Rolfe 1

Kristie Rolfe

Kim Strickland

English 1010

10 March 2019

Rhetorical Analysis of Wendell Berry’s “The Pleasures of Eating”

As Americans we like to stay informed about many of the major components of our lives

like the cars we drive, the electronic devices that we use and current events; however, a large

portion of the population is very ignorant about the food that they put into their bodies. This was

brought to the forefront by an avid farmer, Wendell Berry in his article “The Pleasures of

Eating” that was published in June 2009 in his book “What Are People For?” Berry examines

the connection between living plants and animals and the food that we consume and what can be

done to eat more responsibly. He is able to not only educate on why this connection is so

important, but maybe help people think about the issue from a point of view that they never

have.

Berry opens the article by acknowledging the decline in American farming and how this

decline is tied to the way we eat as consumers. The article conveys how crucial it is to know

exactly what is in the food we are eating, where it came from and what happened to it before it

reached our plate. ​Berry points out that not only would making this connection be beneficial to

the earth and environment around us, but we can only benefit ourselves from doing so. “One

reason to eat responsibly is to live free” (Berry). How free can we be as Americans if someone

else is deciding what is going into our foods and how it is prepared.
 Rolfe 2

Throughout the article, the strategy of ethos is used strongly in the aspect that Berry is a

farmer and therefore a credible and knowledgeable source when it comes to agriculture and the

land. Being a skilled farmer, he expresses how important it is to be educated about the farming

industry. “Most urban shoppers would tell you that food is produced on farms. But most of them

do not know what farms, or what kinds of farms, or where the farms are, or what knowledge of

skills are involved in farming. They apparently have little doubt that farms will continue to

produce, but they do not know how or over what obstacles” (Berry). The ignorance of these

urban shoppers may just be what is causing the decline in American farming.

Berry uses pathos by playing on the readers emotions when he uses visual descriptions of

living animals. “It would not do for the consumer to know that the hamburger she is eating came

from a steer who spent much of his life standing deep in his own excrement in a feedlot, helping

to pollute the local streams, or that the calf that yielded the veal cutlet on her plate spent its life

in a box in which it did not have room to turn around” (Berry). Even the most conventional

person would feel empathy for the animals the way that Berry describes them. The fast food

industry realizes that forcing this perspective on consumers can and will persuade them to make

a change regarding this issue. Berry points out “Advertisements of the food industry, in which

food wears as much makeup as the actors. If one gained one's whole knowledge of food from

these advertisements (as some presumably do), one would not know that the various edibles were

ever living creatures” (Berry). As consumers it’s important to think about our food from the

very beginning stages and not just the photoshopped images on the menu.

Being that fast food is so prevalent in our current time, Berry uses the strategy of kairos

by emphasizing the extremes that Americans go to on a daily basis to avoid having to make any
 Rolfe 3

connection between agriculture and their eating habits. “The current version of the dream home

of the future involves effortless shopping from a list of available goods on a television monitor

and heating precooked food by remote control” (Berry). These words help establish just how

narrow minded and stubborn we have become as Americans. As a society we have become less

focused on what is in the foods that we are eating and what happened to it before it got to us and

more focused on how fast we can get a meal prepped and eaten and move on to the next thing on

our to do list.

Additionally, to avoid the stigma of being stuck in the same rut, Berry provides a list of

ideas to break the cycle we are in. Just because we have earned the reputation of being oblivious

and uneducated doesn’t mean that it has to stay that way. Presenting a lineup of solutions shows

that Berry is actually dedicated to solving the issue and not simply stating his opinion. “ How

does one escape this trap? Only voluntarily, the same way that one went in: by restoring one's

consciousness of what is involved in eating; by reclaiming responsibility for one's own part in

the food economy” (Berry). This isn’t an issue that is going to be solved while we sit back and

watch. Each person needs to do their part individually to make a major change on the declining

farming industry.

It’s apparent in reading Berry’s article that he is very passionate about the land and

restoring the farming industry to what is once was. Although I think that he could have used the

strategy of logos and included some statistics to give his argument more credibility, the article is

still successful in explaining the connection between agriculture and the food we consume.

Berry also made making this connection look appealing by explaining that it will lead to our
 Rolfe 4

freedom and enjoyment. Readers can see this lack of connection exists and is only going to get

worse unless we do something about it.