Milk and Honey
This graph demonstrates a manifestation of the lack of a food culture in America. The large spike in skim milk consumed beginning around 1988 and peaking at about 1998, demonstrates the concern about fat consumption and push for low-fat options that occurred around this time. This low-fat fad is just one example of how a country without a food culture ends up frequently drastically changing their dietary patterns. America exists essentially without a food culture and as a result, has a tendency to obsess or condemn certain foods or types of foods. These dietary restrictions vary from year to year as opposed to a society with a strong food culture in which people typically eat the same things, or types of things in a healthy balance for hundreds of years. For more on food culture read Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle."
Self Check out?
For an experiment in modern human interaction, I set out to disrupt McDonaldization. George Ritzer defines McDonaldization in “The McDonaldization of Society,” as, “the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world.” I wanted to see if I could get someone who worked in a “McDonaldized,” establishment to assist me beyond their routine of scripted, repetitive, interactions. On a trip to Meijer, a friend and I had a worker we found in the pet section to help us choose a cat toy. She seemed nearly unfazed when we asked her to help us choose, so we pushed her further; we asked her to test them out a little and swat at them like a cat might. She then grew more uncomfortable, and puzzled, though not angry or annoyed. This woman works the late shift at a 24 hour Meijer in a college town (we went around 10 o’clock), and something tells me she sees her fair share of strange things and outrageous requests. She giggled slightly and it seemed like her instinct was to assume we were messing with her. Though she didn’t get particularly frustrated with us, it was clear that a majority of the interactions she has in a day involve little more than directions. Before we approached her we watched several people ask her where to find certain products, no specific questions about them, and the exchange ended with a point. She never actually walked the customers to the item they needed.
In a world free of McDonaldization, it might seem normal to go to a pet supply store (as opposed to a grocery store that sells cucumbers as well as cat toys), and request specialized advice, but it felt really awkward to do so at this superstore where most costumers find what they need without speaking to anyone and leave the store without even talking to a check out person. It’s the lack of interaction here that worries me. I likely would have been taken as seriously had I tried to strike up a conversation with a worker about the quality and origins of the items in the produce section. McDonaldization is a driver of disconnection; from self-service gas pumps to self-check-out lanes it dismantles human connectivity. It pushes us further from each other, but more importantly for the environment, it makes us less connected to where our food comes from. Most of the time for example when we buy a cucumber at a typical grocery store, we don’t know where that cucumber traveled from, or how the worker who picked it was treated. We are also likely to know little about cucumbers themselves, we don’t know when cucumbers are in season, or what a cucumber plant looks like. Barbara Kinglsover explains in “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” how “it's good enough for us that somebody, somewhere, knows food production well enough to serve the rest of us with all we need to eat, each day of our lives.” She goes on to explain how an attitude like this has made us a country without a good food culture and has us eating flavorless, out of season, world traveling, and thus gas guzzling, foods.
After an awkward interaction with a Meijer worker, I’m sitting in the car thinking about how speaking to a worker at a store with even normal request’s makes me nervous. And I think about the common factor behind that norm and ones that make it ok to have no idea where our food comes from, the pursuit of modernity. Is this really the gold standard of society? In a world where people are increasingly uncomfortable asking questions, and less and less aware of the systems that put food in their mouths, it might be time rethink our goals and priorities.
In a world free of McDonaldization, it might seem normal to go to a pet supply store (as opposed to a grocery store that sells cucumbers as well as cat toys), and request specialized advice, but it felt really awkward to do so at this superstore where most costumers find what they need without speaking to anyone and leave the store without even talking to a check out person. It’s the lack of interaction here that worries me. I likely would have been taken as seriously had I tried to strike up a conversation with a worker about the quality and origins of the items in the produce section. McDonaldization is a driver of disconnection; from self-service gas pumps to self-check-out lanes it dismantles human connectivity. It pushes us further from each other, but more importantly for the environment, it makes us less connected to where our food comes from. Most of the time for example when we buy a cucumber at a typical grocery store, we don’t know where that cucumber traveled from, or how the worker who picked it was treated. We are also likely to know little about cucumbers themselves, we don’t know when cucumbers are in season, or what a cucumber plant looks like. Barbara Kinglsover explains in “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” how “it's good enough for us that somebody, somewhere, knows food production well enough to serve the rest of us with all we need to eat, each day of our lives.” She goes on to explain how an attitude like this has made us a country without a good food culture and has us eating flavorless, out of season, world traveling, and thus gas guzzling, foods.
After an awkward interaction with a Meijer worker, I’m sitting in the car thinking about how speaking to a worker at a store with even normal request’s makes me nervous. And I think about the common factor behind that norm and ones that make it ok to have no idea where our food comes from, the pursuit of modernity. Is this really the gold standard of society? In a world where people are increasingly uncomfortable asking questions, and less and less aware of the systems that put food in their mouths, it might be time rethink our goals and priorities.
