Response to "Don't Blame the Eater" Essay

Have you ever thought about suing a fast food restaurant because of how unhealthy is making your body? Well in his essay “Don’t blame the eater” David Zinczenko talks about children that are trying to sue McDonalds for making them fat. Growing up with divorced parents and a mother who worked long hours, Zinczenko was left with no other choice but to turn to fast food restaurants in order to sustain himself. He describes how it’s easy for kids to put on weight and turn obese by eating junk food. He argues that fast food restaurants are to be blame for people, especially children and teenagers, for their obesity. Honestly it is the parents fault. Is not like McDonalds put a gun to an individual’s head and forced them to eat their food. In my opinion I would have to disagree with David Zinczenko, it is your own fault and a parents fault and not these fast food places. Children are a parent’s responsibility. As a parent you take ownership on what your children eat. I know some parents do work long hours and find it very convenient to stop at a fast food drive through to feed that to their kids and themselves, but there is many things parents can do to guarantee that their children eat healthy.

In David Zinczenko’s article Don’t Blame The Eater(November 23, 2002) he constantly blames the consumer for having a terrible eating habits. He talks about how people are suing the cooperations for making the way they are. What ever happened to self responsibility? He continually blames the consumer. His proposal was to prevent parents to consume fast food which could lead to the children. Throughout the article he gives dominant statistical information and also trying to give the reader some sympathy towards what they are doing to ruin the eating habits. He tends for the consumption of all bad food to stop and healthy foods to start being consumed. The community needs to their best to prevent any of these for this to happen. The unhealthy path of eating could lead to some indisputable

In the article “Don’t Blame the Eater”, author David Zinczenko, the editor -in-chief of Men’s Health magazine comments on the lawsuit against McDonald’s which is initiated by the overweight children’s parents. He claims that fast-food industry should accept full responsibility for a serious public problem: leading American kids to obesity. Zinczenko supports his claim with his personal experience to show how the fast-food chains marketing on them with low price. He also said it is not easy for those obese kids to turn their lives back. He believes this should be considered as a public health problem because their obesity causes the society huge public health losses. Zinczenko insists that if fast-food industry doesn’t take actions quickly, it is only a matter of time for them to become the next tobacco industry.

In a 2003 court case, “Caesar Barber v. McDonald’s Corporation, et al.,” Barber claimed he was unaware of the nutritional and fat content of the fast food he ate on a near-daily basis for decades, and which he claimed caused his multiple illnesses (Daily Caller). The people of the court ruled that Barber’s choice of food was the cause of his many health issues, not the restaurants which supplied the fast food. In this case, the court held the consumer responsible for his selections; however, the court’s expectation of personal responsibility in food selection will most likely become anachronous. The article “Is Fast Food the New Tobacco?” addresses the issue of rapidly growing fast-food chain restaurants, such as McDonalds, Burger King, and Taco Bell, and the health issues that perpetuate from an increased amount of these restaurants. Anywhere we travel today, out of town, to a big city or a small village, consumers are bound to see some sort of advertising for fast food. Many billboards display life-size pictures of steaming hot sandwiches, fresh-cut fries, or an ice cold beverage. The streets are lined with bright, golden arches, fluorescent bells, or a red-headed, smiling little girl. All of these modes of advertisement draw consumers in, whether they be hungry or simply in a rush with no time to cook dinner at home, and feed them food that just isn’t up to par with healthy-eating standards. Notice, these restaurants don’t use force to bring customers in by the masses;

Schlosser’s ‘Fast Food Nation’ and Wendell Berry’s ‘The Pleasures of Eating’ have undeniably altered the manner in which I will forever view fast and processed foods. After reviewing the two readings, I am convinced that fast and processed food consumers are the victims of large franchises seeking to make a quick buck at the expense of the consumer’s health. Fast food and processed food consumers are ignorant of the quality of the food that they choose to purchase, solely depending on franchises for the information. Franchisees, on the other hand, choose to conceal this information as revealing it would spell huge losses. They manipulate and decorate food items so as to get consumers to purchase them, with no regard for the health implications they subject their consumers.

Imagine a world with people that eat nothing, but pure fast food. Fast food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Some people might say that it is their choice, others might blame the fast food industry because of their weight. In the essay called “Don’t Blame the Eater” by David Zinczenko states that people often eat fast food because they have an active life and do not have time for a healthy lifestyle. In my opinion, I agree with Zinczenko essay because it is reliable, supportive, and states facts because of the context he uses, examples, and his personal experiences. In this essay I will express my position on Zinczenko essay and state reasons why I picked this side.

