. Given the current size of the human population, agriculture is essential. Without the enhanced production of edible biomass that characterizes agricultural systems, there would simply not be enough to eat. The land, water, and energy resources required to support this level of food production, however, are vast. Thus agriculture represents a major way in which humans impact terrestrial ecosystems.

For centuries scholars have wrestled with the question of how many people Earth can feed. In 1798 English political economist Thomas Robert Malthus published what would become one of the most famous pamphlets in social science,  An Essay on the Principle of Population . Malthus proposed that because population tended to increase at a geometric (exponential) rate, while food supplies could only grow at an arithmetic rate, all living creatures tended to increase beyond their available resources.

“Man is necessarily confined in room,” Malthus argued. “When acre has been added to acre till all fertile land is occupied, the yearly increase of food must depend upon the melioration of the land already in possession. This is a fund; which, from the nature of all soils, instead of increasing must gradually be decreasing”. The resulting scarcity, he predicted, would limit human population growth through both “positive checks,” such as poverty, diseases, wars, and famines, and self-imposed “negative checks,” including late marriage and sexual abstinence.

In terms of global food production, however, Malthus has so far been proved wrong because his essay failed to take into account the ways in which agricultural productivity of cultivated lands, measured in terms of harvested (typically edible) biomass, could be enhanced. Agriculture involves the genetic modification of plant and animal species, as well as the manipulation of resource availability and species interactions. Scientific and technological advances have made agriculture increasingly productive by augmenting the resources needed to support photosynthesis and by developing plants and animals with enhanced capacity to convert such resources into a harvestable form. The outcome is that world food production has in fact kept up with rapid population growth. Gains have been especially dramatic in the past 50 years.

World food production, 1961–1996 (measured as the sum of cereals, coarse grains, and root crops) © David Tilman. World food production grew at unprecedented rates in the second half of the 20th century, increasing available food supplies in most regions except for sub-Saharan Africa.

But these gains carry with them serious environmental costs. Large-scale agriculture has reduced biodiversity, fragmented natural ecosystems, diverted or polluted freshwater resources, and altered the nutrient balance of adjacent and downstream ecosystems. Agriculture also consumes major amounts of energy and generates greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change. However, these negative impacts must be weighed against human demand for food, as well as the fact that agriculture is the primary livelihood for 40 percent of the human population. In some countries, more than 80 percent of the population makes a livelihood from farming, so increasing agricultural productivity not only makes more food available but also increases incomes and living standards.

The future impacts of agriculture will depend on many factors, including world demand for food, the availability and cost of resources needed to support high levels of productivity, and technological advances to make agriculture more efficient. Global climate change is expected to alter temperature, precipitation, and weather patterns worldwide, thus changing many fundamental conditions that guide current agricultural practice.

Conventional Agriculture

As agriculture became increasingly dependent on technological inputs throughout the 20th century, it also underwent a structural shift, particularly in developed countries. Instead of raising a diverse mix of crops, farmers increasingly planted large holdings of one or a few crop varieties that had been developed for high yields.  Monoculture makes it easier to cultivate large acreages more efficiently, especially using mechanized equipment and chemical inputs. However, these artificial ecosystems are vulnerable to outbreaks of pests and pathogens because they do not have natural protection from genetic diversity and they are typically nutrient-rich, thanks to abundant fertilizer use. Moreover, many pest species have adapted to spread rapidly in ecosystems where recent disturbances, such as plowing, have eliminated natural predators.

Agricultural pests include insects, mammals such as mice and rats, unwanted plants (weeds), fungi, and microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses. Humans have controlled pests with naturally-occurring substances such as salt, sulfur, and arsenic for centuries, but synthetic pesticides, first developed during World War II, are generally more effective.

Many of the first pesticides that were widely used for agriculture were  organochlorines  such as DDT (dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane), aldrin, dieldrin, and heptachlor. These substances are effective against a range of insects and household pests, but in the 1950s and 1960s they were shown to cause human health effects including dizziness, seizures, respiratory illness, and immune system dysfunction. Most organochlorines have been banned in the United States and other developed countries but remain in use in developing countries.

In her 1962 book  Silent Spring , biologist and author Rachel Carson drew wide-scale public attention to the environmental effects of pesticides. Carson described how actions such as spraying elm trees with broad-spectrum pesticides to prevent Dutch elm disease severely affected many other parts of local ecosystems (Box 1).

Box 1 The trees are sprayed in the spring (usually at the rate of 2 to 5 pounds of DDT per 50-foot tree, which may be the equivalent of as much as  23 pounds per acre  where elms are numerous) and often again in July, at about half this concentration. Powerful sprayers direct a stream of poison to all parts of the tallest trees, killing directly not only the target organism, the bark beetle, but other insects, including pollinating species and predatory spiders and beetles. The poison forms a tenacious film over the leaves and bark. Rains do not wash it away. In the autumn the leaves fall to the ground, accumulate in sodden layers, and begin the slow process of becoming one with the soil. In this they are aided by the toil of the earthworms, who feed in the leaf litter, for elm leaves are among their favorite foods. In feeding on the leaves the worms also swallow the insecticide, accumulating and concentrating it in their bodies . . . . Undoubtedly some of the earthworms themselves succumb, but others survive to become ‘biological magnifiers’ of the poison. In the spring the robins return to provide another link in the cycle. As few as 11 large earthworms can transfer a lethal dose of DDT to a robin. And 11 worms form a small part of a day’s rations to a bird that eats 10 to 12 earthworms in as many minutes. Rachel Carson,  Silent Spring  (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1962), pp. 107–108 (emphasis in original).

Bioaccumulation of DDT and other organochlorines drastically reduced populations of bald eagles and other large predatory birds that fed at the top of the food chain. The pesticides disrupted birds’ reproductive systems and caused them to lay eggs with very thin shells that broke before young birds hatched.

DDT accumulation in the food chain © United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Use of DDT was banned in the United States in 1972 because of its persistence, its tendency to bioaccumulate, and its adverse impacts on reproduction, especially in birds.

Organochlorines were replaced in the 1970s with other pesticides that were less toxic and more narrowly targeted to specific pests. However, many of these newer options still killed off pests’ natural enemies, and when the insecticides were used repeatedly over time, pests became resistant to them through natural selection (many types of insects can develop through entire generations in days or weeks). Today hundreds of species of insects and weeds are resistant to major pesticides and herbicides.

In response some farmers have turned to methods such as releasing natural insect predators or breeding resistance into crops. For example, U.S. farmers can buy corn seeds that have been engineered to resist rootworms, corn borers, or both pests, depending on which are present locally, as well as corn that has been developed to tolerate herbicides. Others practice  integrated pest management (IPM) , an approach under which farmers consider each crop and pest problem as a whole and design a targeted program drawing on multiple control technologies, including pesticides, natural predators, and other methods.

In one notable case, Indonesia launched an IPM program in 1986 to control the brown planthopper, a notorious pest that lays its eggs inside rice plant stalks, out of range of pesticides. Outreach agents trained farmers to monitor their fields for planthoppers and their natural predators, and to treat outbreaks using minimal pesticide applications or alternative methods such as biological controls. Over the following decade, rice production increased by 15 percent while pesticide use fell by 60 percent. Yields on IPM lands rose from 6 to almost 7.5 tons of rice per hectare.

Gathering insects for identification during IPM training, Indonesia © J.M. Micaud, Food and Agriculture Organization. Field schools advance IPM programs by enabling farmers to see and compare the results of various pest control methods.

