Could you please evaluate my essay? Thank you in advance!
Prompt:
The following appeared in a magazine article on trends and lifestyles.
"In general, people are not as concerned as they were a decade ago about regulating their intake of red meat and fatty cheeses. Walk into the Heart's Delight, a store that started selling organic fruits and vegetables and whole-grain flours in the 1960's, and you will also find a wide selection of cheeses made with high butterfat content. Next door, the owners of the Good Earth Café, an old vegetarian restaurant, are still making a modest living, but the owners of the new House of Beef across the street are millionaires."
Discuss how well reasoned... etc
Response:
The author of the article claims that people are not as concerned as they were 10 years ago when it comes to regulating their red meat and fatty cheeses consumption. This conclusion is based on two instances of stores. Heart's Delight, a store that was selling healthy food in the 1960's, is selling high-fat cheeses and, while the owners of Good Earth Cafe, an old vegetarian restaurant, are making a modest living compared with House of Beef's owners who are millionaires. The argument, as stated, is unconvincing because it relies solely on two instances to draw a conclusion about human eating diet habits in general, and because the same two instances are based on assumptions which are not clearly supported by the evidence provided.
First of all, the author implies that Heart's Delight, a store that started selling organic fruits and vegetables and whole-grain flours in the 1960's, has added high fat cheeses within the last decade. However, this assumption is not supported by any evidence within the argument. On the contrary, with the information provided one can also assume that Heart's Delight added high butterfat cheeses two or three decades ago, or even earlier than it added its healthy options. If the store did not add the high fat cheeses within the last decade, then by no means does it institute an example that indicates an increase in fatty cheeses in people's diet.
In addition, the argument states that House of Beef owners are millionairs whereas Good Earth Cafe owners make a modest living, in order to support that stores that serve unhealthy food options are more successful, and, therefore, that people are less concerned about their intake of unhealthy food. Nevertheless, taking as granted that House of Beef indeed serves red meat, no information supports the notion that its owners are millionaires thanks to the profit gained by the store. House of Beef owners could have inherited their fortune or collected it from other business activities. Even if their store is more profitable than Good Earth Cafe, the type of food is not the only factor that determines the profitability of a store. Factors such as quality of food and service, price ranges and venue are equally important.
Finally, the author's line of reasoning is relies on analogy. To illustrate, he uses two examples to draw a conclusion regarding the whole population. The examples could, at best, provide indication about the eating habits of the residents the stores are located. To rely on them to make a conclusion about people in general is very far stretch and renders the argument unconvincing.
In summary, the argument is flawed because it relies on an analogy and weak examples to make its point valid. The author should provide more context about the examples provided; but, most importantly, he should provide representative studies that correspond to the whole population and which compare the consumption levels of red meat and fatty cheeses with those one decade earlier, if he wishes to strengthen his conclusion.