I just finished reading Michael Pollen's new book, "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" and it reminded me of one of my proudest moments in college. Pollen makes an argument that what is killing us is the over processed foods that are filling the shelves at grocery stores and restaurants and ultimately our cabinets and stomachs. I was reminded of my first course in anthropology which was taught by one of the most interesting professors who had a way of intimidating you. She was one of those professors who reminded you that even though you made it into college, you just barely knew the world. There were more students in the room than seats. It was simply a class that you did not skip because you wanted to hear stories like how she offended the native people in a small tribe in Africa because she ate her food with the wrong hand.
The first assignment she gave us in Intro to Anthropology was to write a paper on "food". She didn't want us to do research, she just wanted us to write about "food" using our brain. I decided to do an ethnography on the grocery store. Here are few excerpts from that paper:
"For a better understanding of Americans view on food, I went to the source of much urban food, the grocery store. Going into a Kroger with the purpose to observe it, came many realizations. The way a grocery store is set up, and especially the merchandise that it sells parallels American culture. Americans are obsessed with being entertained, and this thought has leaked into our perception of food. It begins with the packaging, which is bright with the int
ention to catch our attention. By looking closer at the products, I come to realize that the food does not serve the purpose of food, in the natural and nutritional sense, but it is full of chemicals with the purpose to entertain our taste buds.
When we walk into a bright grocery store, all of the food products are screaming out to us from the shelves asking us to buy them with their loud colors. Most of the labelling does not pertain to the product. For instance, an eight pack of small yogurts that Dannon produces that is marketed to children has so many images on it, none of which have anything to do with yogurt or the fruit flavor.
Another aspect of food packaging is that we do not want to be reminded of the fact that what we are eating was once alive. This concept starts when we are young. We are taught to disassociate the cow from the beef or the pig from the pork. We often see that many children, as well as some adults, do not eat any meat that is still on the bone. Because of this, many companies have products like chicken nuggets in the shape of dinosaurs or stars.
Also, the majority of companies avoid having any pictures of animals or uncooked vegetables on the label. Some do not even mention what the product contains. For instance, Doritos do not even print on the front of the bag that they are made out of corn. The only time a picture of a vegetable is even put on the the package is when it is supposed to be a "healthy" item. It often states that it is "natural", but the ingredients printed on the side often show it is far from it.
An interesting thing happened when I was at the grocery store that proves that many people are unaware of what they are eating. A young girl approached her mother with two boxes of cereal, Fruity Pebbles and Fruit Loops. The mother tells her, "Only one, they are the same." The little girl then asked her mother, "Why are they the same?" The mother replies with, "They are the same because they have the same colors." The mother ignored the fact that both cereals were similar because they were supposed to be "fruit flavored" as their names indicate. Whether or not the cereals actually contain fruit, she still told her daughter that it is not the fact that they have a fruit flavor that is important, but instead the color is what makes the cereal.
This shows that many people do not even realize what they are eating. We do not question what products contain in them and we take on the attitude, "What we don't know won't hurt us" when it comes to food. Because of this, we dissociate that the food goes into our bodies. We do not realize that the food that goes into our bodies is what carries us through life. Today our food is being creating the same way as some of our household products. It does not bother us that possibility of the same person who invent an ingredient in our cereal, may have introduced a new color paint for another company.
The truth is that many food products are created in the factory and come out of the factory to go right into our mouths. They are full of chemicals. For instance, Little Debbie's Nutty Bars contain mononitrate ribofavin. Does that sound like something we should be putting into our bodies? Looking at the ingredients of many foods, in most cases I do not know the meaning of what half of them contain. One reason why many of these chemicals are put into the products is to kill its natural flavor, which again may have to do with the fact that the natural flavor will remind us that we are eating something that was once alive.
By examining grocery store foods, I have come to realize that food has taken on the common characteristics of American culture. It has to be busy, meaning it must be full of flavor. It must be exciting and colorful. Americans want to be entertained by everything including our food. Not only that, but we cannot be reminded that something was killed. More and more chemicals are being put into foods to meet our criteria of being amused by our food. The consequence of this is that they take away the basic nutritional role of the food and it is becoming harmful to our health."
My professor read my paper out loud to the class and was probably one of the few times that I felt like I stood out. In some weird way it probably started my obsession with food. Michael Pollen would of been proud of the 19 year old version of me.
Posted on June 22, 2008
f having to share plates with the table creates a close, interactive eating experience. I've been to Small Plates one other time and was not impressed with it. I left leaving not satisfied with my meal. Last night, was no different. We started off with the lettuce wraps. One of the only chain restaurants that you can find me going to is PF Chang's, and their lettuce wraps kick their ass. It tasted like they used frozen vegetable in the dish, and that's a big no-no in my book, especially when it comes to peppers and onions. We each ordered a half salad. I ordered the Caesar salad, which was completely lacking the anchovy ingredient. I tend to enjoy the traditional Caesar dressing that can be on the fishy side, but the salad at Small Plates was completely lacking any taste. To finish out our meal we shared the Garlic Shrimp Pizza. I'm a sucker for a brick oven pizza, but this one was nothing special. It definitely was garlicy and the shrimp was well done. I think they over did it with the cheese. I felt the same way as I did the first time I ate at Small Plates, it's simply not worth what you pay for. I love the concept, but they just need to work on their prices. If they are going to charge those prices, they need to work on the complexity of their dishes. They are worth two forks.