Plowing originally developed as a way to control pests (weeds), but created new issues in the process. Bare lands that have been plowed but have not yet developed crop cover are highly susceptible to erosion. The Dust Bowl that occurred in the United States in the 1930s was caused partly by poor agricultural practices. With support from the federal government, farmers plowed land that was too dry for farming across the Great Plains, destroying prairie grasses that held topsoil in place. When repeated droughts and windstorms struck the central and western states, hundreds of millions of tons of topsoil blew away. Today a similar process is taking place in northern China, where over-plowing and overgrazing are expanding the Gobi Desert and generating huge dust storms that scour Beijing and other large cities to the east.

Excessive plowing can also depress crop production by altering soil microbial communities and contributing to the breakdown of organic matter. To conserve soil carbon and reduce erosion, some farmers have turned to alternative practices such as no-till or direct-drill agriculture, in which crops are sown without cultivating the soil in advance. Direct drilling has been widely adopted in Australia, and some 17.5 percent of U.S. croplands were planted using no-till techniques as of the year 2000 ( footnote 8 ).

No-till agriculture enhances soil development and fertility. It is usually practiced in combination with methods that leave crop residues on the field, which helps to preserve moisture, prevent erosion, and increase soil carbon pools. However, no-till requires an alternative strategy for weed control and thus frequently involves substantial use of herbicides and chemical means to control other pests.

Many subsistence farmers in traditional societies raise livestock along with their crops, either for their families’ use or for sale. But in industrialized nations, animal agriculture has been transformed in much the same way as crop production over the past century. Modern livestock farms are large and specialized and rely heavily on technology inputs. Like major plant crops, meat and dairy products are increasingly produced through a kind of monoculture in which farmers raise one or a few animal strains that have been bred to maximize output—hens that lay more eggs, dairy cows that produce more milk, or pigs that grow quickly and develop lean meat. Producers use technological inputs, such as antibiotics and hormone treatments, to make animals grow larger and more quickly.

To maximize efficiency, large-scale livestock farms confine animals indoors instead of letting them range outside (Fig. 10). Confining animals makes it easier to control the amount and type of feed they receive, administer medications and growth supplements, and artificially inseminate breeding females. But it also generates new management issues. Crowding stresses animals and promotes disease transmission, so many livestock farmers use antibiotics not only to treat sick animals but to prevent illnesses and promote growth. Many of these drugs are identical or similar to antibiotics used in human medicine, so their overuse threatens human health by promoting the development of drug-resistant bacterial strains that can infect humans through the food chain or via direct exposure to farm animals or wastes.

In addition, large farms accumulate massive quantities of animal waste. One cow can produce more than 40 pounds of manure per day. Manure liquefies when it is washed out of barns, so it is too heavy to transport economically over long distances. Many large farms store millions of gallons of manure onsite in tanks or lagoons (which may be lined or unlined, depending on local regulations), until it can be used on neighboring fields.

Confined hog production facility © United States Geological Survey, Toxic Substances Hydrology Program. Large hog farms may house 10,000 or more hogs indoors for their entire life spans. On many U.S. farms, breeding sows are kept for weeks at a time in individual crates too narrow for the animals to turn around.

When manure leaks or spills from storage, it sends large pulses of nutrients into local water bodies, causing algal blooms that deplete dissolved oxygen in the water and kill fish when they die and decompose. Nutrient pollution also occurs when manure is applied too heavily to farmland, so that plants cannot take up all of the available nitrogen and phosphate before the manure leaches into nearby rivers and streams. Excess nutrients, mainly from agricultural runoff, are a major cause of “dead zones” in large water bodies such as the Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Manure also pollutes water with bacteria, hormones, and other chemical residues from animal feed.

Large livestock farms also generate air pollution from manure, dust, and greenhouse gases produced in the digestive systems of cattle and sheep. Many people who live near animal feeding operations complain about smells and suffer physical symptoms such as burning eyes, sore throats, and nausea. A 2003 National Research Council study found that livestock farms produce many air pollutants that are significant hazards at scales ranging from local to global (Table 1). However, the report concluded that more analysis was required to develop accurate measurements of these emissions as a basis for regulations and that the United States lacked standards for quantifying odor, which could be caused by various combinations of hundreds of compounds.

World demand for meat and dairy products is increasing, driven by population growth and rising incomes in developing countries. Because of this growth and the trend toward raising animals on large-scale farms, the FAO calls livestock farming “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.” According to FAO’s estimates, livestock production generates 18 percent of world greenhouse gas emissions (more than the transport sector), accounts for 8 percent of world water use, and is probably the largest sectoral water pollution source.

With global meat and dairy production predicted to roughly double between 2000 and 2050, these environmental impacts will have to be drastically reduced just to keep agricultural pollution from worsening.

Agriculture and Genetic Technology

Farmers have manipulated the genetic makeup of plants and animals since the dawn of agriculture. Initially they used  selective breeding  to promote qualities that made breeds readily usable for agriculture, such as animals that domesticated well and plants that were easy to harvest. Next, breeders focused on varieties that could be grown outside of their native geographic range—for example, overcoming natural photoperiod requirements (the amount of daylight that plants need to flower). In the twentieth century, plant geneticists selected for traits that would allow plants to use high levels of water and nitrogen to increase yields. Similarly, animal breeders worked to increase the amount of meat or milk that various domestic animal lines produced.

Today classical agricultural breeding is a highly quantitative science that uses genetic markers (specific DNA sequences) to select for desired characteristics. This approach enables scientists to manipulate the genetic makeup of crops with substantial precision, as long as genetic variation exists for particular traits. Agricultural breeders also use biotechnology to move genes across taxonomic barriers, combining genetic material from species that would not cross-breed naturally. For example, Bt corn has been modified by inserting a gene from the bacterium  Bacillus thuringiensis  that kills harmful insects so that farmers do not need to use insecticide.

Since the mid-1990s, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved 63 genetically engineered (GE) crops for unrestricted sale, including strains of corn, soybeans, cotton, potatoes, wheat, canola, and papaya. Most of these crops have been developed to tolerate herbicides or resist insects or fungi, while others have been engineered for specific product qualities such as longer shelf life. Products under development include grains, field crops, fruits, vegetables, trees, and flowers designed to achieve desirable growing properties such as cold or drought resistance or efficient use of nitrogen. The extent to which such strategies will be able to enhance agricultural productivity, however, remains to be seen.

An alternative use of biotechnology that some supporters advocate is to develop crops with improved nutritional content to combat nutritional disorders. One widely-publicized product is golden rice, a rice variety into which several “trans” or foreign genes have been added so that the plant produces beta-carotene (vitamin A) in its grains. Vitamin A deficiencies are widespread in societies that consume rice-based diets, causing thousands of cases of blindness and premature deaths among children in developing countries every year. Researchers are currently working to produce golden rice that contains the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A in a 100 to 200 gram serving, as well as to ensure the bioavailability of the beta-carotene contained within the modified rice grains. But not everyone is convinced by this approach: some experts argue that the same goals could be met more cheaply by promoting balanced, diverse diets in the target countries.

Conventional and golden rice © 2007. Golden Rice Humanitarian Board. Along with wheat, maize (corn), and potatoes, rice is one of the world’s most important staple foods. These foods contain widely varying levels of many important micronutrients. Golden rice is designed to eliminate one deficiency by producing vitamin A in its grains.

