The first thing that is important to discuss about the dominant discourse of foodways in America today is where the general population is getting their information from and who is taken seriously in the dominant discourse. When anyone with a degree that can relate to health in some way speaks up on the news, they will be taken seriously. Other sources, however might not get the same kind of serious attention. For instance, "An estimated 72.5 million adults in the United States are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year, about 27 percent of adults said they were obese, compared with about 20 percent in 2000." (Fighting Obesity through Public and Private Policy) Although this is a perfectly reliable source and part of the dominant discourse, chances are not as many people will see it because such a large portion of the population use the news on television as their source. In fact, according to the New York Times, "WHY are Americans getting fatter and fatter? The simple explanation is that we eat too much junk food and spend too much time in front of screens — be they television, phone or computer." (Fighting Obesity through Public and Private Policy) So not only are these TV screens also constantly spitting out bias viewpoints, (such as stations like FOX and MSNBC and practically every other station) apparently it is getting the country fat as well.
Another point that should be recognized is that the most intelligent and well-read person will not be taken seriously if they are not represented properly and have some kind of reliable background (such as a college degree and a relevant occupation) I remember back in 6th grade, when in school they showed us the movie Super Size Me which was made by an independent filmmaker named Morgan Spurlock. In the movie, Mr. Spurlock ate McDonald's for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 28 days straight. When he wasn't eating their food, he was investigating where the ingredients came from, and what really goes into those chicken McNuggets that everyone loves. By the end of the film, Mr. Spurlock had almost killed himself, and had clearly demonstrated the numerous amount of negative effects that eating fast food such as McDonald's all the time can have on a person. However, it is obvious that no one in society was really effected by this man's great effort in the long term. After all, the quote in the first paragraph states that a larger percentage of Americans consider themselves obese in 2010 then they did 10 years ago, and the movie was made in 2004. Its not like no one saw the movie; it one the academy award for documentary feature. It is evident that although Mr. Spurlock was arguing for the same cause that many of the doctors and health professionals that we see on the news were, he was not taken seriously by a most of the population, which excludes him and his documentary from the dominant discourse.
Although it is clear that a majority of the population do not seem to care that to much fast food can lead to serious medical problems, there are also highly educated adults who make what the dominant discourse considers to be smart food choices, such as lots of vegetables, protein that is not in the form of red meat all the time, etc. However, although the children that live in this country could not care less about what anyone says about their happy meals or their sweet desserts, they will always want to eat them because of how good they taste. They don't care how much their parents say they should eat their veggies because of how good they are for them, they're still not going to like them or want to have anything to do with them. Certain food industries are starting to catch on to this behavior, and have adjusted their methods of marketing as shown here, "The baby-carrot industry tried to reposition its product as junk food, starting a $25 million advertising campaign whose defining characteristics include heavy metal music, a phone app and a young man in a grocery cart dodging baby-carrot bullets fired by a woman in tight jeans." (To Eat its Vegetables, America Orders Fries) So according to Food and Health News, the baby carrot industry is trying to sell a healthy vegetable by calling it a junk food so kids will want it. In other words, they are encouraging the youth in this country to eat junk food because it is healthy for them AND it tastes good. Fortunately, the dominant discourse will most likely reject this action and most of the population will be against it. That doesn't, however, change the message that this industry is sending out to America's children.
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