Eating is an everyday act and not many people think about where their food
comes from. Wendell Berry introduces an argument about the process of where food
comes from in his essay, 'The Pleasures of Eating.' Berry states, '' eating is an
agricultural act' (Berry 124). Berry states this to remind consumers that the food we eat
was once grown somewhere, and the very act of eating itself links us to that place and the
people there. Wendell Berry believes that the 'pleasure' of eating does not come from
the actual eating itself, but the knowledge of where the food comes from, and what
exactly is being put into our bodies. By using ethos, logos, and pathos, Berry makes a
very successful argument.

In 'The Pleasures of Eating,' Berry makes it very clear about who he is and what
he stands for. After a little bit of research, I found out that Berry is a farmer, perhaps
religious, well-informed, and very old fashion. In the essay he is very direct in his
opinion about the way food is brought up and where it comes from and makes us believe
that this is the only way he thinks. At the beginning of the essay, Berry states, 'Many
times, after I have finished a lecture on the decline of American farming and rural life,
someone in the audience has asked, 'What can city people do?'' (Berry 124). This shows
that Berry seems to be an experienced speaker who has done a lot of research with this
topic.

I believe Berry is trying to educate us on the topic of where food comes from. He
has the audience in mind when he is speaking about his concerns. For example, Berry
understands that not many people understand the process of food, '' mostly ignore
certain critical questions about the quality and the cost of what they are sold: How fresh
is it? How pure or clean is it, how free of dangerous chemicals' when the food product
has been manufactured or 'processed' or 'precooked,' how has that affected its quality or
price or nutritional value?' (Berry 124). Later on in the article, Berry expresses some
ideas on ways people can eat responsibly and know where their food comes from. One
example he gives, 'Prepare your own food. This means reviving in your own mind and
life the arts of kitchen and household. This should enable you to eat more cheaply, and it
will give you a measure of 'quality control': you will have some reliable knowledge of
what has been added to the food you eat,' (Berry 127). Giving examples of how people
can be aware of where there food comes from shows us how Berry is educating the
audience with his knowledge and from the background he grew up with, and doing so
allows him to have an effective argument-using ethos.

Berry uses very logical reasoning in his argument. The main question in the essay
is, what makes eating pleasurable, and many people would answer with the act of eating
itself. However, Berry firmly believes that the real 'pleasure' of eating lies in the
consumer's knowledge of the foods origin. 'When food, in the minds of eaters, is no
longer associated with farming and with the land, then the eaters are suffering a kind of
cultural amnesia that is misleading and dangerous' (Berry 125). This supports Berry's
belief about how the knowledge behind the food is important. One of the questions I
believe Berry is having us try to answer is if we actually knew what our food went
through would we eat it? Another example to persuade the readers of his argument is,
'The consumer, that is to say, must be kept from discovering that, in the food industry'
as in any other industry'the overriding concerns are not quality and health, but volume
and price' (Berry 126). If consumers knew that the food industry thought this, I think
that many people would care more about what is not only in the food we eat, but where it
comes from also; which is Berry's exact dispute. Using a broad example of what really
the 'pleasure' of eating is and breaking it down into specific examples to prove this
allows Berry to argue logically.

Lastly, Berry tries to persuade the audience about the 'real' pleasure of eating
using pathos. He tries to get the readers' emotions involved and attempts to get them to
grasp the urgency of this topic being where our food comes from. Wendell states,
'Eaters, that is, must understand that eating takes place inescapably in the world, that it is
inescapably an agricultural act, and how we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how
the world is used,' (Berry 126). We, as individuals, think eating is just a simple act. But
in Berry's case, he believes that it is an agricultural act and that when individuals eat they
need to reflect on where the food is planted, how it is handled during production, and
where it goes between origin and into our mouths. There is such a sense of urgency in
his argument that the audience cannot go on without stopping and really wondering what
exactly the food we are putting in our mouths goes through.

Berry furthermore states, 'To eat responsibly is to understand and enact, so far as
we can, this complex relationship. What can one do?' (Berry 127). Berry gives examples
of how to eat responsibly, which allows the audience to think about what they have done
to do this. One of the examples he states is, 'Learn as much as you can, by direct
observation and experience if possible, of the life histories of the food species,' (Berry
127). And follows up with, '' farming, animal husbandry, horticulture, and gardening,
at their best, are complex and comely arts; there is much pleasure in knowing them, too'
(Berry 127). This gives the audience confidence in the author. Berry provokes the reader
to try and really understand what he is saying and the importance of it. Encouraging the
sincerity of Berry's argument in his essay allows the audience to connect with him and
understand what he really is trying to say about the true 'pleasure' of eating.

Through the use of the literary tools ethos, logos, and pathos, Wendell Berry
successfully presents his point on the genuine pleasure of eating in the essay, 'The
Pleasures of Eating.' Using his knowledge and education of being a farmer and actually
growing the food he eats himself allows the essay to be very direct and seem useful.
Berry uses logical reasoning to support his argument, and gives specific examples to
prove that what he is saying is true. For example, 'A significant part of the pleasure of
eating is in one's accurate consciousness of the lives and the world from which food
comes,' (Berry 128). Also, 'The knowledge of the good health of the garden relieves
and frees the comforts of the eater' (Berry 128). This allows the audience to feel
gratitude and appreciation with what they are eating because they understand the process
of where the food is coming from. All in all, Wendell Berry's essay successfully uses
ethos, logos, and pathos to draw in the audience and prove to them that not only the act of
eating itself is pleasurable, but likewise, the knowledge of where the food being
consumed comes from is considerably more pleasurable.