In addition to questioning whether agricultural and nutritional goals might be more effectively met using more traditional approaches, critics have raised many concerns about GE foods, including potential harm to nearby ecosystems and the possibility that GE crops or animals will hybridize with and alter the genetic makeup of wild species. For example, over-planting Bt-resistant crops could promote increased Bt resistance among pests, while genes from GE crops could give wild plants qualities that make them more weedy and invasive. Although most of these effects will probably be benign, it is hard to predict when and where GE species could have harmful effects on surrounding ecosystems.

A 2002 National Research Council report concluded that genetically modified plants posed the same broad types of environmental risks as conventionally-produced hybrids, like the strains introduced during the Green Revolution. For example, both kinds of plants could spread into surrounding ecosystems and compete with local species. But the report noted that either type of plant could have specific traits that posed unique threats and accordingly called for case-by-case regulation of new GE strains. The committee also observed that future generations of GE plants are likely to have multiple introduced traits and forecast that these products will raise issues that cannot be predicted based on experience with early herbicide- and pest-resistant crops.

Sustainable Agriculture

Growing concern about agricultural intensification in developed countries and its negative environmental impacts spurred an alternative movement in the 1970s to promote what advocates called sustainable agriculture. This perspective drew inspiration from sources that included organic farming (raising crops and animals with minimal synthetic inputs), the international environmental movement, and development advocates who criticized the Green Revolution for relying too heavily on pesticides and fertilizer. Ecology is a central pillar of sustainable agriculture, which treats farmed areas first and foremost as ecosystems, albeit unique ecosystems that have been disturbed and simplified by harvesting.

Few people would argue against the concept of sustainable agriculture, but there is no universally-agreed definition of what it means. Agricultural economist Gordon Conway describes sustainability as “the ability of an agroecosystem [an agricultural ecosystem and its social and economic setting] to maintain productivity in the face of stress or shock.” Farmers use countermeasures to respond to stresses and shocks. They may draw on resources that are internal to the system, such as plants’ natural pest resistance, or on outside inputs like herbicides and fertilizers.

Internal inputs typically rely on natural resources. Figure 15 shows the re-emerging practice of green manuring—tilling fresh plant material into soil to improve its physical and biological qualities. Outside inputs may be equally useful, but they usually cost more and may alter farming systems in unexpected ways—for example, introducing new species that compete with established crops.

Chopping and disking mustard green manure, Washington state, 2003 © Washington State University Extension. Farmers have practiced green manuring for centuries, but the technique has become more sophisticated with growing understanding of soil ecology, plant biochemistry, and nutrient cycling.

Other formulations of sustainable agriculture, including legislation passed by the U.S. Congress in 1990, present it as a compromise between several sets of social goals, including but not limited to environmental conservation. Producing enough food, fuel, and fiber to meet human needs is a major objective, along with improving environmental quality, using non-renewable resources efficiently, and ensuring that farmers can earn reasonable livings from their products ( footnote 17 ). In terms of methods, sustainable agriculture typically stresses treating soil as an ecosystem and using methods to keep it healthy, such as retaining organic matter and preserving diverse communities of soil organisms.

Many people equate sustainable agriculture with  organic farming , which is practiced according to national legal standards in more than 60 countries, including the United States, the European Union, Britain, Canada, and Australia. Generally, organic standards bar the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, and genetically modified organisms for crop production and use of antibiotics, hormones, and synthetic feeds for animals. Organic agriculture typically has less severe environmental impacts than intensive farming with synthetic inputs. On average, organic farming conserves biodiversity, improves the structure and organic content of soil, leaches less nitrate into water bodies, and produces much less pesticide pollution.

As of 2002–2003, about 4 percent of utilized agricultural land in the European Union and up to 4 percent of farmed land for certain crops in the United States was farmed organically. Together, the United States and the E.U. account for 95 percent of global organic food sales.

U.S. certified organic acreage and operations, 2003 © United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Organic farming accounts for a small fraction of land under cultivation worldwide, but interest in organic methods is rising. Organically grown products typically earn significant market premiums over conventional crops.

Organic farming is not without its drawbacks. Output from organic farms is typically lower than from conventional agriculture for at least several years after shifting to organic production, because it takes time to restore soil productivity naturally and establish beneficial insect populations. Organic agriculture is more labor-intensive than conventional farming, so production costs are higher and farmers must receive higher prices to make a profit. And transitioning to organic production takes several years, so it is too expensive and difficult for small-scale farmers without access to technical assistance and transition funding.

With world population projected to rise from 6.5 billion in 2006 to roughly 10 billion by 2050, and growing demand for meat in developing countries (which increases demand for grain as livestock feed), world grain production may have to double in coming decades. If nations take the intensive route to this goal, using even more fertilizer, pesticides, and irrigation, nutrient pollution and freshwater depletion will increase well beyond current levels—the antithesis of sustainable agriculture ( footnote 18 ).

One potential solution currently at the experimental stage is “precision agriculture”—using remote sensing to help farmers target fertilizer, herbicides, seeds, and water to exact locations on a field, so that resources are not over-applied or used where they are not needed. For example, satellite data could identify sectors within large cultivated fields that needed additional water or fertilizer and communicate the information to farmers driving machinery equipped with global positioning system receivers (reducing the need to apply inputs uniformly across entire fields).

More broadly, agriculture will have to become more efficient in order to double world grain production without further degrading the environment. No single innovation will provide a complete solution. Rather, feeding the world sustainably is likely to require a combination of many technological inputs and sustainable techniques.

Food Resources Copyright © by Matthew R. Fisher is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Essays About Food: Top 5 Examples and 6 Writing Prompts

Food is one of the greatest joys of life; it is both necessary to live and able to lift our spirits. If you are writing essays about food, read our guide.

Many people live and die by food. While its primary purpose is to provide us with the necessary nutrients to carry out bodily functions, the satisfaction food can give a person is beyond compare. For people of many occupations, such as chefs, waiters, bakers, and food critics, food has become a way of life.

Why do so many people enjoy food? It can provide us with the sensory pleasure we need to escape from the trials of daily life. From the moist tenderness of a good-quality steak to the sweet, rich decadence of a hot fudge sundae, food is truly magical. Instead of eating to stay alive, many even joke that they “live to eat.” In good food, every bite is like heaven.

5 Top Essay Examples

1. food essay by evelin tapia, 2. why japanese home cooking makes healthy feel effortless by kaki okumura, 3. why i love food by shuge luo.

• 4.  My Favorite Food by Jayasurya Mayilsamy 
• 5. ​​Osteria Francescana: does the world’s best restaurant live up to the hype? by Tanya Gold

6 Prompts for Essays About Food

1. what is your favorite dish, 2. what is your favorite cuisine, 3. is a vegan diet sustainable, 4. the dangers of fast food, 5. a special food memory, 6. the food of your home country.

“Food has so many things in them such as calories and fat. Eating healthy is important for everyone to live a healthy life. You can eat it, but eating it daily is bad for you stay healthy and eat the right foods. Deep fried foods hurt your health in many ways. Eat healthy and exercise to reduce the chances of any health problems.”

In this essay, Tapia writes about deep-fried foods and their effects on people’s health. She says they are high in trans fat, which is detrimental to one’s health. On the other hand, she notes reasons why people still eat foods such as potato chips and french fries, including exercise and simply “making the most of life.” Despite this, Tapia asserts her position that these foods should not be eaten in excess and can lead to a variety of health issues. She encourages people to live healthy lives by enjoying food but not overeating. 

