Final reflection

          My topic has developed greatly since the topic selection assignment. At the beginning, my topic was very narrow in scope only dealing with food safety with respect to the government. My thesis started out as “The government is responsible for keeping the food safe, but is grossly failing to do so.” As it was developed throughout the semester it was significantly broadened for the exploratory essay. My question was “Why is food awareness and safety poor in the United States.” I delved into the numerous causes ranging from a cultural issue, the growth of a fast food nation, and the government not doing its duty. Then, for the final essay I picked my strongest argument to support my claim; that it was a cultural issue. My thesis for the final essay was “Americans really need to acknowledge that food safety and awareness is a growing issue in the United States because the American culture calls and allows for a very unhealthy lifestyle.”
           My research greatly shaped my ideas and more specifically my claim. As I researched, I saw a trend that Americans as whole allow themselves to remain clueless on a dangerous issue. I saw that obesity rates were climbing in every state, the number of fast food restaurants growing exponentially and parents still unable to pass basic health literacy tests. What good is a nutritional label if one cannot comprehend what is even on it? More and more awareness is being brought to this issue of unhealthy living but no one still seemed to care about it. That is when I decided that it was indeed a cultural issue. A society that prides itself on multi-tasking and doing every at a fast pace creates a place absent of traditions such as a family dinner with a nice home-cooked meal. All in all, I enjoyed writing this paper and look forward to learning more about the subject while refining the ideas in my paper.