Michael Simons- social norms

One social norm that influenced my food choice would be birthday cake. Typically when someone has a birthday this will mean they will receive a cake. This is very common in most people’s lives. I myself definitely fall under this social norm. I love having cake on my birthday. The social norm birthday cake falls under is food that tastes good but is bad for you. This falls under this norm because ice cream cake and cake made from scratch has too much sugar and doesn’t have a good mix of nutrients the body needs.

One societal issue the birthday cake connects to is obesity. Typically when eating birthday cake we don’t think of how we eat too much at once. I believe that in America we do this too much. I can say that I have done this myself many times. We don’t take into consideration that we are eating too much of food that isn’t nutritious. We also don’t take into consideration that we waste the food we don’t eat. A lot of times when we don’t finish the food we eat we will put it into the fridge to be eaten at another date. But sometimes we tend to forget that we put our uneaten food there and then notice too late after the food goes bad that it is there. Too most American’s this isn’t a big deal. But to millions of people this is major. The food we waste could be given to people who are starving and are unable to obtain food.

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2 thoughts on “Michael Simons- social norms

  1. Hi Michael, my name is Kevin. You post definitely caught my attention as your example is very different from other posts that I’ve read. While I totally agree that birthday cakes could seem a little forced sometimes, I wonder if it really is a big concern for the health of people in general? I can’t really picture a time when cake is part of someone’s daily diet, and its the daily diet that really affects someone’s health. I think it could definitely affect it, but I would wonder by how much compared to someone who eats say fast food every day. Feel free to check out my post here: https://wp.me/p3RCAy-bMp

  2. Hi Michael,
    I love that you chose this as your example, I didn’t even think of birthdays! I’m now wondering, why is birthday cake a thing? It’s funny that someone turns a year older and we’re like “Here, have this cake that could eventually prohibit you from living a long, prosperous life.” Now, that’s a bit exaggerated, but you know what I mean. Great example!
    Rachel
    Check out my blog here: https://wp.me/p3RCAy-bMY

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