(no subject)

[naath]

A thing that has been really annoying me about the horsemeat scandal reporting but is actually only tangentially related.

So, some people came over all "well don't eat this nasty crap then" so some other people came over all "but it's cheap and easy and delicious". Now, I don't dispute "easy"; it certainly is a lot easier to buy a microwave lasagne than to prepare your own. I'm not sure about "cheap"; I've never really thought about it, but certainly compared to other low-effort food options (for instance going out for food). And anyway there whole layers of stuff to do with lack of access to cooking skills, equipment, etc.

But really what's pissing me off is the "delicious" part. It's not that I dispute that some people find this type of food tasty; clearly they do. But I've seen a number of people writing about how these foods are "carefully engineered" to be exactly the sort of thing that most appeals to humans. A view that basically "these foods are super addictive; it is only through sheer willpower that anyone resists them" (and often goes on to insist that people ought to, well, have more willpower - which is a shitty thing to insist; but anyway).

Personally I think this is utter utter bullshit. What these companies have done is not a triumph of food science. It is a triumph of advertising. Of getting into people's heads and saying "this is what food should be"; especially getting to people young.

The thing is that in part because my parents were seriously strict about not having this sort of food; and in part because my current lifestyle is fairly well insulated from a lot of advertising crap; and in HUGE part because I've never lacked money to the point that I've been fretting about the cost of using the oven... well; I've never accustomed myself to eating these types of food, and essentially as a consequence of that I think most of them are simply disgusting. I genuinely would prefer to eat rice and beans. I know most people wouldn't.

I think that the people who write things like "OMG McDonalds makes addictive food we must stop them somehow!" are PART OF THE PROBLEM - they are participating in the advertising campaign that says "this food is addictively delicious".

I think that if "we" want to change the way "people in general" eat the answer has to involve teaching people that the "better" food is delicious, is "normal", etc. etc. And I think we need to get them young. Personally I'm not particularly interested in telling people what they "should" eat; but I would welcome attempts to make healthier food cheaper, and more available so that more people have more actual choice about what they eat, rather than being forced into making the cheapest choice.

Comments

[naath.livejournal.com]

Is that really true in London? (I ask because I genuinely don't know)

We live in one of the "worst" areas of Cambridge but are within what I would consider very easy walking distance of three reasonable food stores and easy cycle or bus journeys of dozens. I guess maybe Cambridge is really really strange. I've never tried to buy groceries in London.

I don't doubt that early food experiences shape our food preferences for life; that's why the perfidious advertisers like to get in young. Personally I confess a preference for ludicrously expensive chocolates; and neither my bank balance nor my waistline thank me for it - probably my childhood food experiences had something to do with that.

That and the notion that porridge is a substrate for SALT not SUGAR; wretched sassenachs putting the WRONG unhealthy condiment on their porridge :-p

[ptc24.livejournal.com]

No true Scotsman has salt on his porridge?

[thekumquat.livejournal.com]

Sure was true in 2006, and doubt it's changed that much. Does depend on whether you count the local corner shop's token shelf of manky veg, as there's few places that are further than that from any shop, but many, many housing estates or areas of terraces houses where the nearest shops are an offie/newsagent, chippy/takeaway, bookie and hairdresser, and nothing else in easy walking distance. I've been there myself, two handy pubs but not even a pint of milk in under a 20 minute walk - nearest was Mill Hill Broadway. Where I think the only veg were in the tiny M&S.
Previous year my housing may have been illegally skanky in many ways, but was near a Food Giant, 1p baked beans in KwikSave, and 20 ethnic groceries trying to sell you stuff and if you said you didn't know what to do with a strange vegetable, they'd give us one free and say what to do. And.was dirt cheap. I ate much better that year than when I had 3x the disposable income in Mill Hill.

[pavanne.livejournal.com]

I'm a bit doubtful that anywhere in London (except maybe the really posh bits) are half a mile from either an ethnic food shop or a Tesco Express these days. The ethnic shops are, as you indicate, better.