Botany Of Desire Analysis

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McDonald’s Control There are many similarities and differences between Michael Pollan’s The Botany of Desire and Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation. They both explore the ways in which foods are produced to a certain extent, how fast food chains, such as McDonalds, need to have uniformity in their chains and potatoes, and how farmers are losing their independence. They are different in these ways as well due to the amount of information on each of these subjects. It is shocking to read Fast Food Nation and Botany of Desire and see how much the topics in each of the stories have the same ideas, yet Eric Schlosser’s excerpt is a lot about what the government’s role is in the fast food industry and also has a lot of his opinion in his piece, which…show more content…
In both texts they talk about the ways in which McDonald’s food and the potatoes have or could have chemicals and are shipped to the store in unhealthy ways, such as how it is already frozen, canned, dehydrated, or freeze-dried. The NewLeaf potatoes in Botany of Desire are unhealthy for a person due to how they are grown with pesticides. The differences on this idea in the texts are in Botany of Desire it goes into more depth about how potatoes are genetically modified and what is in them when they are uprooted from their environment. In Fast Food Nation it explains how fast food, like McDonalds, is stored in unwholesome manners. “A fast food kitchen is merely the final stage in a vast and highly complex system of mass production” (Schlosser 7). This quote signifies how foods in the restaurant industry have been reformulated to conform to what people want so they can get it fast and even though it tastes good, it is very unhealthy for a…show more content…
In Botany of Desire they talk about how farmers have to adhere to what all farmers are doing, such as how all farmers have to abide by EPA guidelines and regulations. In Fast Food Nation it explains how “Farmers and cattle ranchers are losing their independence” (Schlosser 8). This quote is saying how the farmers are becoming hired hands for businesses and are being forced off their land. The two stories differ in this subject due to how in Schlosser’s story he talks about how people like the middle class and wealthy elite contrast each other in the farming industry, whereas Pollan does not. All of these ideas in both stories are equally important and unique. There are many comparisons and contrasts to each text and it was interesting to divulge in Fast Food Nations facts. In Michael Pollan’s Botany of Desire it was interesting as well to see his opinion on each of these topics, which were how foods are produced in agriculture and fast food chains, such as McDonalds, the need for uniformity in the fast food chains and their potatoes, and how farmers are losing their
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