DELGADILLO 1

Kennedy Delgadillo
Professor Eric Dinsmore
ENG 6A_D3

December 3, 2015
Attention Whole Foods Shoppers
Why do you think Paarlberg titles his essay Attention Whole Foods
Shoppers? Why does Paarlberg single out this particular demographic? How does
he characterize them? What do people who shop at Whole Foods represent for him?
Robert Paarlberg is a political science professor at Wellesley College. He has
directed a great amount of interest toward international food and agriculture policy. In
America, he feels the government isnt doing its job and should take action on
obesity, climate change, modern views of personal freedom, and material abundance.
Another main focus of his would be world hunger. Paarlberg explains that we
shouldnt worry about everyone eating organic and local but rather if everyone is
actually getting fed. Pre-industrial farming methods are to be left in the past due to the
rapid growth of society.
In the article, Attention Whole Foods Shoppers he discusses positive ideas
that could result with a negative impacts with good attention. He gives the example of
todays generation promoting an organic healthy lifestyle. Of course we want to
believe in small farming and organic foods because its the way of life we are all
taught to aspire to attain. In reality this isnt possible because the worlds population
keeps expanding rapidly. The world cannot only depend on organic food to survive.
To avoid problems in the future we need to get serious about solving global hunger,

DELGADILLO 2

we need to de-romanticize our view of preindustrial and farming (241). In order to

keep advancing in the mass production of food we need to let go of what we once
knew.
Paarlbergs title for his article Attention Whole Foods Shoppers gives it an
almost sarcastic and satirical tone. The demographic he focuses on contains people
such as American mothers trying to promote organic and healthy living style for their
children, as well as young idealists. They are characterized by wanting to save the
plant people, full of good intentions and fighting childhood obesity. All of which can
have a positive impact but for Paarlberg he states, no conclusive evidence shows that
organic grown food is more nutritious than is conventionally grown food. (244)
These people represent part of the problem to fixing global hunger. He believes as
much as it may hurt we need to let go of pre-industrial food and farming. He shares
his thoughts on how to improve this system such as less expensive fertilizer, electrical
power, and modern seeds. Whole Foods encompasses all of the organic and health
food trends of today. For many families they have to stretch their budgets and Whole
Foods is not within their everyday means. Food is a necessity that should be
affordable and accessible to all. The real standard should not be organic but rather that
it is edible, affordable and delicious.