“Because while a goal of many vegetables a day is admirable, in the beginning it’s much more sustainable to start with something as little as two. I learned that with an approach of two-vegetable dishes at a time, I would be a lot more consistent, and over time a large variety would become very natural. In fact, now following that framework and cooking a few simple dishes a day, I often find that it’s almost difficult to not reach at least several kinds of vegetables a day.”

Okumura discusses simple, healthy cooking in the Japanese tradition. While many tend to include as many vegetables as possible in their dishes for “health,” Okumura writes that just a few vegetables are necessary to make healthy but delicious dishes. With the help of Japanese pantry staples like miso and soy sauce, she makes a variety of traditional Japanese side dishes. She shows the wonders of food, even when executed in its simplest form. 

“I make pesto out of kale stems, toast the squash seeds for salad and repurpose my leftovers into brand new dishes. I love cooking because it’s an exercise in play. Cooking is forgiving in improvisation, and it can often surprise you. For example, did you know that adding ginger juice to your fried rice adds a surprisingly refreshing flavor that whets your appetite? Neither did I, until my housemate showed me their experiment.”

In her essay, Luo writes about her love for food and cooking, specifically how she can combine different ingredients from different cuisines to make delicious dishes. She recalls experiences with her native Chinese food and Italian, Singaporean, and Japanese Cuisine. The beauty of food, she says, is the way one can improvise a dish and create something magical. 

4.   My Favorite Food by Jayasurya Mayilsamy 

“There is no better feeling in the world than a warm pizza box on your lap. My love for Pizza is very high. I am always hungry for pizza, be it any time of the day. Cheese is the secret ingredient of any food it makes any food taste yummy. Nearly any ingredient can be put on pizza. Those diced vegetables, jalapenos, tomato sauce, cheese and mushrooms make me eat more and more like a unique work of art.”

Mayilsamy writes about pizza, a food he can’t get enough of, and why he enjoys it as much as he does. He explains the different elements of a good pizza, such as cheese, tomato sauce, other toppings, and the crust. He also briefly discusses the different types of pizzas, such as thin crust and deep dish. Finally, he gives readers an excellent description of a mouthwatering pizza, reminding them of the feeling of eating their favorite food. 

5. ​​ Osteria Francescana: does the world’s best restaurant live up to the hype? by Tanya Gold

“After three hours, I am exhausted from eating Bottura’s dreams, and perhaps that is the point. If some of it is delicious, it is also consuming. That is the shadow cast by the award in the hallway, next to the one of a man strangled by food. I do not know if this is the best restaurant on Earth, or even if such a claim is possible. I suspect such lists are designed largely for marketing purposes: when else does Restaurant magazine, which runs the competition, get global coverage for itself and its sponsors?”

Gold reviews the dishes at Osteria Francescana, which is regarded by many as the #1 restaurant in the world. She describes the calm, formal ambiance and the polished interiors of the restaurants. Most importantly, she goes course by course, describing each dish in detail, from risotto inspired by the lake to parmesan cheese in different textures and temperatures. Gold concludes that while a good experience, a meal at the restaurant is time-consuming, and her experience is inconclusive as to whether or not this is the best restaurant in the world. 

Everyone has a favorite food; in your essay, write about a dish you enjoy. You can discuss the recipe’s history by researching where it comes from, the famous chefs who created it, or which restaurants specialize in this dish. Provide your readers with an ingredients list, and describe how each ingredient is used in the recipe. Conclude your essay with a review of your experience recreating this recipe at home, discuss how challenging the recipe is, and if you enjoyed the experience.

Aside from a favorite dish, everyone prefers one type of cuisine. Discuss your favorite cuisine and give examples of typical dishes, preparations for food, and factors that influence your chosen cuisine. For example, you could choose Italian cuisine and discuss pasta, pizza, gelato, and other famous food items typically associated with Italian food.

Many people choose to adopt a vegan diet that consists of only plant-based food. For your essay, you can discuss this diet and explain why some people choose it. Then, research the sustainability of a plant-based diet and if a person can maintain a vegan diet while remaining healthy and energized. Provide as much evidence as possible by conducting interviews, referencing online sources, and including survey data. 

Fast food is a staple part of diets worldwide; children are often raised on salty bites of chicken, fries, and burgers. However, it has been linked to many health complications, including cancer and obesity . Research the dangers of fast food, describe each in your essay, and give examples of how it can affect you mentally and physically. 

Is there a memory involving food that you treasure? Perhaps it could be a holiday celebration, a birthday, or a regular day when went to a restaurant. Reflect on this memory, retelling your story in detail, and describe the meal you ate and why you remember it so fondly.

Every country has a rich culture, a big component of which is food. Research the history of food in your native country, writing about common native dishes and ingredients used in cooking. If there are religious influences on your country’s cuisine, note them as well. Share a few of these recipes in your essay for an engaging piece of writing.

Tip: If writing an essay sounds like a lot of work, simplify it. Write a simple 5 paragraph essay instead.

For help picking your next essay topic, check out the best essay topics about social media .

Food Security Crisis Resolution Essay

Introduction, global governance, importance and aids by global governance, works cited.

Food is one of the fundamental needs of human. Food security is the ability to access food by those who need it. Every household is termed as secured food wise if it has access to safe and enough food hence freedom from hunger. The World Food Organization describes this security as access to nutritious, safe and sufficient food to cater for the basic human desires.

The rapid increase of population all over the world is the major result for food insecurity (Harman 18). To ensure the situation does not run out of hand, the global body Food and Agricultural Organization has been at the forefront since time immemorial to cater for issues related to this basic human need. Central to this organization is governance. This can ensure that even if there is increased population, there can be enough resources or produce to cater for the increase and even shortages.

Food security has become a complex task to achieve with the development of globalization. Initially the main focus of the governing body was on agriculture. This ensured carefully monitoring of production and even the surplus that are stored. Today, different issues of concern have cropped up. These are in terms of food processing, food distribution and food consumption. Governance of food security has become challenging with the forms of contradictory policies that exist.

Most third world countries have weak connections with the global governance (Harman 18). These countries are always the worst hit groups when there is hunger breakout. On the other hand America and most of its environs have high influence in the global governance. Their exports have greatly increased while other third world countries exports have reduced. These countries used to export in a massive way but have since declined in production.

These countries are not promising at all. Therefore they have less influence of the global investment kitties. One will find that those countries that are stable in terms of agricultural production and are also doing great in the processing have much attraction to investment and are therefore considered a priority by the governing bodies

Several methods have been employed to cater for increasing cases of food insecurity. One of these methods is research. The cases of reduced land for tenure have been the main cause of low agricultural production. Currently, researchers have introduced novel ways of producing crops.

This has been aided greatly by biotechnology. This new research concept has enabled the production of crops that can resist adverse conditions. In addition, other crops can also do well in green houses. Unfortunately, other countries cannot afford this. Although global governance has given out these good options, some countries cannot afford. This is because their government cannot afford the finances in one way or another (Harman 18). This paints a bad picture of the governance while it is evident that it is not their fault.

Other forms of governance that would improve food security include Rule of law, internal peace, improvement of infrastructure from rural areas and support from the government for research. These proposals are best when employed on the ground. Developed countries have already put these practices in place and are ahead. There have been problems caused by global warming and other related disaster but this has been solved by having alternative methods. This does not mean that the conventional methods have been neglected.

Adoption measures have been for the purpose of bridging the gap between production and consumption. There is need for all countries to be stakeholders of global food programmes and government. This will ensure that there is a legitimate process for handling problems and also providing solutions for future activities. Unfortunately, the developing countries do not take part in the same footing. This therefore calls for a better government that will have honor for legitimate, political and democratic process.

