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No Wonder They Call Me A Bitch Analysis

Decent Essays

Ann Hodgman, a freelance writer and former food critic, decides to write a review of various types of dog foods in her piece, “No Wonder They Call Me a Bitch.” The research aims to answer the questions that always puzzled her as a child. Questions about the ingredients in the dog foods and whether it taste like human food. The writer spends a week eating dog food to answer these questions. Her results, however, reveals a disappointing truth that dog food is not as glamorous as she once thought, instead it lacks the quality, health and taste it advertises. The first disappointment she encounters is the quality of the dog foods. Hodgman expected to open packages filled with real meat, as advertisers relentlessly remind buyers of a dog’s love for real meat. The Gaines burger could neither be described as poor beef, rich beef or even beef at all. It couldn’t be fried and did not have that “real beef smell”. Ann describes it as being very malleable, “something you could make at home if you had a Play-DOH Fun Factory.” (107). The Kal Kan pedigree meals were also amiss. Ann’s words to describe these are lumpy, purple, stringy and veiny. …show more content…

This is where Hodgman learns the meaning of by-products. The Gaines burger packaging specifies that there are no meat by-products, but after reading the back she finds that there are poultry by-products instead. Poultry by-products are said to contain what she describes as “carcass remnants” like necks, intestines and other parts she isn’t sure about. Another distasteful discovery is that these foods are not predominantly meat. Most dog foods, especially Gaines burger, have soy listed as the main ingredient, which over time can cause health issues in dogs. On the other hand, Purina O.N.E meals contain beef tallow as a promoter of good skin and hair coat, but Hodgman found that beef tallow just improved taste and edibility. This explains its non-meat

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