Post 5

P5: Read Hortwiz. How does Horwitz develop his argument for “eating on the edge”? Relate his essay to one example from your own life to illustrate, complicate, or otherwise expand upon Horwitz’s argument.

            Horwitz develops his argument for “eating on the edge” by talking about a change on how food is viewed. Instead of food being the definitive part of a meal or mealtime it has come to change into more of an additive factor to any given situation.  What this means is that the manner in which food is consumed and the situations in which one eats food are becoming more dynamic. Food location and occasion are changing with time, Horwitz chooses to focus his argument particularly on how people are tending to eat along and at their own descriptions, which is something he calls eating on one’s own space-time and micro-gravity.

            Something that Horwitz’s essay made me recall was how some of my eating habits growing up coincide with his argument. Horwitz speaks about how eating and spending time with family during specific times (i.e. breakfast, lunch, or dinner) is becoming less common. From my experiences, I agree with Horwitz observations because I noticed that I would sometimes eat dinner by myself instead of eating at the dinner table with my family. Instead of sitting down at the table I would just grab my plate along with as much food as I could and then head into my room to watch television or continue playing on my Xbox. Recalling these memories, made me think about how technology and the “modern” world have affected the way in which people treat food. I feel that the pace of life in our day in age is so much quicker than what it used to be and has thus spurred the creating of meal on the go. I feel that technology and the modern era has come to play a large role in a shift of mentality amongst people, and thus changed how and when people eat. I find Horowitz’s piece on the TV dinner to be a very accurate example of how television has influenced a change in how people act with food, family, and a meal. My experience with choosing to eat by myself inform of a television instead of eating as a family with my parents is a perfect depiction of the change Horwitz is trying to describe.