Current Global Economic Situation

This is an economy which comprises all the economies of the world. The issue of globalization brought a great revolution in the economy of the world. This revolution comprised of merging of trade markets, free trade in international stock markets and many more. Initially, this impacted nations in a positive way (Harman 18). There was expansion of markets and industries, creation of employment opportunities for both the young and old the people and a paradigm shift from job search to creation of jobs. More so was the issue of innovation that brought about great investment both in foreign and indigenous countries.

Developed and developing countries have had different effects due to the dynamic global economy. Currently, the economy is at its worst. The economic metrics stand at a free fall at the moment. Some are quite rapid that it has become so scary. The situation has continued to deepen day by day from banks bail out to individual country bail outs.

Central to this crisis is the unavailability of basic commodities such as food. In addition, oil prices have posed the hardest hit to most countries. The oil crisis was brought about by the unstable situation in Japan and Northern part of America. These unrests led to reduced production of oil from the main oil producing countries such as Libya. The rising oil prices have been due to the scarce in the commodity or the raw material. This crisis has also translated to the current energy crisis

On the other hand is food crisis. This has also arisen due to globalization of the economy. Increased industries led to the deterioration of the environment. This consequently led to global warming. Global warming has had a great impact on Agriculture. The climate of the globe has changed tremendously towards the negative. This has contributed to the accumulation of greenhouse gases hence global warming.

Therefore the climate has changed affecting the agricultural activities. This has directly affected food prices mostly for people living in poor countries and the Asian community. This has since resulted in high increase in food prices. For instance, in Asia the food prices have increased to 10%. This has affected about sixty five million people in the country.

Another factor that has put the current economy at risk is the weakening of the Dollar. This has led to the rapid rise in market prices. The American people have huge debts to pay hence this has greatly affected their economy and even the grand global economy. Goods traded across the global market are as expensive as has never been experienced before.

The most affected are the developing countries which have to add an extra coin to get goods across the global market. There has been cumulative unemployment for fresh college students in both developing and developed nations. Also there has been a rebound in the trade globally. In 2010 the increase in trade was about 12% which was positive.

Resolution for the Crisis

The main resolution strategy to the current economic crisis is the issue of changing policies. This can be achieved by using neutral bodies that can help save the matter starting with the matters that are of priorities. First of all the weakening of the Dollar is one crisis that should be resolved. It actually affects the global markets and hence touches every part of the world. The crisis in the economic sector unfortunately combines almost all international affairs from trade, agriculture, social status, political status and many more affairs.

This then means that there is need to restructure the financial operations. As mentioned above, a policy reform is the ways to go. International organizations dealing with specific global issues should sit down and allow room for policy interventions that will be able to advocate for the independence of countries in terms of control of each country resources (Pacula etal., 276).

For instance, every country should have the sovereign authority to strategize on self sufficiency. That is, every country should have the capacity to state their productivity, consumption and even surplus without being influenced externally. Central regulation has proven to lack transparency hence failure in the part of governance.

The issue of central control can be avoided by having each country regulate their resources and present what they have to the international organizations. This does not mean that the mandates of these international organizations are being neglected but it means that the essence of external interventions is nullified.

Another critical sector that needs quick salvaging is the financial sector. There are policies that were imposed by the World health organization, World Bank, international Monetary Fund and the regional and bilateral trade (Pacula etal., 276).

These policies have tremendously caused the current financial crisis that has been predicted to last for about two years before it picks up in a steady state. It is speculated that the years 2012 and 2013 will be bad years for more so the developed countries. Controls such as the forced quotas, regulated market prizes, control of imports should be solely left within the agreements by countries.

In the case of finances, the issue of financial literacy needs to be worked out. The current crisis means that there has been inefficiency in management of money matters. It there was a well sophisticated system able to work out the financial problem and even speculate the trends in an actual way then the issue of global crisis could not be a pandemic at the moment. For example, the issue of high mortgage ownership in developed countries has led to the banks running in huge debts hence a need for bailouts.

If there were plans put in place to train the consumers who were taking credits then there would not be the issue of debt default. This would mean that the consumers would be aware of the steps they are taking and would only participate in taking debts that they are able to clear. This can also translate in the global credit acquisition by countries. There have been increasing complexities in the financial markets both in individual countries and globally. Having financial literacy would solve the issue of this crisis.

Approach to Crisis Resolution

Fortunately, these approaches are underway as there have been non partisan groups that are lobbying for reforms and policy change in international organizations. Having and ear for the cry of these lobbyists will be a good step taken by the developed countries and even the international organization in working out the crisis. Therefore, to have success, there should be great interest by these organizations and countries to take part in reforms especially on the issue of financial education which is very important.

Harman, Chris. “Financial and Economic Crisis”. The Guardian Weekly 3 Aug. 2007: 18. Print.

Pacula etal. “Politics of the United Nations”. Journal of Political Economy . 95.2 (2006): 107-300. Print.

• Methods of Cultivating Crops Using Hydroponics System
• Agricultural Modernization in Third World Countries
• Effects on Society From Global Warming
• Concepts of Global Warming: Survival of Living Organisms
• Differing Views on Global Warming Issues
• Biodiversity and Business Risk
• Application of Geography (GIS) in Biotechnology in Field of Agriculture and Environment
• Sustainable Agriculture
• Biofuels: Economic and Environmental Perspective
• Irrigation System Strategy
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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12.4 Annotated Student Sample: "Healthy Diets from Sustainable Sources Can Save the Earth" by Lily Tran

Learning outcomes.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Analyze how writers use evidence in research writing.
• Analyze the ways a writer incorporates sources into research writing, while retaining their own voice.
• Explain the use of headings as organizational tools in research writing.
• Analyze how writers use evidence to address counterarguments when writing a research essay.

Introduction

In this argumentative research essay for a first-year composition class, student Lily Tran creates a solid, focused argument and supports it with researched evidence. Throughout the essay, she uses this evidence to support cause-and-effect and problem-solution reasoning, make strong appeals, and develop her ethos on the topic.

Living by Their Own Words

Food as change.

public domain text For the human race to have a sustainable future, massive changes in the way food is produced, processed, and distributed are necessary on a global scale. end public domain text

annotated text Purpose. Lily Tran refers to what she sees as the general purpose for writing this paper: the problem of current global practices in food production, processing, and distribution. By presenting the “problem,” she immediately prepares readers for her proposed solution. end annotated text

public domain text The required changes will affect nearly all aspects of life, including not only world hunger but also health and welfare, land use and habitats, water quality and availability, energy use and production, greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, economics, and even cultural and social values. These changes may not be popular, but they are imperative. The human race must turn to sustainable food systems that provide healthy diets with minimal environmental impact—and starting now. end public domain text

annotated text Thesis. Leading up to this clear, declarative thesis statement are key points on which Tran will expand later. In doing this, she presents some foundational evidence that connects the problem to the proposed solution. end annotated text

