How Disconnected Are You From Your Food?

Pythoness · #1 03-26-2008, 12:19 PM

We were talking about this at Easter.. how disconnected people have become to food. And PG's comment in the Working For Gas thread just made me think about it again.

What is food? To most people, it seems like food is something you go and buy at the grocery store, you make with the least amount of preparation possible, you put it in your mouth and chew it up and swallow it so you don't feel uncomfortable later.

Where is that food coming from? What's in it? What happened to it before it got to you? Most people don't know, nor do they care.

I was absolutely shocked when an ex told me that he didn't like vegetable and on asking why I discovered he'd NEVER EATEN FRESH VEGETABLES. Ever. They were always frozen or canned. I'd never had frozen or canned vegetables growing up, and the ones I did have I didn't like either! And this was a very health-conscious guy, who drank a lot of water, wouldn't eat fast food, worked out every day. Crazy. He just wouldn't eat vegetables because he thought all vegetables tasted like frozen and canned vegetables.

This used to be a farming state. I can remember the greatest joy in life as getting a ride on the combine when I was a kid. Soybeans, feed corn, sweet corn, pumpkins, potatoes.. Family members or close family friends grew them all. It doesn't make any sense to me why anyone growing up in this state in the 80's would have grown up on canned or frozen vegetables.

The other day I was talking to a girl at work, somehow, we were on the topic of hot sauce. And she says, "What do they put in that stuff to make it hot anyway?" "Umm.. chili pepper oils." And then she says, "Oh. I thought it was some kind of petroleum by-product or something."

This gave me pause for 2 reasons. 1. This girl didn't know what was in her food. 2. The thought that a highly processed chemical from a toxic substance might be in her food didn't bother her in the least.

The way she tossed that out there, she might have been saying, "I thought it was supposed to rain today." She was so CASUAL about it. When I found out as a kid that petroleum by-products were in soft-serve ice cream, I FLIPPED OUT. Ew, ew, ew, ew! I never ate soft-serve ice cream again. I still don't.

But anymore, it's just a fact of life for people.

When people think, "Fast food is bad for you, I'm not eating at McDonald's anymore," but think that Hamburger Helper is better just because they had to spend 10 minutes watching it on the stove.. there's something wrong.

We're so disconnected from our food that we have lost the art of breastfeeding our kids. We're freakin' mammals for cryin' out loud, and more than half of mothers with infants today feed their babies some kind of highly processed soy bean/cow's milk hybrid that they purchase in a package from a grocery store, just like everything else that goes in your mouth.

I hate being disconnected from my food. I don't think it's good for us, on all sorts of levels, not just biochemically or physically. Emotionally, too.

That's all the time I have for right now kiddos.. but I want to hear your thoughts on this.

Bada Bing · #2 03-26-2008, 12:25 PM

I was married to cheesesteaks for a very long time.... now we're just f*ckbuddies.

(i have to get the zingers out of my system before i can respond rationally)

Jessica · #3 03-26-2008, 12:29 PM

Good topic.

I've been trying so hard to become more connected with what I eat, but I'll be the first to admit that I'm lazy. It's cheaper, easier, and less time consuming to go to the grocery store and pile my cart chock full of over-processed crap than it is to go to a local farm and pick out my chicken and beef and veggies. I do hit up produce stands, but I could be doing a lot more.

I've been checking out some local farms that I found through the Newark Co-op's website, hopefully some of those will pan out.

I know what you mean though, and I'm guilty of that as well. People won't give their kids soda, but they'll let them drink "juice" that actually contains no fruit. Go figure.

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Last edited by Jessica; 03-26-2008 at 12:38 PM..

witchofthedogs · #4 03-26-2008, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rosie

Good topic.

I've been trying so hard to become more connected with what I eat, but I'll be the first to admit that I'm lazy. It's cheaper, easier, and less time consuming to go to the grocery store and pile my cart chock full of over-processed crap than it is to go to a local farm and pick out my chicken and beef and veggies. I do hit up produce stands, but I could be doing a lot more.

I've been checking out some local farms that I founf through the Newark Co-op's website, hopefully some of those will pan out.

I know what you mean though, and I'm guilty of that as well. People won't give their kids soda, but they'll let them drink "juice" that actually contains no fruit. Go figure.

You phrased it exactly the way I was trying to in my head, rosie.

Over the past year or so, I've made an effort to whittle out white flour, refined sugar, processed foods from my diet. Am I always successful? Nope, but I try. Does that mean I don't eat cake occasionally or enjoy Grotto's pizza and beer on Tuesday (1/2-price) nights? Nope. But I'm making an effort to go back to eating foods "whole".

And that requires time, effort, and in the off-season, money. Recent articles in magazines such as Shape, Fitness and Health have addressed "fresh" food vs. frozen or canned food and all agree that fresh fruits and vegetables are pricer. Thankfully, we're going into the spring and summer months when we here in Delaware will be able to purchase from local farms and growers, and I'm looking forward to it. But I'll purchase frozen, or even canned, if money is tight. They're still better for you than, say, McDonalds.

