What We Eat and Listen to Makes Us Who We Are

Halloween is over and we all had our fair share of mini size snicker bars and recess butter cups. But with November comes even colder weather, the sun setting at 6 pm, and my favorite, Thanksgiving. I can deal with the chills and darkness all month for one day of warm sweet smells of succulent food cooking up in my home. I’m sure we can all relate this to our relationship within music. Every other day I wake up early for my 8 a.m. class, forget my snack, and no time to take a breather all day, but I can deal with it as long as I have two things, my music and headphones.

In Eric Scholsser’s What We Eat, he evaluates how fast food industries can be located anywhere in the world. Not only is it everywhere, it’s a constant in American society. Eric explains how American’s have grown accustomed to “a plastic tray full of food wrapped in colored paper and cardboard” (668). Mcdonalds is the number one fast food chain out there.  Many people question the kind of things they put in their food, if it’s healthy, and even blame it for America's obesity. Have you ever heard the phrase, “you are what you eat”? Well Eric’s way of saying that is: “A nation’s diet can be more revealing than it’s art or literature” (688). Someone could tell a lot about a person if they went through their playlist contained with emotional songs like Green Day’s Good Riddance or Coldplay’s Yellow. We can assume if one listens to sad loves songs all day that maybe they’re heart broken and that maybe eating fast food is bad for you.

Countless of times I’ve heard that the pop music playing on the radio is trash, screamo music makes you a bad person, and/or rap is a bad influence on a person’s character. If I order a Juicy Quarter Pounder with cheese and a chilly Reese's Butter Cup Blizzard for dessert is that bad for me? It may not be my healthiest meal, but who is to say we all can’t indulge in our favorite foods. When I listen to my favorite tunes to sleep or to work out I get into a trance and it brings me into a whole other world. Doesn’t matter what kind of genre I’m listening to. It’s the lyrics, beat, and melody that makes the experience. Just like eating a Krispy Kreme, i’m not thinking about the calories and statistics. I’m thinking about how something so simple can be so sweet and with every bite is a step closer to finishing the donut. Afterwards, I am left with sugary glaze on my fingertips to lick off for my ending enjoyment.

The next time you see someone rocking out to screamo music or eating a Big Mac ask yourself, can we really make the same judgement that different genres of  music is bad for us like fast food industries?

By Sheng Vang 

Works Cited

Colombo, Gary, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. Boston: Bedford  of St. Martin's, 1992. 667-74. Print.

"Top 10 Global Fast-Food Brands." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2014. <http://www.forbes.com/pictures/feji45ihfj/top-10-global-fast-food-brands-3/>.

Vincent, Alice. "Lady Gaga: 'pop Music Is like Junk Food'" The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 29 May 0014. Web. 06 Nov. 2014. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopmusic/10447619/Lady-Gaga-pop-music-is-like-junk-food.html>.