bounty and the saguaro

Meghan Ruginski

ENGL 102-037

Prof Santos

February 24, 2018

Blog Post #5

Bounty and the Saguaro

This week we had to read chapter 5 called Bounty among the Saguaro from the book Eating the Landscape by Enrique Salmon. I believe that this chapter brought up many interesting things to think about. One thing that it talked about was how when “we name and label things, we afford them beingness” (73). This was also a main idea in the last book we read called Braiding Sweetgrass. This is an important idea to think about because knowing the names of things that we might be destroying, like different plants or animals, might make us a little bit more uneasy about the actions that we take. For example, for some people they are fine with killing animals and eating meat, but as soon as they see the actual animal or give it a name, they become attached and suddenly think that it is wrong.

Another idea brought up in this chapter was how your diet differs based on your culture. The traditional indigenous diet is very different from a modern diet, and has way more benefits. The traditional diet contains a lot of fruits, vegetables, and beans so it gives them more energy, and prevents food related illnesses. Our modern diet is the opposite and is so full of fats and carbohydrates that it is no wonder why so many people suffer from diabetes, and heart disease. Overall, culture determines the exact things that you should eat, and when and where you should eat them.