THE COMING FOOD CRISIS

public domain text The world population has been rising exponentially in modern history. From 1 billion in 1804, it doubled to approximately 2 billion by 1927, then doubled again to approximately 4 billion in 1974. By 2019, it had nearly doubled again, rising to 7.7 billion (“World Population by Year”). It has been projected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050 (Berners-Lee et al.). At the same time, the average life span also has been increasing. These situations have led to severe stress on the environment, particularly in the demands for food. It has been estimated, for example, that by 2050, milk production will increase 58 percent and meat production 73 percent (Chai et al.). end public domain text

annotated text Evidence. In this first supporting paragraph, Tran uses numerical evidence from several sources. This numerical data as evidence helps establish the projection of population growth. By beginning with such evidence, Tran underscores the severity of the situation. end annotated text

public domain text Theoretically, the planet can produce enough food for everyone, but human activities have endangered this capability through unsustainable practices. Currently, agriculture produces 10–23 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gases—the most common being carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and water vapor— trap heat in the atmosphere, reradiate it, and send it back to Earth again. Heat trapped in the atmosphere is a problem because it causes unnatural global warming as well as air pollution, extreme weather conditions, and respiratory diseases. end public domain text

annotated text Audience. With her audience in mind, Tran briefly explains the problem of greenhouse gases and global warming. end annotated text

public domain text It has been estimated that global greenhouse gas emissions will increase by as much as 150 percent by 2030 (Chai et al.). Transportation also has a negative effect on the environment when foods are shipped around the world. As Joseph Poore of the University of Oxford commented, “It’s essential to be mindful about everything we consume: air-transported fruit and veg can create more greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram than poultry meat, for example” (qtd. in Gray). end public domain text

annotated text Transition. By beginning this paragraph with her own transition of ideas, Tran establishes control over the organization and development of ideas. Thus, she retains her sources as supports and does not allow them to dominate her essay. end annotated text

public domain text Current practices have affected the nutritional value of foods. Concentrated animal-feeding operations, intended to increase production, have had the side effect of decreasing nutritional content in animal protein and increasing saturated fat. One study found that an intensively raised chicken in 2017 contained only one-sixth of the amount of omega-3 fatty acid, an essential nutrient, that was in a chicken in 1970. Today the majority of calories in chicken come from fat rather than protein (World Wildlife Fund). end public domain text

annotated text Example. By focusing on an example (chicken), Tran uses specific research data to develop the nuance of the argument. end annotated text

public domain text Current policies such as government subsidies that divert food to biofuels are counterproductive to the goal of achieving adequate global nutrition. Some trade policies allow “dumping” of below-cost, subsidized foods on developing countries that should instead be enabled to protect their farmers and meet their own nutritional needs (Sierra Club). Too often, agriculture’s objectives are geared toward maximizing quantities produced per acre rather than optimizing output of critical nutritional needs and protection of the environment. end public domain text

AREAS OF CONCERN

Hunger and nutrition.

annotated text Headings and Subheadings. Throughout the essay, Tran has created headings and subheadings to help organize her argument and clarify it for readers. end annotated text

public domain text More than 820 million people around the world do not have enough to eat. At the same time, about a third of all grains and almost two-thirds of all soybeans, maize, and barley crops are fed to animals (Barnard). According to the World Health Organization, 462 million adults are underweight, 47 million children under 5 years of age are underweight for their height, 14.3 million are severely underweight for their height, and 144 million are stunted (“Malnutrition”). About 45 percent of mortality among children under 5 is linked to undernutrition. These deaths occur mainly in low- and middle-income countries where, in stark contrast, the rate of childhood obesity is rising. Globally, 1.9 billion adults and 38.3 million children are overweight or obese (“Obesity”). Undernutrition and obesity can be found in the same household, largely a result of eating energy-dense foods that are high in fat and sugars. The global impact of malnutrition, which includes both undernutrition and obesity, has lasting developmental, economic, social, and medical consequences. end public domain text

public domain text In 2019, Berners-Lee et al. published the results of their quantitative analysis of global and regional food supply. They determined that significant changes are needed on four fronts: end public domain text

Food production must be sufficient, in quantity and quality, to feed the global population without unacceptable environmental impacts. Food distribution must be sufficiently efficient so that a diverse range of foods containing adequate nutrition is available to all, again without unacceptable environmental impacts. Socio-economic conditions must be sufficiently equitable so that all consumers can access the quantity and range of foods needed for a healthy diet. Consumers need to be able to make informed and rational choices so that they consume a healthy and environmentally sustainable diet (10).

annotated text Block Quote. The writer has chosen to present important evidence as a direct quotation, using the correct format for direct quotations longer than four lines. See Section Editing Focus: Integrating Sources and Quotations for more information about block quotes. end annotated text

public domain text Among their findings, they singled out, in particular, the practice of using human-edible crops to produce meat, dairy, and fish for the human table. Currently 34 percent of human-edible crops are fed to animals, a practice that reduces calorie and protein supplies. They state in their report, “If society continues on a ‘business-as-usual’ dietary trajectory, a 119% increase in edible crops grown will be required by 2050” (1). Future food production and distribution must be transformed into systems that are nutritionally adequate, environmentally sound, and economically affordable. end public domain text

Land and Water Use

public domain text Agriculture occupies 40 percent of Earth’s ice-free land mass (Barnard). While the net area used for producing food has been fairly constant since the mid-20th century, the locations have shifted significantly. Temperate regions of North America, Europe, and Russia have lost agricultural land to other uses, while in the tropics, agricultural land has expanded, mainly as a result of clearing forests and burning biomass (Willett et al.). Seventy percent of the rainforest that has been cut down is being used to graze livestock (Münter). Agricultural use of water is of critical concern both quantitatively and qualitatively. Agriculture accounts for about 70 percent of freshwater use, making it “the world’s largest water-consuming sector” (Barnard). Meat, dairy, and egg production causes water pollution, as liquid wastes flow into rivers and to the ocean (World Wildlife Fund and Knorr Foods). According to the Hertwich et al., “the impacts related to these activities are unlikely to be reduced, but rather enhanced, in a business-as-usual scenario for the future” (13). end public domain text

annotated text Statistical Data. To develop her points related to land and water use, Tran presents specific statistical data throughout this section. Notice that she has chosen only the needed words of these key points to ensure that she controls the development of the supporting point and does not overuse borrowed source material. end annotated text

annotated text Defining Terms. Aware of her audience, Tran defines monocropping , a term that may be unfamiliar. end annotated text

public domain text Earth’s resources and ability to absorb pollution are limited, and many current agricultural practices undermine these capacities. Among these unsustainable practices are monocropping [growing a single crop year after year on the same land], concentrated animal-feeding operations, and overdependence on manufactured pesticides and fertilizers (Hamilton). Such practices deplete the soil, dramatically increase energy use, reduce pollinator populations, and lead to the collapse of resource supplies. One study found that producing one gram of beef for human consumption requires 42 times more land, 2 times more water, and 4 times more nitrogen than staple crops. It also creates 3 times more greenhouse gas emissions (Chai et al.). The EAT– Lancet Commission calls for “halting expansion of new agricultural land at the expense of natural ecosystems . . . strict protections on intact ecosystems, suspending concessions for logging in protected areas, or conversion of remaining intact ecosystems, particularly peatlands and forest areas” (Willett et al. 481). The Commission also calls for land-use zoning, regulations prohibiting land clearing, and incentives for protecting natural areas, including forests. end public domain text

annotated text Synthesis. The paragraphs above and below this comment show how Tran has synthesized content from several sources to help establish and reinforce key supports of her essay . end annotated text

