Wendell Berry's essay, 'The Pleasures of Eating,' is a brief argumentative piece
examining the complacency of the every day urban consumer and the deterioration of the
American food industry as a whole. Published in the early nineties, this essay attempts to
convince the audience to be a responsible eater; not just a passive consumer. The author
does so through complete use of the rhetorical triangle. This essay is successful because
every aspect of rhetorical proofs were successfully utilized to bring the audience to eat
responsibly.

The first aspect of rhetorical proofs we see in the essay is the author drawing on
his situated ethos. That is Wendell Berry being a passionate, well-known environmental
activist, who over the years has urged people to be more proactive in the way they eat
through essays, books, and lectures. He wishes people to be more educated on where
food comes from, how it is cultivated, and local agricultural economics. While he
exemplifies his situated ethos well, he seems to neglect establishing an invented ethos.
He appears to rely only on his situated ethos. He exemplifies this situated ethos in the
first sentence, 'Many times, after I have finished a lecture on the deadline of American
farming and rural life' ' (Berry 124). Just by mentioning he is a teacher of the subject he
is now writing on greatly serves him as a writer. By only portraying himself as the
teacher and activist he is very much benefits his cause. Many writers establish an
invented ethos to become more appealing to the reader. Berry lets his true colors and
wisdom earn the people's respect and trust. Therefore this use of situated ethos is very
effective in gaining the audience's trust and allows them to be more willing to listen to
and believe what he's about to say. Therefore, this is efficient use of ethos helps him
succeed in making people more responsible eaters.

His most powerful use of rhetorical proofs is pathos. He uses his talents to woo
the audience to inspire feelings of independence and freedom from the food industry.
Early in the essay we see this, 'But we have neglected that we cannot be free if our food
and its sources are controlled by someone else. The condition of the passive consumer is
not a democratic condition. One reason to eat responsibly is to live free,' (125). By
making the audience feel that they are being controlled inspires feelings rebellion and a
desire to break free. This is the same type of emotion that caused our ancestors to declare
freedom from Britain; therefore, I believe it is fair to say that these emotions would then
be enough to cause Americans to break free from the country's food industry. Especially
since this essay was written for Americans. We as a people are very proud of our freedom
and go to great lengths to protect it. Therefore, this particular emotion that Berry chose to
evoke from the reader is a very powerful use of pathos.

This is not the only example of pathos, though. There is a strong presence of
enargeia as well. Berry spends a paragraph describing, in detail, the despicable aspects of
the food industry. '' the hamburger she is eating came from a steer who spent much of
his life standing deep in his own excrement in a feedlot, helping to pollute the local
streams, or that the calf that yielded the veal cutlet on her plate spent its life in a box in
which it did not have room to turn around. And, though her sympathy for the slaw might
be less tender, she should not be encouraged to meditate on the hygienic and biological
implications of mile-square fields of cabbage, for vegetables grown in huge monocultures
are dependent on toxic chemicals'just as animals in close confinements are dependent
on antibiotics and other drugs,' (126). Now not only does the audience already dislike the
food industry for trying to control them, but now they have a reason to dislike them for
mistreating animals, polluting their water, and making their food, both animal and plant,
chemically toxic. This evokes resentment from the audience, placing the reader in a spot
where they are posed against this entity and has a source of resentment for it now as well.
The placement of these emotional appeals is sublime. At this point the reader should hate
the food industry for injustices presented by Berry against the people. That is the point
though. With each emotional appeal Berry creates, he moves the reader further and
further onto his side. They want to listen and believe what he has to say. All he must do
now is present them with logical reasons to truly eat responsibly. They have the
emotional drive, now they just need reasoning to use it.

And Berry delivers with the reasoning too. From the beginning of the essay he
argues deductively with rhetorical reasoning. Starting broadly speaking of the issues with
food industry itself and then narrowing focus on what the individual can to do to become
a more responsible consumer. He presents the audience with a list of ideas on how they
do this. '1. Participate in food production' 2. Prepare your own food' 3. Learn the
origins of the food you buy' 4. Whenever possible, deal with local farmers directly' 5.
Learning, in self-defense, as much as you can of the economy and technology of
industrial food production' 6. Learn what is involved in the best farming and
gardening' 7. Learn as much as you can, by direct observation and experience if
possible, of the life histories of the food species,' (127). In most pieces of writing the
author would necessarily present his logos so obviously, but in this case it very
appropriate. It goes along with his rhetorical reasoning strategy. By providing the
audience with a step-by-step list of ways they can become responsible eaters he has given
them the solution to the fundamental problems stated about the food industry. This blend
of deductive and rhetorical reasoning placed after the strong stimulation of the audience's
sense of freedom and American pride makes for a very effective use of rhetorical proofs.
His well thought out technique sets up the audience to follow him into being a
responsible eater and therefore gives him success.

This was written in nineties but even today this essay could still have profound
meaning and create a responsible eater out of the reader. People should take more care in
what and how they eat. We are apart of a vast and infinite of networks of connections
between us and the world around us, as Berry preached. So when we choose to 'eat
irresponsibly' we hurt the world around us as well as ourselves. That was the message
Berry wanted to stick with the reader, eat responsibly. And with his use of the rhetorical
triangle he crafted an essay that more than succeeded that goal, creating more responsible
eaters with every read.
