....and beef and pork and chicken. Matter of fact let's have a little discussion about food in general. Recently Melissa and I watched a documentary called Food Inc. Take a few minutes and have a look at the trailer:
Official Food, Inc. Movie Site - Hungry For Change? - Trailer and Photos
Watching this movie opened my eyes to a "world behind the world" of the manufacturing and processing of a lot of the major things we eat daily. I've always had an idea that the processing of food is not a pretty business. Let's face it, most of us don't WANT to know where our food comes from. We just want it to be there when we are hungry. I read a lot of books in Culinary school, both by choice and force, about the industry I was jumping into. I wanted to learn as much as I could about all aspects of the food business because ultimately I thought it would make me more marketable and desirable for jobs. What I found out while reading is that the business as a whole is dirty. There are working conditions in food processing plants that wouldn't be acceptable in 3rd world countries but yet we allow it here. Undocumented workers along with falsified FDA, OSHA and USDA records. Human body parts cut off by equipment or machines moving too fast for the workers to keep up or the worker cutting off their own finger in the process. All of this stuff has or is currently happening. In their defense the conditions have improved greatly over the past 25 years but it's still not optimum. The ONLY thing all these companies are concerned about is growing it faster, growing it bigger, harvesting it cheaper, selling it cheaper to be produced, producing it faster and selling it at the maximum profit margin possible.
"Woa, bro, whoa...whoa. How the hell do they know what kind of chicken wings I like and when to put them on sale?"
What a fan-damn-tastic question. I'll tell you. The answer is...YOU! They know what you like, how you like it, what brand you like and how often you buy it. Every time you go to the grocery store and an item you buy is scanned they got you. On June 26, 1974 the VERY first item was scanned and logged by a barcode reader: a 10 pack of Wrigley's gum. In the beginning it was a benign concept: make getting in and out of the grocery store quicker, let's save our checkers from carpel tunnel syndrome and "enhance" the drudgery of grocery shopping with some technology to make life simple. Behind the veil of the innocuous barcode scanner lies a horde of information being gathered such as: Product name, brand name or generic, date/time, coupon used, frequency purchased, quantity at any given time sold, on sale or not and even if the purchase was made with cash or credit card. They know EVERYTHING about that purchase. Granted this information is incredibly useful to the store directly and will ultimately affect the amount of inventory delivered. But let's follow the trail a little further. The item is scanned, info obtained, inventory levels adjusted, orders placed, distributors notified and their inventory adjusted, producer/manufacturer notified to produce more, farmers told to increase yield to deliver to manufacturing plant. Thousands of people across the country affected by YOU buying ONE bag of chicken wings. Amazing, huh?
There lies the rub. You making that purchase is what has caused overproduction and adulteration of our food supply. Because of the poor eating habits over the last 30-40 years it has caused higher levels of artificial chemicals to be used to produce a bigger tomato, larger chicken, bigger cattle and everything else that we have wanted "supersized". Hormones, antibiotics, gene therapy and even gene splicing have been used by companies to try and produce a better.....no.....larger and more profitable product. That is what it comes down to....money. The almighty dollar bill. Everyone wants to make a cheaper and more profitable product. At the same time they want to pay the lowest possible wage, skirt regulations when they can and produce that product as quick as possible. I gotta admit it makes good business sense but the process has bastardized the food and ultimately we suffer for it.
We suffer for in our healthcare costs. We suffer for it in our bank accounts. Your children suffer for it with their immune systems. Kids are maturing quicker these days and it is blatantly obvious. How many 15 year old girls did you see 15 years ago will a full C cup breasts? How many do you see now? Yep....I see a lot more. How many kids over the last 10 years have been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD and subsequently prescribed a medication to combat it? Now, take all that info and think REALLY hard about how food tastes have changed and how much more access kids have to fast food with high amounts of fat, sugar, sodium and a host of other chemicals I can't pronounce. Coincidence....possibly but the argument could be made.
I'll use myself as an example. This whole time I have been writing this post I have been sipping on my favorite drink: Diet Dr Pepper. Ok, ok it's not my favorite but since I'm cutting calories and need caffeine I drink it. OK....ok I know I don't need caffeine but I'm gonna drink it so STFU. Anyway....I'm looking at the ingredient list and it is as follows word for word:
Carbonated water, Caramel coloring, Aspartame, Phosphoric acid, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Sodium Benzonate (preservative), Caffeine, Phenylketonurids: Contains Phenylalanine
I bolded what was bolded on the can. WTF is this? I had to Google it. Here is what Wiki says:
"Phenylalanine (abbreviated as Phe or F)[1] is an α-amino acid with the formula HO2CCH(NH2)CH2C6H5. This essential amino acid is classified as nonpolar because of the hydrophobic nature of the benzyl side chain. L-Phenylalanine (LPA) is an electrically-neutral amino acid, one of the twenty common amino acids used to biochemically form proteins, coded for by DNA. The codons for L-phenylalanine are UUU and UUC. Phenylalanine is structurally closely related to dopamine, epinephrine (adrenaline) and tyrosine.
Phenylalanine is found naturally in the breast milk of mammals. It is used in the manufacture of food and drink products and sold as a nutritional supplement for its reputed analgesic and antidepressant effects. It is a direct precursor to the neuromodulator phenylethylamine, a commonly used dietary supplement."
WAIT.....so my Diet DP has an antidepressant added to it??!!!
It makes perfect sense if you think about it. Aspartame, which is the scientific term for Sweet-n-Low, is the main sweetening agent found in a ton of diet drinks. Aspartame is not known for making you feel better and giving you the "boost" you might look for if you were to drink a non-diet soda that contains high fructose corn syrup. So the Soda Nerds at Dr Pepper found a naturally occurring essential amino acid, isolated it and added it to your favorite diet soda. Now you get the same euphoric and "uplifting feeling" that you get when you drink a non-diet soda. Clever little nerds aren't they?
I could go on and on all day about this and bore you to tears while at the same time making you scared about everything you put in your mouth. So you might be asking yourself "What can I do about this? It's Big Business. I can't fight big business." Here is what you can do:
VOTE WITH YOUR WALLET!!
Don't let Big Business have your money if you don't want to. We, as consumers, have the choice. We always have. That choice has NEVER been taken away from us but we have been "trained" to believe that quicker and cheaper is better because Big Business is JUST as concerned about your wallet as you are. I am not naive to the fact there are common things that we have to have daily to survive. The point I'm trying to make is that you have a choice as to where you buy your food. Every time you give "them" your money you are supporting their efforts to continue to market crap to you, your family and your children. Support your local farmers and growers. Shop at a local Farmers Market once a week. Choose meat and poultry that comes from a farm that grass feeds the cows and let's the chickens at least run semi-free. Trust me, I know it costs more and, again, the wallet talks more in many cases but I can guarantee you that making better food choices and exercise 2-3 times a week you WILL feel better, lessen your doctor visits and SAVE you money. That is all the science you need in your meal. Save the chemistry for science class because it doesn't belong at the dinner table.
Some useful links and information:
http://www.localharvest.org/
http://www.polyfacefarms.com/
http://www.hirschsmeats.com/
http://www.texasgrassfedbeef.com/
http://www.rense.com/general76/chk.htm
Brilliant post, as always.
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