McCain Potatoes Commercial

I saw this commercial at the British Advertising Awards in Minneapolis this summer. They present the awards annually at Walker Art Center and they're always amazingly done. This was one of my favorites. I think it relates to the discussions we generated about advertising while reading Omnivore. Plus it's just so dang cute!




Also, here's a link to their website if you're interested in learning more about the company. They're part of the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform and seem to be very invested in coming off as 'all natural.'

CYOA: Where's the Beef?

Throughout the first few weeks of Food and Travel writing, I've been thinking a lot about the choices we have as individuals who consume food. While I was reading the first section of Michael Pollan's the Omnivore's Dilemma, the conflict of "what should we have for dinner" and the idea that we choose what we're eating became even more apparent.

I had heard food-conscious friends talk about how corn is in everything, but it didn't really phase me. It could’t be in everything, that just sounded ridiculous. But by the time I got to the end of the introduction, I was freaking out. The lines that have stuck with me through Part I—Industrial Corn were on pages 10-11:

What is perhaps most troubling, and sad, about industrial eating is how thoroughly it obscures all [of our] relationships and connections [. . .] Forgetting, or not knowing in the first place, is what the industrial food chain is all about, the principal reason it is so opaque, for if we could see what lies on the far side of the increasingly high walls of our industrial agriculture, we would surely change the way we eat.

This concept of 'eating blindly' has really been bothering me throughout the course and this investigative book seems to be getting at the heart of it.

Now, I hope this connection doesn't come off as crude, but since I've been thinking about our lack of insight to our diets, I keep going back to a story my friend told me about going to a'dining in the dark' restaurant when she was in Montreal. The restaurant is literally opaque, as in there is zero lighting in the whole restaurant. The guests choose their meal before entering the dining area and are led to their tables by seeing-impaired or blind waiters.

I know there's not a connection to an individuals actual ability to see and the ignorance Michael Pollan discusses, but I think the way the restaurant highlights one's perception of food links closely to what Pollan is saying. Plus, the concept of—literally—eating in complete darkness seems pretty cool—if not really intimidating. It has also become a wide-spread fad since it was first invented in Zurich. This Time Magazine article explains the alluring concept of eating in the dark.

Restaurant-goers at the Opaque restaurant in San Francisco, CA. Photo from travel.NYTimes.com

And just for your entertainment, here's the funny 'Where's the Beef?' commercial they allude to in the Time Magazine story.

Also, Michael Pollan has a really beautiful website if you'd like to check it out.