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.
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.
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.
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.