The passage entitled “Don’t Blame the Eater” written by David Zincenko starts off with a personal anecdote about his youth. He writes about how he was a “latchkey kid (Zincenko 241)” and how every day he had to have fast food for lunch and dinner. Zincenko goes on to write about how obesity and diabetes have become more prevalent in today’s society. He argues that fast food is more available than healthy food, and there is no nutritional information on the fast food that people are buying. Because of this, he believes that the fast food industry and society as a whole are set up for failure because of lawsuits and deteriorating health.

He references the excess fast food restaurants that can be seen almost anywhere as well as the difficulties some people experience in order to get healthy food. In his article Zinczenko questions, "But where exactly are consumers- particularly teenagers- supposed to find alternatives? Drive down any thoroughfare in America, and I guarantee you'll see one of our country's more than 13,000 McDonald's restaurants." (Zinczenko 242). Although he addresses the surplus of fast food restaurants and the inadequate access to healthy food to show more reasons people are not choosing to eat fast food, but that it is their only choice, Zinczenko never goes into detail or provides evidence to support how important these factors are. People who have never lived in these circumstances or experienced them may doubt or not believe that there is no access to fresh or healthy food in some places because they have never seen otherwise. If Zinczenko had provided solid statistics or examples of places which had fallen victim to what he reported and explained why the lack of access to healthy food was occurring it would have supported his point with more depth and substance rather than him just stating it and quickly moving along. Further into his piece, Zinczenko does propose a possible solution that he believes would eliminate fast food

The article, “Don’t blame the Eater,” by David Zinczenko is about the many lives in America, which is affected by obesity. Zinczenko is telling us in this article about the problem of obesity and how no one really cares about this problem so he’s trying to put it out there in the world so people can notice what’s happening. At first, Zinczenko is showing how sarcastic, it might sound if kids everywhere were suing McDonald’s for making them obese. Then later on, he shows us clearly that he is supporting the many lives with the problem of obesity and to back up his support, he then tells us about all the facts and statistics to prove fast food restaurants like McDonald’s are ruining many lives and mostly children. Zinczenko himself has experienced

One of the author's good points, is the fact that even though fast food restaurants have now started showing their food's nutritional values, they seem to deliberately show them in such a way that makes it easy to miss a few important details.

The fast foot culture that America has delved into is exponentially increases, and affecting many economical facets when it comes to food in the United States. ” Fast food has had an enormous impact not only on our eating habits but on our economy, our culture, and our values” (Spake). Only $6 billion total was spent on fast food in the 1970s, compared to the $110,000 billion plus being spent on fast food today.

Over the past few decades times have changed; one cannot say if it has been for better or worst. It is becoming more common for a household to have two working parents versus just the father being the only source of income. Not to mention that it seems that everyone now is running around one hundred miles an hour. With that said, it has affected the American households eating and living habits. Fast food, frozen dinners and processed food have become part of our daily routine. Half of the time people have no idea what chemicals, preservatives or ingredients that they are consuming. It is more a question of accessibility even though our health should be our main concern. David Zinczenko in, Don’t Blame the Eater, portrays the number of restaurants found in close range when he illustrates, “Drive down any thoroughfare in America, and I guarantee you’ll see one of our country’s more than 13,000 McDonald’s restaurants. Now, drive back up the block and try to find someplace to buy a grapefruit”(7). Zinczenko argues that a lot of fast food restaurants are available to Americans compared to healthy food choices. In Portion Distortion --You Don’t Know the Half of It, Shannon

"Fast food is popular because it 's convenient, it 's cheap, and it tastes good. But the real cost of eating fast food never appears on the menu," was said by Eric Schlosser. Several people in America have become dependent on fast foods. How many of the people who eat this food actually know what is really in the food or how it was made? Others don 't think about it, because within ordering, three minutes later a customer can pull up to the window, pay, and get food. It is quick and cheap. The United States has become dependent on fast foods because they are everywhere, but the consequences of these facilities have brought health issues and closing of community restaurants.

For instance, customers make the choice of purchasing food that is known to be harmful to one’s health—it is not the restaurant’s responsibility to alter the judgment of the consumer. Barbara Mantel states that “even if restaurants do put healthier items on the menu, it doesn't mean people will order them, or if they do that they will lose weight” (805). Many individuals do not have a tolerance for vegetables or fruits, so they settle with meals that satisfy their cravings. However, indulging in unhealthy food is acceptable if it is occasional; what harms the consumer’s body is the fact that they continuously eat fast-food that contains unhealthy substitutes. According to Food, Inc., the average consumer has the power to influence the food industry. For example, Wal-Mart now offers synthetic hormone free-milk due to customer preference. These

The development of fast food was revolutionary; however this revolution was corrupted by big business and their desire to maximize profit. With fast food being a staple for society, due to its convenience, the consumers fail to realize what is inside that burger they are eating. These cost effective additives may be justifiable in a businessman’s perspective but what about the consumer?