Miracles from Agriculture, 1960

Miracles from Agriculture, 1960

Produced by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the following video is an excerpt from a longer short documentary designed to promote food science and modern agriculture. Part of the USDA’s mission is to promote American agriculture to consumers; the USDA also makes dietary recommendations. This video is meant to highlight innovations in food science that, according to the USDA, provide a number of benefits to American consumers. As you watch the video, think about how it portrays attitudes toward processed foods and food science and contrast those attitudes with how we talk about such foods today.

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Source: United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)/Getty Images.

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)/Getty Images.

The Reader’s Presence

After watching Miracles from Agriculture 1960, consider the questions below. Then “submit” your responses.

Question 6.1

1. Who do you think is the intended audience for this video? What evidence in the video makes you think so?

Question 6.2

2. What does this video want you to think about convenience and processed foods? How do you know?

Question 6.3

3. Do you think the message of this video matches how we feel today about processed foods? How do our attitudes toward these foods differ? How are they similar?

Question 6.4

4. In “The End of Cooking?” (p. 527), Michael Pollan discusses the decline of home cooking in America. How do you think Pollan would respond to this video?

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