Miller                                                                                                                         

ENG 110

Project # 1, Part 2: What is Food, Really? (or Soy You Have a Favorite Meal)

In her 2014 article “The End of Food” from The New Yorker, Lizzie Widdicombe closes with the idea that “The Soylent dream is a strange one: a place where our food-related hopes mingle with our nightmares.” As this quote suggests, this article offers both “hopes” and “nightmares” about food.

In an easy of 1250-1500 words help to capture the tensions and potential paradoxes that are at stake in the Widdcombe piece by explaining some of the food hopes and nightmares she presents.

Do you agree with Rob Rhinehart’s vision of Soylent’s power to help solve real world problems, or is his thinking removed from how we would actually prefer to (or should) live our best lives?  Is there some grey area when considering this question?  Engage with those ideas as you see it.

In your essay, use your explanation of food hopes and fears to support a perspective you find most convincing.  Draw support for your position from Widdicombe’s article, as well as evidence from your Favorite Meal narrative, and your (perhaps) evolving relationship with food as a college student under new and unfamiliar stressful experiences.

Some things to consider—this is certainly NOT a checklist to click off as you respond, but a way of getting you to start thinking more deeply:

• Do our lives really revolve around food as the article suggests? What does that say about our interests and priorities?
• Soylent is a synthesized “all-over food substitute”—in other words, it feeds you in a way that is unfamiliar to our standard, everyday eating practices. But what is a standard eating practice?
• Are most meals forgotten as Rhinehart suggests?
• Is the intention at odds with the execution here? In other words, how much is the principle of the efficiency model of Soylent at odds with our own experienced humanity?
• Special meals are special because they are not the norm—is there an equal value in the forgetting as there is in the remembering? Deeper, how much do you take food for granted?
• Widdicombe points out “how many indulgences we allow ourselves in the name of substance”—what does she mean by this and do you find this to be true?
• How does consuming Soylent compare to your own experiences as a (college) student?
• What would you lose by going “all-in” on Soylent? What would you gain?
• How has the global pandemic in the last year impacted your thoughts of food, eating, food security, socializing, and togetherness?

FINE PRINT:

Make sure you essay has an introduction with clear thesis, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Make sure to quote meaningfully from Widdicombe AND your own Favorite Meal essay 2 times (2 Widdicombe, 2 your own work).  This should be 2-3 sentences for each quotation, not snippets.

No, you don’t need to list your Fav. Meal essay in the Works Cited.

Yes, set yourself up as a source, e.g.: “As I mentioned in my Favorite Meal essay, ‘Grandpa’s spaghetti was more than just a meal, it was a way of life.  No, it was life.’”

Make sure to save all of your drafts for this project and post on your ePortfolio in the designated spot.  Make sure these drafts are saved as PDF.

Be sure to include a Works Cited page; paper should be in MLA format.

RESORUCES:

SASC

Your Peers

Me

DigiSpace

UPDATED: KEY DATES FOR PROJECT # 1, PART DEUX:

• 750-word draft by: 3 days after today’s class (MONDAY, February 13); POST on PROJECT # 1 page—we’ll have in-class writing time next class (TUESDAY, February 14).
• Exchange 1000+ word draft for peer review: WEEK 6 (TUESDAY, February 21), POST on PROJECT # 1 page
• Peer review: WEEK 6 (FRIDAY, February 24)

Revised SOY YOU HAVE A FAVORITE MEAL essay due:  TUESDAY, February 28; Email as a Word doc or Google Doc.  For full credit, make sure you receive a “Got    it” back from me; otherwise, I didn’t get it.

            AND

• POST on PROJECT # 1 page