The final exam consists of 4 essay questions.  Responses should incorporate relevant references to the course readings and/or additional sources. Each response should be at least 250 words in length.

1) "Since organic products cost more than processed foods or pesticide-laden products, this could be considered a case of Better Health for the Well-Off. Low-income families are in poorer health because of more exposure to industrial pollution because of the jobs the adults do and the poor quality housing." Evaluate these statements using course readings or additional sources. What proposal could you make, and who would you make it to, to redress this disparity in quality of foods available?

2) Compare various definitions of overweight and obese: compare US government definitions vs. the social construction of obese. What clothing size is a Plus size for men and women? How are overweight people portrayed in the media; what characteristics do these characters share? What is the research on how overweight people are treated? What are their experiences of discrimination and verbal abuse?

3) Chef Samuelson is ethnically Ethiopian but was adopted and raised by Swedish parents and grandparents from whom he learned Scandinavian cookery. What is known as International Fusion Cuisine includes components of two or more distinct cookery traditions. Some hail this development. Others bewail the loss of cultural integrity that they fear will occur if the fusions "crowd out" the original distinctions of the "less powerful" culture's cuisine. Thus we have a political power struggle played out in cultural terms, in this case, food. Provide one solid, logical argument, based on the hegemony theory you have learned, in favor of EACH point of view. Provide one solid, logical rebuttal to each argument.

4) What do Harris and others suggest as a hypothesis to explain patterns of people-eating and insect-eating? Why is it more common in certain societies than in others? References required.