Food in America: how did we get here? But more importantly, where will we go next?
Did you watch The Jetson’s growing up? About the space-age family? They were just like the Flintstones except in the space age instead of the stone age. One episode sticks in my mind (since I was watching it in the 1960s, it made a great impression on me! Well, I probably saw the repeats a dozen times each!). One time Mr. and Mrs. Jetson were out with their friends at a restaurant. They ordered these delicious sounding meals. The waitress brought the food under a silver dome, like a pheasant under glass. When the waitress lifted the dome, all that was on the plate was a tiny pill. They each ate their pill and were full.
No visual appeal of the food, no fabulous scents to tantalize their tongues, no adding salt or pepper to taste, no sampling your spouse’s food, no sharing the dishes, just swallowing the pill.
Food in America
That is a bit like how food in America or at least the mainline food system works — producing mass quantities of food to feed the nation. Food that fills the plate and stomach but has little to no redeemable nutritional qualities.
After World War II, the FDA instructed the food industry to produce in scale, and efficiency was the key. Make a lot, fast.
Everything was about CONVENIENCE and price. Single-serve packages at a low price.
We’ve got convenience down. Tomatoes with no flavor. Avocados that are either rock solid or rotten. Chickens living in cages they can barely stand in. Horrific conditions you don’t even want to know about. Cruel and unusual punishment. Like that treatment doesn’t impact the animals and food we eat?
What the dictators of the food system forgot in an attempt to be efficient, was the pleasurable aspect of food. The visual appeal. The varying flavors and textures in your mouth. The umami of it all. Food is not driving through a delivery system for calories.
(Have you ever considered your own family food legacy? Read this post next to see what I mean)
The Power of Food
Food, not the nutritional elements that might come in that little pill, is critical to humans. All the sensual aspects of food… that delight you. Putting creative flavors together to create a new experience for your mouth. The blending of international ingredients to create a whole new food genre.
The marrying of different foods to create something new—like plutos, the purple cauliflower, and other amazing blends. The impact of eating different foods together and how they interact within your body chemistry to get either used right away or stored. Food is amazing in how it makes you feel, perform, react (Dan White and the twinkie plea…).
School Food in America
School lunches in the USA are subpar, and the kids learn that what they are served is acceptable as “food.” I would put this in question.
Madde’s sorority food, for example, is shocking. Tater tots and chicken nuggets to college students? On the gourmet night, they get tater tot casserole. Is that acceptable? I want to scream! Madde said only the girls from California complain about the food. Everyone else is quite content.
In France, the kids got their food education early. They learned about the different cheeses and which region in France produced the different cheese and why, the right way to cut the cheese (a whole different meaning here in the USA). The kids learned about what they were eating and why. They were served real food that wasn’t filled with added sugars and fats. Here, Pizza Hut and McDonald’s are served in the school cafeteria.
Why isn’t any of the vast knowledge available on food offered to the school systems? Why can’t meals be a time to learn about nutrition and food sourcing? Where local foods are featured?
(Speaking of school systems, take a look at this post next to read about what they don’t tell you happens after high school graduation)
Some chefs are taking a stand for this, like Alice Waters of Chez Panisse. But every school should have a sponsoring chef to help oversee the kitchens and prepare decent meals for the children.
We live in the United States of America. We have more than any other nation. And yet we have less than the most impoverished countries.
Quantity Over Quality: The American Way
Quantity over quality. Fast over nutritious. Scale over delicious. That’s food in America for you.
The pill is coming. Think of all the time you’ll save shopping, prepping, cooking, cleaning up. Just pop your food pill, like the Jetsons.
And there goes the slow demise of a great nation.
The way to bring about change is to stand up and point out that there are other options. Not in anger, but in offering other options. Our children need other options. When I was growing up, the moms worked in the cafeteria to help prepare and serve the lunches. People were involved.
There are so many places where volunteers are used, what about the school lunch programs? There must be better answers.
(I know this all feels overwhelming. Here’s how to harness your inner strength when it all feels like too much)
It’s Time for a Change
But until it becomes a negative issue, no one looks at it. I am shaking the cage here. This needs to be looked at. Isn’t it less expensive to serve up some pancakes than to make pancakes in a central kitchen, wrap them in disposable plastic packages, deliver them to the school then microwave them?
Does that sound yummy? With imitation syrup? No wonder the kids aren’t doing well in school. Carbs, sugars, and low-end fats are all they get to eat.
I think no one is looking and so I want to push some buttons here so more people will look. What’s happening in that kitchen? Martha, refocus your attention! Emeril, we need you!
We need everyone. What are some ideas that you have that could make a difference in the food of our nation? Please share!
Best,
Alicia
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