Food and Popular Culture
Quickwrite #11
• Each of the essays we read for today talks about a trend
related to American ideas about food. (“An Expert’s Theory
of Food Television’s Appeal” discusses the current
popularity of Food TV, and “Heat, Tray, Love” discusses the
significance of TV dinners in the author’s childhood.)
1. Do you watch “food television”? If so, what are your
reasons for watching? Do you agree with the author’s
theory in “An Expert’s Theory of Food Television’s Appeal”
on p. 110-111 about why we watch food TV?
2. OR, do you eat “instant meals”? Can you relate to the
author’s experiences/memories in “Heat, Tray, Love” on
p. 114-115? Did your family eat them when you were
growing up? Why or why not?
Discussion of Readings
• What were some of the theories about the
popularity of Food TV that the author of “An
Expert’s Theory of Food Television’s Appeal” (p.
110) put forward? Does any one of these theories
make more sense to you than the others?
• What was the author’s attitude toward TV dinners
in “Heat, Tray, Love” (p. 114)? What ideas about
“instant food” is this author responding to?
Questions for Discussion
• What are some images of food that you see in
popular culture?
• What are some images of cooking that you see in
popular culture?
• What are the various messages that these images
of food send? (In other words, what do these
images of food/cooking encourage us to think
about food?)
“Freedom
from Want” by
Norman
Rockwell
This painting was
published in the
magazine The Saturday
Evening Post on March 6,
1943.
What do you notice
about this image? About
the food? About the
people?
What assumptions is this
painting making about
American families? What
values does it represent?
How might a
Thanksgiving today be
similar? Different?
Fig. 1: In Norman Rockwell’s painting “Freedom From Want,” a middle class American family
typical of the 1940s enjoys a meal together. Image from the Norman Rockwell Museum website.
Discussion of Painting
• Do you think that people who haven’t had
experience like these (with family traditions related
to food) are missing something? Is there something
that can be done to reverse this trend that has led
to a generation of people who, for the most part,
do not cook? Should there be? What do you think
the authors of the essays we read for this class
would say to that question?
More Images of Food/Eating in
Pop Culture
• The next three slides contain three different
advertisements. For each ad, ask yourself what the
message of the ad is. What does the ad want you
(the audience) to think about food/eating? What
are the assumptions and attitudes about food that
are present in each ad?
Using sources
• How will (or do) you introduce the source? How can
you tie it in to what you have been talking about in the
paragraph? What does your audience need to know
about the source before you use it? (Information about
the study, how recent the research is, etc)
• What quote from the source will you use? Do you use
enough of the source to give your audience a thorough
understanding of the source’s ideas? Do you use TOO
MUCH of the quote?
• How will you respond to the source? Remember, this is
the most important part. You can agree, give another
example, disagree, compare the source’s idea to
another source…