Understanding Hawaiian Pizza as a System Output<\/p>\n
Step 1: Introduction \u2013 understanding systems
\nMost Canadians consume fast food (some of us more than others), but we tend not to think about where
\nthe things we eat came from, or h
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\nsingle fast food item reaches our lips, and by doing so, we will get a simple introduction to how humanenvironment
\ninteractions can be thought of from the perspective of a systems approach. We will do this
\nusing one a common fast food item: a slice of Hawaiian pizza.1
\nLearning Objectives
\nThe aim of this lab is to get you to start thinking in a systematic fashion about human-environment
\nrelations. By completing this lab, you will:
\n\uf0b7 Learn how to think about common objects and phenomena as being products or outcomes of
\nsystems
\n\uf0b7 Develop an understanding of how a systems approach may be used to examine and interpret the
\nconnections between human activities and ecological processes
\n\uf0b7 Apply the idea of a systems approach by methodically tracing the origins of a fast food item and
\nidentifying the resources and energy that must be mobilized to create it
\n\uf0b7 Analyze and explain a systems diagram that you create
\n\uf0b7 Practice succinct analytical writing
\nStep 2: Context
\nCategorizing the things we eat
\nWe can categorize the things we eat and drink in three general ways.
\nThere are whole foods, that is, foods that are consumed directly as they are obtained from nature, such
\nas an apple or banana, or a glass of water. Whole foods require little or no processing before they can be
\nconsumed. At the grocery store, we find them most often in the produce section and at the fresh meat
\nand seafood counters. Whole foods are typically not sold as distinct menu items at fast food restaurants,
\nalthough some restaurants will offer, for example, apple slices as an option for kids\u2019 meals instead of
\nFrench fries. A cut of raw meat (e.g. a steak, pork chop, or chicken breast) or a fish is also considered to
\nbe a whole food, although in reality most of us purchase such food items only after they have been
\nbutchered and cleaned.
\nAt the other end of the spectrum are processed foods, ones that that have been transformed from whole
\nfoods through a variety mechanical, chemical, and\/or other processes, often using an assemblage of
\nadditional ingredients derived from other foods. Processed foods may also contain non-food ingredients,
\nsuch as flavorings, colours, waxes, emulsifiers, preservatives, or nutrient supplements. Processed foods
\nmake up an increasingly large proportion of the items sold at grocery stores, and make up most of the
\nitems on fast food restaurant menus. In fact, it is the processing and extra ingredients that make fast
\nfoods \u201cfast\u201d in the first place. Roasting a whole chicken in an oven can take hours, but shredded and precooked
\nchicken meat that has been pressed, seasoned, and breaded to form a \u2018nugget\u2019 can be heated and
\nserved in a matter of minutes. Some fast food items are lightly processed, and the original whole food
\nsource is still recognizable, an example being chocolate milk. Other fast food items require far greater
\nprocessing and contain complex lists of ingredients. For example, there are over thirty ingredients in just<\/p>\n
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\nThe toppings for a standard \u2018Hawaiian\u2019 pizza consist of tomato sauce, cheese, ham and pineapple.
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\nthe bun of a McDonald\u2019s Big Mac sandwich. By comparison, you can bake a very tasty bun in your
\nhome kitchen using just six simple ingredients: flour, water, yeast, salt, sugar, and oil. Why does a Big
\nMac bun require five times the number of ingredients? Your homemade buns wouldn\u2019t be of uniform
\nshape or density, would not hold two hamburger patties and all the wet Big Mac ingredients without
\nfalling apart, and would start to go stale quickly because they contain no preservatives.
\nMany of the food items we order at restaurants are composites of the other two categories, such as a
\nhamburger that has lettuce and tomato toppings, or a plastic clamshell containing a salad made of lettuce
\nand tomatoes (whole foods) topped with simulated bacon bits and creamy dressing (processed food
\nitems). As you will find when you complete this assignment, the ingredients for a Hawaiian pizza
\nconsist of food items that have undergone varying degrees of processing.