Greenhouse Gas and Climate Change

public domain text Climate change is heavily affected by two factors: greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration. In nature, the two remain in balance; for example, most animals exhale carbon dioxide, and most plants capture carbon dioxide. Carbon is also captured, or sequestered, by soil and water, especially oceans, in what are called “sinks.” Human activities have skewed this balance over the past two centuries. The shift in land use, which exploits land, water, and fossil energy, has caused increased greenhouse-gas emissions, which in turn accelerate climate change. end public domain text

public domain text Global food systems are threatened by climate change because farmers depend on relatively stable climate systems to plan for production and harvest. Yet food production is responsible for up to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions (Barnard). While soil can be a highly effective means of carbon sequestration, agricultural soils have lost much of their effectiveness from overgrazing, erosion, overuse of chemical fertilizer, and excess tilling. Hamilton reports that the world’s cultivated and grazed soils have lost 50 to 70 percent of their ability to accumulate and store carbon. As a result, “billions of tons of carbon have been released into the atmosphere.” end public domain text

annotated text Direct Quotation and Paraphrase. While Tran has paraphrased some content of this source borrowing, because of the specificity and impact of the number— “billions of tons of carbon”—she has chosen to use the author’s original words. As she has done elsewhere in the essay, she has indicated these as directly borrowed words by placing them within quotation marks. See Section 12.5 for more about paraphrasing. end annotated text

public domain text While carbon sequestration has been falling, greenhouse gas emissions have been increasing as a result of the production, transport, processing, storage, waste disposal, and other life stages of food production. Agriculture alone is responsible for fully 10 to 12 percent of global emissions, and that figure is estimated to rise by up to 150 percent of current levels by 2030 (Chai et al.). Münter reports that “more greenhouse gas emissions are produced by growing livestock for meat than all the planes, trains, ships, cars, trucks, and all forms of fossil fuel-based transportation combined” (5). Additional greenhouse gases, methane and nitrous oxide, are produced by the decomposition of organic wastes. Methane has 25 times and nitrous oxide has nearly 300 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide (Curnow). Agricultural and food production systems must be reformed to shift agriculture from greenhouse gas source to sink. end public domain text

Social and Cultural Values

public domain text As the Sierra Club has pointed out, agriculture is inherently cultural: all systems of food production have “the capacity to generate . . . economic benefits and ecological capital” as well as “a sense of meaning and connection to natural resources.” Yet this connection is more evident in some cultures and less so in others. Wealthy countries built on a consumer culture emphasize excess consumption. One result of this attitude is that in 2014, Americans discarded the equivalent of $165 billion worth of food. Much of this waste ended up rotting in landfills, comprised the single largest component of U.S. municipal solid waste, and contributed a substantial portion of U.S. methane emissions (Sierra Club). In low- and middle-income countries, food waste tends to occur in early production stages because of poor scheduling of harvests, improper handling of produce, or lack of market access (Willett et al.). The recent “America First” philosophy has encouraged prioritizing the economic welfare of one nation to the detriment of global welfare and sustainability. end public domain text

annotated text Synthesis and Response to Claims. Here, as in subsequent sections, while still relying heavily on facts and content from borrowed sources, Tran provides her synthesized understanding of the information by responding to key points. end annotated text

public domain text In response to claims that a vegetarian diet is a necessary component of sustainable food production and consumption, Lusk and Norwood determined the importance of meat in a consumer’s diet. Their study indicated that meat is the most valuable food category to consumers, and “humans derive great pleasure from consuming beef, pork, and poultry” (120). Currently only 4 percent of Americans are vegetarians, and it would be difficult to convince consumers to change their eating habits. Purdy adds “there’s the issue of philosophy. A lot of vegans aren’t in the business of avoiding animal products for the sake of land sustainability. Many would prefer to just leave animal husbandry out of food altogether.” end public domain text

public domain text At the same time, consumers expect ready availability of the foods they desire, regardless of health implications or sustainability of sources. Unhealthy and unsustainable foods are heavily marketed. Out-of-season produce is imported year-round, increasing carbon emissions from air transportation. Highly processed and packaged convenience foods are nutritionally inferior and waste both energy and packaging materials. Serving sizes are larger than necessary, contributing to overconsumption and obesity. Snack food vending machines are ubiquitous in schools and public buildings. What is needed is a widespread attitude shift toward reducing waste, choosing local fruits and vegetables that are in season, and paying attention to how foods are grown and transported. end public domain text

annotated text Thesis Restated. Restating her thesis, Tran ends this section by advocating for a change in attitude to bring about sustainability. end annotated text

DISSENTING OPINIONS

annotated text Counterclaims . Tran uses equally strong research to present the counterargument. Presenting both sides by addressing objections is important in constructing a clear, well-reasoned argument. Writers should use as much rigor in finding research-based evidence to counter the opposition as they do to develop their argument. end annotated text

public domain text Transformation of the food production system faces resistance for a number of reasons, most of which dispute the need for plant-based diets. Historically, meat has been considered integral to athletes’ diets and thus has caused many consumers to believe meat is necessary for a healthy diet. Lynch et al. examined the impact of plant-based diets on human physical health, environmental sustainability, and exercise performance capacity. The results show “it is unlikely that plant-based diets provide advantages, but do not suffer from disadvantages, compared to omnivorous diets for strength, anaerobic, or aerobic exercise performance” (1). end public domain text

public domain text A second objection addresses the claim that land use for animal-based food production contributes to pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and is inefficient in terms of nutrient delivery. Berners-Lee et al. point out that animal nutrition from grass, pasture, and silage comes partially from land that cannot be used for other purposes, such as producing food directly edible by humans or for other ecosystem services such as biofuel production. Consequently, nutritional losses from such land use do not fully translate into losses of human-available nutrients (3). end public domain text

annotated text Paraphrase. Tran has paraphrased the information as support. Though she still cites the source, she has changed the words to her own, most likely to condense a larger amount of original text or to make it more accessible. end annotated text

public domain text While this objection may be correct, it does not address the fact that natural carbon sinks are being destroyed to increase agricultural land and, therefore, increase greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. end public domain text

public domain text Another significant dissenting opinion is that transforming food production will place hardships on farmers and others employed in the food industry. Farmers and ranchers make a major investment in their own operations. At the same time, they support jobs in related industries, as consumers of farm machinery, customers at local businesses, and suppliers for other industries such as food processing (Schulz). Sparks reports that “livestock farmers are being unfairly ‘demonized’ by vegans and environmental advocates” and argues that while farming includes both costs and benefits, the costs receive much more attention than the benefits. end public domain text

FUTURE GENERATIONS

public domain text The EAT– Lancet Commission calls for a transformation in the global food system, implementing different core processes and feedback. This transformation will not happen unless there is “widespread, multi-sector, multilevel action to change what food is eaten, how it is produced, and its effects on the environment and health, while providing healthy diets for the global population” (Willett et al. 476). System changes will require global efforts coordinated across all levels and will require governments, the private sector, and civil society to share a common vision and goals. Scientific modeling indicates 10 billion people could indeed be fed a healthy and sustainable diet. end public domain text

annotated text Conclusion. While still using research-based sources as evidence in the concluding section, Tran finishes with her own words, restating her thesis. end annotated text

public domain text For the human race to have a sustainable future, massive changes in the way food is produced, processed, and distributed are necessary on a global scale. The required changes will affect nearly all aspects of life, including not only world hunger but also health and welfare, land use and habitats, water quality and availability, energy use and production, greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, economics, and even cultural and social values. These changes may not be popular, but they are imperative. They are also achievable. The human race must turn to sustainable food systems that provide healthy diets with minimal environmental impact, starting now. end public domain text

annotated text Sources. Note two important aspects of the sources chosen: 1) They represent a range of perspectives, and 2) They are all quite current. When exploring a contemporary topic, it is important to avoid research that is out of date. end annotated text

Works Cited

Barnard, Neal. “How Eating More Plants Can Save Lives and the Planet.” Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine , 24 Jan. 2019, www.pcrm.org/news/blog/how-eating-more-plants-can-save-lives-and-planet. Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.

