A social norm that I feel influences my food choices is that by being in school, I don’t have the time to make a meal for myself all of the time.  This goes the same for when I am at work.  I would say that at least 60% of the food I eat is prepared by someone else.  Whether it be a restaurant or the cafeteria at my job, my food is usually made for me.  There is a variety or what is available to me, but I know that most of it is not the best for my health (or my wallet).  In addition, a second social norm would be the “I am young” ideology, meaning that since I am so young I can basically eat anything and not worry about it.  For a while this seemed true, but I believe it is catching up to me, slowly but surely (and sadly).

As I said in my first paragraph, a significant amount of the food I consume is prepared for me.  In most of these cases, I am willing to bet that the food I am eating is genetically modified in some way.  For example, the beef on my burger from say Burger King, is probably from a cow that has been either bred to produce the most beef or is feed a special diet to make it produce more beef.  Even the lettuce on my burger is probably from a head of lettuce that has been modified to fight against pests that may want to eat it in the fields.  Genetically modified food may be controversial, but it does help to keep a sustainable food supply going for us.  The downside of eating out and genetically modified foods are the societal issues.  Eating out often can cause unwanted health issues, it is expensive, and it is widely believed that Genetically Modified foods can harm us as well.