"Average" Fridge
This is a photograph of my friend Delaney's aunt's fridge. I found a couple things about this image interesting, the first of which being the difficulties I faced getting it. Being a rather socially awkward person, I was un-enthralled with the prospect of knocking on a stranger's door and asking to photograph the contents of their refrigerator; knowing full well I myself would be off put, to say the least, by a stranger asking to photograph the inside of my fidge. So I reached out to my friends for help, but it took me a few days to get them to take me seriously, they too were uncomfortable asking people if they could photograph their stock of chilled foods. Delaney's aunt whom I've never met was more than willing to help me out with this strange request, but I couldn't help but wonder why we were all so nervous about asking. It's a seemingly trivial part of someone's life: what they eat and what they feed their family, yet there's something rather intimate about it. Perhaps if we make the topic of food and its production less of a taboo, we could right a lot of the wrongs in our country's food industry. While many people may be talking about our obesity epidemic, few are discussing the fact that scientists are researching the perfect level of salt and sugar in snacks to keep us unsatisfied enough to endlessly shovel their unhealthy products in our mouths, and just satisfied enough to crave them almost constantly. As Robert I-San Lin says in Michael Moss's Article "The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food," "people get addicted to salt." (13) So we have a billion dollar industry dedicated to finding ways to get us hooked on things that are bad for us but we're uncomfortable talking to each other about what we like to eat.
We need to start talking more about the content and the health of our food, but we also need to start talking about the people who help get it from farm to table. There is a noticeable amount of fresh fruits and leafy greens in Delaney's aunt's fridge, yet I doubt that she has spent much if any time thinking about the migrant workers who picked and packed that produce. The pairs and apples in Delaney's aunt's fridge were likely picked, in over one hundred degree heat by migrant workers in the Salinas Valley making as little as $160 a week. (McMillan American Way of Eating, p.17) Like Tracy McMillan did when she spent time working on a peach farm, these farm workers suffer many health consequences from working in such extreme conditions. After about a week of living the life of a peach picker, Tracy found herself stricken with heat stroke. (69) This is just the immediate threat that working in the sun poses, farm workers also suffer greatly from health defects associated with high exposure to pesticides. Or her apples and pairs could have been picked by a twelve year old girl like Zulema from the documentary "The Harvest," who has been working in the fields since she was seven. But these are all things that most of us don't think about when we pick up a peach. We can't change them though until we start talking about issues like these. Perhaps the answer to the obesity situation and the poor conditions of migrant farm workers lies simply in conversation. Being more comfortable talking about what we eat, why, and where it comes from seems a little simplistic sure, but it is certainly a good place to start.
Some other observations I had about this fridge include what it is stocked with. There are a few Tupperware containers with leftover home cooked meals in them. There doesn't appear to be much pre-cooked or packaged foods. She seems to cook most of her own meals. I also see two large jars of homemade pickles, Delaney has the best recipe and makes them for the whole family. From what I know of Delaney's family I am certain that for a period of time this fridge will be filled to the brim with home-made goodies. The extended family gathers at Delaney's house every year around Easter for "Cheese Pastie Day." They cook the cheesy-perogy type confections by the hundreds and send everyone home with a year's supply. A lot can be inferred about a person by the contents of their fridge, perhaps that is why they are so hesitant to let a stranger take a picture of it. Although I did have some background from knowing my friend, the lack of highly processed foods and a plethora of fresh produce said to me that this woman primarily cooks fresh meals for herself and her family. There is a lot that I can't tell just from this picture, though. Her fruits and vegetables could very well have come from a local farmers market, and maybe she does care a lot about the well-being of migrant farm workers. Whatever can and can't be said about this woman based on the inside of her fridge, it is certainly a depiction of the modern world of food we live with today.
We need to start talking more about the content and the health of our food, but we also need to start talking about the people who help get it from farm to table. There is a noticeable amount of fresh fruits and leafy greens in Delaney's aunt's fridge, yet I doubt that she has spent much if any time thinking about the migrant workers who picked and packed that produce. The pairs and apples in Delaney's aunt's fridge were likely picked, in over one hundred degree heat by migrant workers in the Salinas Valley making as little as $160 a week. (McMillan American Way of Eating, p.17) Like Tracy McMillan did when she spent time working on a peach farm, these farm workers suffer many health consequences from working in such extreme conditions. After about a week of living the life of a peach picker, Tracy found herself stricken with heat stroke. (69) This is just the immediate threat that working in the sun poses, farm workers also suffer greatly from health defects associated with high exposure to pesticides. Or her apples and pairs could have been picked by a twelve year old girl like Zulema from the documentary "The Harvest," who has been working in the fields since she was seven. But these are all things that most of us don't think about when we pick up a peach. We can't change them though until we start talking about issues like these. Perhaps the answer to the obesity situation and the poor conditions of migrant farm workers lies simply in conversation. Being more comfortable talking about what we eat, why, and where it comes from seems a little simplistic sure, but it is certainly a good place to start.