Berners-Lee, M., et al. “Current Global Food Production Is Sufficient to Meet Human Nutritional Needs in 2050 Provided There Is Radical Societal Adaptation.” Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene , vol. 6, no. 52, 2018, doi:10.1525/elementa.310. Accessed 7 Dec. 2020.

Chai, Bingli Clark, et al. “Which Diet Has the Least Environmental Impact on Our Planet? A Systematic Review of Vegan, Vegetarian and Omnivorous Diets.” Sustainability , vol. 11, no. 15, 2019, doi: underline 10.3390/su11154110 end underline . Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.

Curnow, Mandy. “Managing Manure to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” Government of Western Australia, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, 2 Nov. 2020, www.agric.wa.gov.au/climate-change/managing-manure-reduce-greenhouse-gas-emissions. Accessed 9 Dec. 2020.

Gray, Richard. “Why the Vegan Diet Is Not Always Green.” BBC , 13 Feb. 2020, www.bbc.com/future/article/20200211-why-the-vegan-diet-is-not-always-green. Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.

Hamilton, Bruce. “Food and Our Climate.” Sierra Club, 2014, www.sierraclub.org/compass/2014/10/food-and-our-climate. Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.

Hertwich. Edgar G., et al. Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Consumption and Production. United Nations Environment Programme, 2010, www.resourcepanel.org/reports/assessing-environmental-impacts-consumption-and-production.

Lusk, Jayson L., and F. Bailey Norwood. “Some Economic Benefits and Costs of Vegetarianism.” Agricultural and Resource Economics Review , vol. 38, no. 2, 2009, pp. 109-24, doi: 10.1017/S1068280500003142. Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.

Lynch Heidi, et al. “Plant-Based Diets: Considerations for Environmental Impact, Protein Quality, and Exercise Performance.” Nutrients, vol. 10, no. 12, 2018, doi:10.3390/nu10121841. Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.

Münter, Leilani. “Why a Plant-Based Diet Will Save the World.” Health and the Environment. Disruptive Women in Health Care & the United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2012, archive.epa.gov/womenandgirls/web/pdf/1016healththeenvironmentebook.pdf.

Purdy, Chase. “Being Vegan Isn’t as Good for Humanity as You Think.” Quartz , 4 Aug. 2016, qz.com/749443/being-vegan-isnt-as-environmentally-friendly-as-you-think/. Accessed 7 Dec. 2020.

Schulz, Lee. “Would a Sudden Loss of the Meat and Dairy Industry, and All the Ripple Effects, Destroy the Economy?” Iowa State U Department of Economics, www.econ.iastate.edu/node/691. Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.

Sierra Club. “Agriculture and Food.” Sierra Club, 28 Feb. 2015, www.sierraclub.org/policy/agriculture/food. Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.

Sparks, Hannah. “Veganism Won’t Save the World from Environmental Ruin, Researchers Warn.” New York Post , 29 Nov. 2019, nypost.com/2019/11/29/veganism-wont-save-the-world-from-environmental-ruin-researchers-warn/. Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.

Willett, Walter, et al. “Food in the Anthropocene: The EAT– Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems.” The Lancet, vol. 393, no. 10170, 2019. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31788-4. Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.

World Health Organization. “Malnutrition.” World Health Organization, 1 Apr. 2020, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malnutrition. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020.

World Health Organization. “Obesity and Overweight.” World Health Organization, 1 Apr. 2020, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020.

World Wildlife Fund. Appetite for Destruction: Summary Report. World Wildlife Fund, 2017, www.wwf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2017-10/WWF_AppetiteForDestruction_Summary_Report_SignOff.pdf.

World Wildlife Fund and Knorr Foods. Future Fifty Foods. World Wildlife Fund, 2019, www.wwf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-02/Knorr_Future_50_Report_FINAL_Online.pdf.

“World Population by Year.” Worldometer , www.worldometers.info/world-population/world-population-by-year/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020.

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127 Food Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Inside This Article

When it comes to writing essays about food, the possibilities are endless. From exploring the cultural significance of certain dishes to analyzing the science behind food trends, there are countless topics to choose from. If you're looking for inspiration, here are 127 food essay topic ideas and examples to get you started:

• The impact of food advertising on children's dietary habits
• The rise of veganism in mainstream culture
• The history of chocolate and its cultural significance
• The health benefits of a Mediterranean diet
• The environmental impact of meat consumption
• The role of food in shaping cultural identity
• The ethics of food production and consumption
• The psychology of comfort food
• The science behind food cravings
• The cultural significance of street food
• The history of fast food in America
• The impact of food insecurity on public health
• The rise of food delivery services and their impact on traditional restaurants
• The health risks of processed foods
• The cultural significance of food in literature and film
• The impact of food deserts on low-income communities
• The rise of food blogging and its influence on food culture
• The health benefits of fermented foods
• The history of food preservation techniques
• The impact of food packaging on the environment
• The cultural significance of holiday foods
• The rise of food allergies and their impact on the food industry
• The history of food riots and their role in shaping social movements
• The impact of food waste on the environment
• The role of food in social gatherings and celebrations
• The cultural significance of food rituals and traditions
• The rise of food tourism and its impact on local economies
• The history of food safety regulations
• The health benefits of plant-based diets
• The impact of food trends on consumer behavior
• The cultural significance of food in religious ceremonies
• The rise of food trucks and their influence on urban dining
• The history of food as medicine
• The impact of food insecurity on mental health
• The role of food in shaping national identity
• The health risks of sugar consumption
• The cultural significance of food in art and photography
• The impact of food allergies on social interactions
• The rise of food delivery apps and their impact on the restaurant industry
• The history of food preservation techniques in different cultures
• The health benefits of a plant-based diet
• The cultural significance of food in different regions of the world
• The impact of food advertising on consumer behavior
• The role of food in shaping family relationships
• The rise of food waste and its impact on the environment
• The history of food packaging and its evolution over time
• The health risks of processed foods and artificial additives
• The cultural significance of food in different religious traditions
• The impact of food insecurity on children's academic performance
• The rise of food delivery services and their impact on traditional dining experiences
• The history of food preservation techniques in ancient civilizations
• The health benefits of a Mediterranean diet and its impact on longevity
• The cultural significance of street food in different countries
• The impact of food deserts on low-income communities and their access to nutritious foods
• The rise of food blogging and its influence on food trends
• The history of fast food in America and its role in shaping American dietary habits
• The health risks of sugar consumption and its impact on obesity rates
• The cultural significance of food in different social classes
• The impact of food waste on the environment and potential solutions to reduce waste
• The role of food in social gatherings and celebrations and its impact on community bonding
• The rise of food tourism and its impact on local economies and cultural exchange
• The history of food safety regulations and their evolution over time
• The health benefits of plant-based diets and their impact on chronic diseases
• The cultural significance of food in different religious ceremonies and rituals
• The impact of food allergies on social interactions and mental health
• The role of food in shaping national identity and cultural heritage
• The health risks of processed foods and their impact on public health
• The cultural significance of food in art and literature
• The impact of food advertising on children's dietary habits and preferences
• The rise of veganism in mainstream culture and its impact on the food industry
• The history of chocolate and its cultural significance in different cultures
• The health benefits of a Mediterranean diet and its impact on cardiovascular health
• The environmental impact of meat consumption and potential alternatives
• The role of food in shaping cultural identity and preserving traditions
• The ethics of food production and consumption and

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Essays on Food

Faq about food.