I'm a member of the co-op in Newark, but I'll be the first to admit I don't buy my fruits or vegetables there because the cost of organic produce is so cost prohibitive, I simply can't do it. And until it becomes affordable, I won't be able to ...

Jessica · #5 03-26-2008, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boundchaos

And that requires time, effort, and in the off-season, money. Recent articles in magazines such as Shape, Fitness and Health have addressed "fresh" food vs. frozen or canned food and all agree that fresh fruits and vegetables are pricer. Thankfully, we're going into the spring and summer months when we here in Delaware will be able to purchase from local farms and growers, and I'm looking forward to it. But I'll purchase frozen, or even canned, if money is tight. They're still better for you than, say, McDonalds.

I'm a member of the co-op in Newark, but I'll be the first to admit I don't buy my fruits or vegetables there because the cost of organic produce is so cost prohibitive, I simply can't do it. And until it becomes affordable, I won't be able to ...

Exactly.

We've posted before many times about the economic crunch, and I'm the first to admit that I have a lot of well-founded fear about my nest-egg as well as my job security. Gas and foods cost more, and no one here at my office gets a cost of living raise that's not annual and merit-based. The simple fact is that costs need to be cut where they can.

If I can get 2 cans of corn for $1.00 on sale at Shop Rite, as compared to paying 4-5 bucks for a half dozen ears of corn at a produce stand, you'd better believe I'll deal with the canned corn for dinner at night.

Pythoness · #6 03-26-2008, 01:32 PM

This was really brought home to me after I lost my job when I was pregnant and we had to go live with my SO's parents.

I love those people. I really do. They're the greatest people on earth.

But they way they eat.. gives me nightmares.

Put it to you this way: A typical grocery trip for them looks something like..

6 boxes of pop tarts, 4 boxes of frozen toaster strudel things, 4 cans of pringles, 4 bags of potato chips, 6 TV dinners, 20 microwavable chunky soup cans, 4 boxes of microwave popcorn, 4 boxes of microwave broccoli and cheese, and some "just add meat and mix" stove top box meals.

It drove me nuts. Most of what they eat is never anything I ever considered food. Not in the "eat it as a daily staple" sense, anyway.

And yes, they do it because it's on sale.

But my god. 99% of what they eat doesn't even vaguely resemble the stuff it started out as.

Canned corn was a bad example.. but it was an example. If canned corn is 2 steps removed from you food, most of what we see in our grocery stores is 15 steps removed. With a laundry list of crap added.

Admittedly, the way I grew up, eating pizza or having Mickey D's was a BIG DEAL. As in, if I got it, something was going ON. It might as well have been a holiday, that's how rare it was. But my mom was also a patchouli drenched hippie who rolled in the mud at Woodstock.

I liked your example about people who won't give their kids soda but give them "juice" that has no fruit in it, Ro. Exactly.

I'm sorry this is so very disconnected guys.. really I am.. I'm doing this in between bouts of packing. I really ought to leave it alone.

Naomi · #7 03-26-2008, 01:48 PM

Ladies I totally agree. We buy very little preprocessed foods. We make our own salad dressings, fresh veggies, but I do love those canned baby peas.
If you really think about it is cheaper but not easier. We make all our own soups, pasta dishes, sauces, etc. Hope, just a few weeks ago made two huge pots of soup. She pours them into jars while still very hot. The jars reseal and will last for months. We do the same with red sauce and it is there whenever we want it.
We made it so we know what is in it. Nothing but freshness and lots of love.

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Angela514 · #8 03-26-2008, 02:25 PM

I am guilty of pre-processed food purchasing. Sometimes it's all we have time for though with both working full time and then all the evening activites my oldest has. Most of the time we don't eat dinner until 7:00 or later so it has to be something quick and easy. I love to marinate foods especially steak or chicken so those types of meals are big in my house. I will say that I do prefer frozen or fresh vegetables over canned, I don't think I will ever eat another canned veggie in my life! In the future I will probably do what my stepmother does and prepare all the weeks' meals on Sunday and freeze them so they are easy to prepare on weeknights, that way we are eating healthier but in half the time. But that's only if I can ever find the time with 2 children under 5 to care for.....

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Joe Walther · #9 03-26-2008, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bada Bing

I was married to cheesesteaks for a very long time.... now we're just f*ckbuddies.

Um, is "f*ckbuddies" the same as fuck buddies? If so, there is nothing, per se, wrong with that sort of relationship if both--well, maybe I should say ALL--parties are in agreement and promise to respect one and other in the morning.

But, the REAL question is: Do you smoke afterwards?

Py, if you read this, please note... In my response to you in "Too pretty to fly," I told you that some guys get their "IRE" up quite easily.

A cheese steak, no less! A 2-inch thick New York Strip I could see.

Regards,

Joe Walther

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Pythoness · #10 03-26-2008, 05:07 PM

*Warbles a la Confederate Railroad*

He likes his food just a little on the.. trashy side.
With the meat hanging off the bun and the onions fry-ee-eyed.

How Disconnected Are You From Your Food?

Health and Wellness