Some other observations I had about this fridge include what it is stocked with. There are a few Tupperware containers with leftover home cooked meals in them. There doesn't appear to be much pre-cooked or packaged foods. She seems to cook most of her own meals. I also see two large jars of homemade pickles, Delaney has the best recipe and makes them for the whole family. From what I know of Delaney's family I am certain that for a period of time this fridge will be filled to the brim with home-made goodies. The extended family gathers at Delaney's house every year around Easter for "Cheese Pastie Day." They cook the cheesy-perogy type confections by the hundreds and send everyone home with a year's supply. A lot can be inferred about a person by the contents of their fridge, perhaps that is why they are so hesitant to let a stranger take a picture of it. Although I did have some background from knowing my friend, the lack of highly processed foods and a plethora of fresh produce said to me that this woman primarily cooks fresh meals for herself and her family. There is a lot that I can't tell just from this picture, though. Her fruits and vegetables could very well have come from a local farmers market, and maybe she does care a lot about the well-being of migrant farm workers. Whatever can and can't be said about this woman based on the inside of her fridge, it is certainly a depiction of the modern world of food we live with today.
Food Diary
I documented what I ate for two days. The first day I ate how I normally would, the second day I tried my best to eat whole, or not highly processed food. I found the biggest obstacle on the second day to be when I was strapped for time and hungry between classes. Without enough time to go the cafeteria and sit down to eat, it was really hard to find a healthy option. With my meal plan, I get one provided "meal," on the go commonly called a combo which includes three items from any Sparty's on campus. On the second day, I was forced to combo between classes in the union. While finding something that wasn't processed was pretty much out of the picture, so I did my best to choose the healthiest option. After reading a few labels and surveying my options, I found a pre-packaged Lunchable-like snack pack to be the best prospect. Upon reviewing my choices I realize that I probably couldn't have made a worse choice under the criteria of less processed foods. Pre-packaged meals with meat and cheese in them must be highly processed in order to maintain a long shelf life. Lunchables are very processed, so much so that the daughter of their inventor won't feed them to her kids. She says "I don't think my kids have ever eaten a Lunchable. They know they exist and that Grandpa Bob invented them. But we like to eat healthfully." (Micheal Moss, The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food, p.25) In retrospect this meal choice skewed my trend of non-processed foods for that day, but all in all, I think that I did a pretty good considering my normal habits.
When whole or low-processed food isn't an option it can be hard to find an option that is fast and easy, as well as healthy.
Much like myself in a time crunch, Melanie Warner faced a similar struggle when the grocery store didn't have the chicken strips she normally feeds her kids. Her husband instead picked up some "Applegate Farms Organic Chicken Strips," that were "minimally processed." When Melanie decided to add this seemingly healthy option to her collection of aging foods she discovered the unexpected truth. After leaving them out in a plastic Zip-Lock bag for about ten days, "Half of the bag had essentially liquified, with the outlines of the individual chicken pieces no longer visible." (Melanie Warner, Pandora's Lunchbox, p.162) Melanie's "minimally processed" chicken had been-like most freezer isle, perfect shaped, chicken- poked and prodded and tumbled and beat to death. Although the organic strips contained few ingredients and little artificial additive's, they had the structural integrity of frozen chunks of toothpaste. In a world based on mass production and rapid, cheap manufacturing, it's really hard to find something that is actually natural and whole. When we actually put some further thought into what we eat, and learn these sad truths, our outlook on a future without eating processed foods can become rather bleak.
While I was unable to completely avoid processed foods, I did eat less of them in a day than I typically would without thinking about it. Challenges aside where I could find it, it felt good to eat some healthier foods. I think in the long term, I could potentially really enjoy eating a much healthier more wholesome diet, given I had a more accessible variety of options.
Day One
When whole or low-processed food isn't an option it can be hard to find an option that is fast and easy, as well as healthy.
Much like myself in a time crunch, Melanie Warner faced a similar struggle when the grocery store didn't have the chicken strips she normally feeds her kids. Her husband instead picked up some "Applegate Farms Organic Chicken Strips," that were "minimally processed." When Melanie decided to add this seemingly healthy option to her collection of aging foods she discovered the unexpected truth. After leaving them out in a plastic Zip-Lock bag for about ten days, "Half of the bag had essentially liquified, with the outlines of the individual chicken pieces no longer visible." (Melanie Warner, Pandora's Lunchbox, p.162) Melanie's "minimally processed" chicken had been-like most freezer isle, perfect shaped, chicken- poked and prodded and tumbled and beat to death. Although the organic strips contained few ingredients and little artificial additive's, they had the structural integrity of frozen chunks of toothpaste. In a world based on mass production and rapid, cheap manufacturing, it's really hard to find something that is actually natural and whole. When we actually put some further thought into what we eat, and learn these sad truths, our outlook on a future without eating processed foods can become rather bleak.
While I was unable to completely avoid processed foods, I did eat less of them in a day than I typically would without thinking about it. Challenges aside where I could find it, it felt good to eat some healthier foods. I think in the long term, I could potentially really enjoy eating a much healthier more wholesome diet, given I had a more accessible variety of options.
Day One
- Oatmeal with apples
- Veggie wrap
- Pizza and bread sticks
- Egg White Omelet with Spinach and Cheese
- P2 Protein Pack: Almonds, Processed Turkey, Cheese
- Apple
- Salad with Lettuce, Spinach, Raisins, and Feta Cheese