Wendell Berry's "The Pleasures of Eating" focuses on the effects of a busy lifestyle on the foods that people eat. The author's insight into the busy lives of American's, along with the subpar food choices enables her to connect with the audience.  In "The Pleasures of Eating", Berry appeals to the audience's values and personal lives through the use of pathos.

Obesity has become a growing problem. Why pay for an expensive salad when you can quickly get a Wendy's 4 for 4 on the go?  The problem with this is that consumers are unaware of where the food being served is coming from.  Berry claims that "when food, in the minds of eaters, is no longer associated with the land, then the eaters are suffering a kind of cultural amnesia that is misleading and dangerous" (Berry 535).  When consumers do not know where their food has been processed, the food becomes dangerous.  Berry expresses her concern for the dangerous side of food by saying "we hurry through our meals to go to work and hurry through our work in order to "recreate" ourselves" (Berry).  The American lifestyle has become very fast paced which makes it easy to settle for the fast food industry for meals, but those are the most misleading because most of their products do not come from real agriculture.  Agriculture is the source of healthy food. 

Many people associate healthy eating with the wealthy.  Most commonly, eating healthy does cost more because those products come from more reliable and fresh sources.  In "The Pleasures of Eating", Wendell Berry addresses the relationship between unhealthy food and the poor.  Lower class, overweight children are one way that pathos is brought into the argument because it brings empathy to the audience at hand.  In a way, it tells the story that these children are not fortunate enough to have the knowledge of where their own food came from.  Another way pathos plays a role in the overweight and obesity problems of America is in the ways that the fast food industries commercialize.  These commercials will consist of a happy family sitting around the table eating what looks to be a feast, for only $20.  The family appeals to the audience and that is where the author grabs the audience's attention.  Everyone loves a nice family dinner, and for a cheap price.  This is the fast food industry's trick to make their food more appealing to the values of their customers.  In the words of the author, "first, purely commercial transaction between him and a supplier and then as a purely appetitive transaction between him and his food" (Berry 536).  The author is emphasizing in this that there is a strong appeal between the commercial, the food and the consumer.  An appeal is only on the surface level because this is exactly how the consumer overlooks the origin of the food. 

We as consumers do not think about agriculture due to the lack of education on the topic. People in America with lower incomes tend to eat fast food because it is cheap, but "[wealthy consumers] buy what they want ... [and] pay without protest, what they are charged" (Berry).  Lower classes of society cannot afford healthy foods much less have time to stop and think about where the food is coming from.  The lack of knowledge that American consumers have is the reason for poor food choices, which may lead to obesity.  If consumers do not take the time to stop and think about where the food is coming from, they are most likely eating artificial meals, which is a large contributor to the American obesity issue.  

Money is one of the main problems in the obesity epidemic.  Lack of money leads to lack of education and lack of healthy eating because the consumers are unaware of the difference between healthy and affordable.  Wendell Berry points out that people living in urban environments are less likely to associate food with agriculture because they are not surrounded by it.  Fast food is more easily accessible in urban environments, in turn that is what the consumers will be purchasing.   The author points out that "we have neglected to understand that we cannot be free if our food and its sources are controlled by someone else" (Berry 535).  It is very interesting to think that if healthy food was more affordable, America may be set free from some of its chain fast food restaurants and maybe even some obesity.  Berry uses the lower income families as an example of pathos, in order to connect with her audience.  She is stressing that 

Finally, in general, usually women are the shoppers for the family, therefore that includes grocery shopping as well.  Berry demands for the women's attention by saying "food wears as much makeup as actors" (Berry 536).  She is appealing to things that women value and grabbing her audience's female attention with the use of a simple simile.  This simile is the author's last attempt to prove that the average American is too busy to look beyond the labels and name brands, to see the true agriculture of where the food comes from.  Labels are not everything and they can be "misleading and dangerous" (Berry 535).  

Through Wendell Berry's strong use of pathos in her writing of "The Pleasures of Eating", she is able to successfully connect with the audience through the relation to the fast paced American lifestyle as well as the values presented.  Berry effectively conveys her ideas about the importance of knowledge pertaining to food and where it comes from.  The strategic use of stories and examples of low income families eating unhealthy foods, simply because it is affordable, enhances her pathos in her writing.  All in all, Berry stresses the effects of lack of education towards food and agriculture, but also the benefits of healthy, agricultural food and lifestyles.  

