As Sandeep comments - we eat junk food partially because of the division of labor between eating and food production in the modem world. We are longer are out hunting or gathering. No opportunity to get the tasty and probably healthier Mammoth or the healthy (really) "organic" veggies and berries gathered by hand.
the urban architect Paulo Solari envisioned tower cities surrounded by agriculture - because of his belief that modern urban man had forgotten where his food actually came from...
it is interesting to see how the Foodie culture is occupying a significant space in everyday lives. I am writing from India where every third person one meets describes himself/herself as a foodie. Ofcourse the meaning of being a foodie varies from being a glutton to a connoisseur. In India the growth of foodism is attributed to the growing phenomenon of 'eating out'. Traditionally, eating out was a very infrequent activity but since the advent of globalisation/consumerism eating out has become one of the most popular leisure activity next to shopping. This has made people aware of and exposed to diverse cuisines and has encouraged people to take a lot of interest in food. This is not a completely undesirable trend ( as long as people are eating healthy) but what is a bit worrying is that it has relegated other forms of leisure activities ( which are supposedly healthier socially, physically and intellectually) like going to a concert, visiting family and friends, going to the park to the backseat which is a bit concerning. I believe the popularity of foodism will continue to rise as it gives instant gratification and is highly flaunt worthy in social media.
Having a family that live in northern Italy for over 40 years, I have watched a food culture caught between both worlds....They try to live with a healthy diet but have gone back and forth with a marketing global diet over the years. They are trying to be an example of celebrating the good life with better (maybe not always good) food.
This piece has a serious mirroring problem: it’s written from a psychographic elite perspective for a congruent audience. But the narrative - which is true in that frame - absolutely does not line up with the data for North America. By every measure, working- and middle-class metabolic disease has accelerated in the last 20 years, far more so than 1950-1980, and the chief reason for that is less in-home cooking because of higher female labor force participation. Prepared food - even organic prepared food (I’m looking at you, Annie’s Mac ‘n’ Cheese) has higher starch, higher sugar, higher sodium and fewer nutrients per calorie. There are states where over half the population is diabetic. Urban working class people in food deserts rely on fast food that leaves the simultaneously obese and malnourished. Central American immigrants’ change of lifestyle, both in the US and in countries like Mexico, where it’s common to add sugar TO Coca Cola, is spiking diabetes in those populations. 5% of American children have some level of fatty liver disease, which would have been inconceivable in 1980. So this piece is a pleasing just-so story for people who shop at farmers’ markets (and subscribe to Substack). But outside the Hunger Games’ Capital, mileage varies.
JC, I think we need to allow for the diffusion effect to take effect. And when 50% of Americans are prepared to describe themselves as foodies that effect is very clearly in effect. But yes, those who have not yet got the news, or the food practices and supply chains it will set in train, remain at risk and in peril. Still that we should have made so much progress shifting food practices that were so very well installed is I believe remarkable. Thanks, Grant, p.s., I have thought of you several times as chaos comes to the Ukraine. There is a ton of thinking and strategy to be done here. Would love to see anything you are free to share! Thanks again for your comment.
What was the sample for that poll? How many people outside metropolitan areas did it include? How many people without college degrees? This requires some substantiation. Years ago there was a Newsweek cover story called The Dinner Wars which flagged foodie-ism as the first form of conspicuous consumption in American cultural history which is divisive - and it is. Not only does the Stouffer’s frozen microwave meal consumer not want your organic kale, but she resents what she correctly perceived as condescension and judgement of her for buying and liking the Stouffers meal. A return to good nutrition for her is more about reconnecting with her family and heritage - which metropolitan culture disdains - than with wellness and enlightenment.
"More than half of Americans (53%) consider themselves to be foodies, according to new research. A study of 2,000 Americans examined the rise of the foodie phenomenon and found that 62% would go to an event just for the food. The study, conducted by OnePoll in conjunction with Eventbrite, examined the lengths people are willing to go when it comes to trendy foods." On the other hand, I have a lot of ethnographic that supplies supporting evidence but not of course the stat. Thanks! Oh and one last thing, when you ask for people without college degrees you are once more ignoring the diffusion effect.
You can be as sure about “the diffusion effect” for food as for other high-valence markers like, well, masks and vaccines. Diffusion into a polarized medium is different. Here’s the story I finally managed to excavate from Google: https://www.newsweek.com/what-food-says-about-class-america-69951
JC, this is a good argument, the diffusion effect doesn't have to happen and in a polarized America probably often happens less. So I take the point you are making. (And should have factored it in before this.) However, he harrumphed, I see lots of evidence that diffusion is taking place. 1) the menu at Chipoltle, 2) and the fact that the lab at McDonald's is working over time to accommodate the trend, and 3) perhaps most compelling, the people who once managed the CPG brands, all the ones making food that is "shelf stable," and high in fat and salt and sugar, are leaving their positions as if from a war zone. They have seen data we don't have access to, and they are terrified. Thanks for your thoughts!
There are cross-currents at work - the forces affecting Chipotle are not necessarily the ones affecting CPG and McDonalds, although some are. Chipotle is like Target - it’s a mass/class hybrid that catches aspirational consumers who are trading down or like to feel like they’re getting good value. So diffusion is True there. McDonalds’ mission in the market is to produce the cheapest palatable meal - they’ve tried to go healthier at a slightly higher price point over the years and have always rolled it back because either the consumer or the franchiser is not having it. CPG is looking to cut costs and recalibrating what shelf life actually has to be in today’s supply chain (answer: shorter). So they will reformulate to seem more wholesome - and to simplify their manufacturing.
As Sandeep comments - we eat junk food partially because of the division of labor between eating and food production in the modem world. We are longer are out hunting or gathering. No opportunity to get the tasty and probably healthier Mammoth or the healthy (really) "organic" veggies and berries gathered by hand.