\nThe origins of fast food ingredients
\nMost of the source ingredients for fast foods are derived from plants and animals, that in turn originate
\non farms, plantations, or animal feedlots \u2013 places where natural systems have been heavily modified by
\nhumans to raise large numbers of organisms domesticated from a small number of plant and animal
\nspecies. Indeed, the plants and animals themselves have been heavily modified from their original,
\nnatural forms (e.g. try finding \u2018wild\u2019 dairy cows \u2013 they do not exist. The auroch \u2013 the animal from which
\ndomesticated cattle are descended \u2013 went extinct centuries ago). The one main exception to this is wildcaught
\nfish \u2013 typically pollock and tuna \u2013 that are made into sandwiches at fast food restaurants.
\nHowever, even in these cases significant technological effort goes into capturing, filleting, freezing, and
\ntransporting wild-caught fish. And, just as the environmental impacts of commercial agriculture are
\nconsiderable, so, too, are the impacts of commercial fishing on marine ecosystems.
\nThe geographical origins of foods and ingredients used in restaurant foods and beverages vary. Some,
\nsuch as milk and fresh cream, are obtained from local (or relatively local) sources because they spoil
\nquickly and\/or cannot be easily shipped across long distances. Other common ingredients, like cane
\nsugar, coffee, tea, and many fruits cannot be grown in Canada, and must be imported from far-off
\nplaces.
\nFor some ingredients, the restaurant has choices of where to source food items and ingredients. Take
\nfrozen beef, for example, which is produced in, and exported from, many countries around the world.
\nSome restaurants advertise that they use only 100% Canadian beef in their burgers as a way of appealing
\nto customers who perceive this as being a higher quality product. If a fast food restaurant does not make
\nsuch an advertisement about its ingredients, there is a good chance they may come from sources outside
\nCanada, such as the USA, South America, or elsewhere. Some restaurants deliberately conceal the
\norigins of their ingredients. For example, Canada\u2019s largest chain of takeaway coffee shops, Tim Hortons,
\ndoes not disclose publicly the geographical origins of its coffee beans, or how they are grown, except in
\nthe most general terms.
\nDon\u2019t forget the packaging
\nFast food items are rarely served with reusable dishes, glasses, or cutlery. Rather, they come wrapped in
\nsome sort of non-reusable material (waxed paper, plastic, polystyrene, or tinfoil) and are accompanied
\nby utensils (spoons, forks, straws, lids, etc.) that are usually made out of plastic or, occasionally, wood
\nor bamboo (e.g. chopsticks, stir sticks). The packaging and utensils are key components of the fast food
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\nitem. Some of it may be recyclable depending on where you live, but at a national and international
\nscale, most fast food waste is simply discarded. Not all of the discarded packaging gets disposed of
\nproperly; a noticeable amount is simply cast aside as litter. If in doubt, take a walk along the roadside
\nwithin a kilometer of a drive-through restaurant and count the number of discarded cups, lids, and
\nwrappers you find. Rest assured, it will be considerable. While the cups and paper wrappers will
\neventually break down and decompose through natural processes, a plastic lid tossed at the roadside will
\nremain in the environment long after the person who tossed it there is dead.
\nAs with the food itself, fast food packaging items and utensils also have their origins in nature. Wooden
\nstir sticks and chopsticks are derived from trees or bamboo; foil wrappers are made from aluminum,
\nwhich in term obtained by refining a mineral called bauxite, that is mined in tropical countries; and,
\npolystyrene and plastic packaging is derived from oil.
\nStep 3: Preparation and lab meeting activities
\nTo prepare yourself for this lab, before you attend the lab meeting read the sections of chapter 3 in your
\ncourse textbook that describe and discuss systems and system approaches.
\nIn your lab meeting, your lab demonstrator will show this TED video featuring New York Times food
\nwriter Mark Bittman, entitled, \u201cWhat\u2019s Wrong With What We Eat\u201d.
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