Peter, thanks! yes, imagine organic groceries that don't actually have to get into and through the food chain to reach us.
the urban architect Paulo Solari envisioned tower cities surrounded by agriculture - because of his belief that modern urban man had forgotten where his food actually came from...
it is interesting to see how the Foodie culture is occupying a significant space in everyday lives. I am writing from India where every third person one meets describes himself/herself as a foodie. Ofcourse the meaning of being a foodie varies from being a glutton to a connoisseur. In India the growth of foodism is attributed to the growing phenomenon of 'eating out'. Traditionally, eating out was a very infrequent activity but since the advent of globalisation/consumerism eating out has become one of the most popular leisure activity next to shopping. This has made people aware of and exposed to diverse cuisines and has encouraged people to take a lot of interest in food. This is not a completely undesirable trend ( as long as people are eating healthy) but what is a bit worrying is that it has relegated other forms of leisure activities ( which are supposedly healthier socially, physically and intellectually) like going to a concert, visiting family and friends, going to the park to the backseat which is a bit concerning. I believe the popularity of foodism will continue to rise as it gives instant gratification and is highly flaunt worthy in social media.
Sandeep, thanks, yes, it's zero sum I guess, some of the things we won't do as foodies will be missed!
Having a family that live in northern Italy for over 40 years, I have watched a food culture caught between both worlds....They try to live with a healthy diet but have gone back and forth with a marketing global diet over the years. They are trying to be an example of celebrating the good life with better (maybe not always good) food.
This piece has a serious mirroring problem: it’s written from a psychographic elite perspective for a congruent audience. But the narrative - which is true in that frame - absolutely does not line up with the data for North America. By every measure, working- and middle-class metabolic disease has accelerated in the last 20 years, far more so than 1950-1980, and the chief reason for that is less in-home cooking because of higher female labor force participation. Prepared food - even organic prepared food (I’m looking at you, Annie’s Mac ‘n’ Cheese) has higher starch, higher sugar, higher sodium and fewer nutrients per calorie. There are states where over half the population is diabetic. Urban working class people in food deserts rely on fast food that leaves the simultaneously obese and malnourished. Central American immigrants’ change of lifestyle, both in the US and in countries like Mexico, where it’s common to add sugar TO Coca Cola, is spiking diabetes in those populations. 5% of American children have some level of fatty liver disease, which would have been inconceivable in 1980. So this piece is a pleasing just-so story for people who shop at farmers’ markets (and subscribe to Substack). But outside the Hunger Games’ Capital, mileage varies.
JC, I think we need to allow for the diffusion effect to take effect. And when 50% of Americans are prepared to describe themselves as foodies that effect is very clearly in effect. But yes, those who have not yet got the news, or the food practices and supply chains it will set in train, remain at risk and in peril. Still that we should have made so much progress shifting food practices that were so very well installed is I believe remarkable. Thanks, Grant, p.s., I have thought of you several times as chaos comes to the Ukraine. There is a ton of thinking and strategy to be done here. Would love to see anything you are free to share! Thanks again for your comment.
What was the sample for that poll? How many people outside metropolitan areas did it include? How many people without college degrees? This requires some substantiation. Years ago there was a Newsweek cover story called The Dinner Wars which flagged foodie-ism as the first form of conspicuous consumption in American cultural history which is divisive - and it is. Not only does the Stouffer’s frozen microwave meal consumer not want your organic kale, but she resents what she correctly perceived as condescension and judgement of her for buying and liking the Stouffers meal. A return to good nutrition for her is more about reconnecting with her family and heritage - which metropolitan culture disdains - than with wellness and enlightenment.
The details. And they will not impress you. https://nypost.com/2019/05/28/heres-how-many-americans-consider-themselves-foodies/
"More than half of Americans (53%) consider themselves to be foodies, according to new research. A study of 2,000 Americans examined the rise of the foodie phenomenon and found that 62% would go to an event just for the food. The study, conducted by OnePoll in conjunction with Eventbrite, examined the lengths people are willing to go when it comes to trendy foods." On the other hand, I have a lot of ethnographic that supplies supporting evidence but not of course the stat. Thanks! Oh and one last thing, when you ask for people without college degrees you are once more ignoring the diffusion effect.
You can be as sure about “the diffusion effect” for food as for other high-valence markers like, well, masks and vaccines. Diffusion into a polarized medium is different. Here’s the story I finally managed to excavate from Google: https://www.newsweek.com/what-food-says-about-class-america-69951
JC, this is a good argument, the diffusion effect doesn't have to happen and in a polarized America probably often happens less. So I take the point you are making. (And should have factored it in before this.) However, he harrumphed, I see lots of evidence that diffusion is taking place. 1) the menu at Chipoltle, 2) and the fact that the lab at McDonald's is working over time to accommodate the trend, and 3) perhaps most compelling, the people who once managed the CPG brands, all the ones making food that is "shelf stable," and high in fat and salt and sugar, are leaving their positions as if from a war zone. They have seen data we don't have access to, and they are terrified. Thanks for your thoughts!
There are cross-currents at work - the forces affecting Chipotle are not necessarily the ones affecting CPG and McDonalds, although some are. Chipotle is like Target - it’s a mass/class hybrid that catches aspirational consumers who are trading down or like to feel like they’re getting good value. So diffusion is True there. McDonalds’ mission in the market is to produce the cheapest palatable meal - they’ve tried to go healthier at a slightly higher price point over the years and have always rolled it back because either the consumer or the franchiser is not having it. CPG is looking to cut costs and recalibrating what shelf life actually has to be in today’s supply chain (answer: shorter). So they will reformulate to seem more wholesome - and to simplify their manufacturing.