Does Industrialized Food Taste Gross?

Taste is subjective, though... (4.00 / 3)

...and call me nuts (which I probably am, lol), but I'm gonna say - yes, industrial "food" is nasty.  Despite (or maybe because of) all the "work" they put into it, I can taste the difference.  And I - do. not. want.

Am I really the only one?

I will definitely agree with this -

Human beings are wired to prefer abundance, salt, fat, sugar, and value.

[...]

The cost is long-term, and remembering that we might get diabetes down the road is pretty hard when eons of evolutionary wiring are telling us to eat this stuff now now now now it's right here now now!

But that doesn't necessarily mean the "food" indisputably tastes "good", and that's why "we" continue to go there.

We're only really eating there because there's nowhere else to go, by design, in probably like 98% of America.  That's the way our society is built, but what if there was another way?

Let's look right here at Inner SE Portland, for example, just outside my apartment door: yeah okay, so maybe we do have one of the highest concentrations of anti-corporate-"food", locavore-supporting, victory-gardening and backyard-chicken-keeping populations of people anywhere in North America... but!  Frankly, we're probably only maybe 5% (if that) of the overall population here, who spend any amount of time seriously thinking about these food issues.

But anybody who comes around here won't be able to help but notice one thing - you really have to look very hard to find a chain restaurant around here.  There have been Starbucks' here in SE Portland that have been run out of business by local independent coffee shops!

All we need are alternatives, I'd argue.

Put a Cheesecake Factory up against a Chaos Cafe.  Or a HUB.  Or a Pappa G's.  Put a Pizza Hut up against a Hot Lips, or even a McDonald's against a Burgerville.  A Taco Bell up against any of the 36 or so Mexican food carts (and also at least that many Mexican restaurants...) here in Portland that will run circles around them even on an off day...

Real food will win out 10 times out of 10, guaranteed.  The thing is making the places that serve same viable.

How do we build that America?

That's where we need to begin.

"The greenest building is the one already built" - Carl Elefante

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by: JayinPortland @ Thu Jul 16, 2009 at 05:38:00 AM CDT

interesting side note (4.00 / 4)

due to the wonders of technology, my daughter and I chatted via skype yesterday. She's eating milk and yogurt (goat? sheep? can't be cow) that is brought down her street every morning fresh. Her host family was listening to our conversation about food and how Americans "get" their food and how polluted it is (we were discussing Food Inc) and they were stunned and confused.

I am eating some dairy sometimes at night, but my taste buds have changed. The challenge for me is what to do when I can't control choices. Like the other night when I went to our annual Democratic party picnic and all they were serving were hot dogs.

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by: LeeN @ Thu Jul 16, 2009 at 07:51:13 AM CDT

lol hot dogs (4.00 / 3)

wonder what I would think if I ate one now? Last one I had was in 2004 at a Padres game. At the time, I thought it tasted goooood. Then again, I was a little drunk on bad beer (Bud Light) which I also, inexplicably, thought tasted good at the time.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Thu Jul 16, 2009 at 08:20:34 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

are you eating fake meat? (4.00 / 2)

like meatless meatballs?

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by: LeeN @ Thu Jul 16, 2009 at 08:36:43 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

me? NO (4.00 / 1)

god no. If I wanted meat, I'd eat meat.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Thu Jul 16, 2009 at 08:39:02 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Good for you Jill! (4.00 / 3)

I always thought it odd that people who refuse to eat meat continue on eating products made from plants into products that look and taste like meat. But to each his/her own. After watching how Tofurkey is made, I'm not sure I'd be able to eat it. I like garden burgers, but maybe that's because I've never seen them made....

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Thu Jul 16, 2009 at 10:05:16 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I dont' mind homemade (4.00 / 1)

veggie "burgers" - there are all kinds of recipes using stuff like beans and oats. I like how flavorful they can be. Put them on a bun with some mustard and it's not a bad meal, although of course it still won't taste like a burger. But that's fine by me.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Thu Jul 16, 2009 at 10:13:28 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

as much of a cook as I am.. (4.00 / 2)

I never found anyone veggie burger that I made to my liking.And it wasn't even trying to make it taste like meat. I just wanted something that I liked and that held together without eggs.  

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by: LeeN @ Thu Jul 16, 2009 at 11:59:07 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

gelato apologist (4.00 / 4)

As an ex-pastry chef, I do have to say a little homemade or nicely executed small shop gelato is truly one of life's pleasures unworthy of a bad rap. Sugar and fat in their pure, recognizable (and tasty!) forms are not evil--excess and consumption via too much fast food and or processed food is a problem, but, pie and ice cream aren't the bogeyman.

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by: bellzee @ Thu Jul 16, 2009 at 10:09:04 AM CDT

yum yum yum yum (4.00 / 3)

Oh I quite agree. I love the stuff. But I had just eaten a full meal and didn't need more food on top of it at the time when I wrote that.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Thu Jul 16, 2009 at 10:12:11 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I agree. The problem: (4.00 / 1)

fast food and corporate food producers who have learned to train our taste buds to want salt and fat all the time and in quantity. It's up to each of us to retrain ourselves to a healthier diet.

I pretty much follow ayurvedic dietary principles. I don't eat meat, and this is a preference expressed through me even as a very young child. However, I do occasionally truly enjoy coconut ice cream from Lopez Island Creamery here in the Pacific Northwest. There's nothing in it that I can't pronounce, and it's so rich that about five spoonsful are enough. A pint lasts all week.

Up the road from me is a dairy farm offering home made organic chevre. It's wonderfully dry and not at all salty. A 4 oz packet goes a very long way.

And I make a homemade Indian chevdo of dal, seeds, dried fruits, spices and a good jolt of salt, but it's so startling in its salty/sweet/tart/crunchy qualities that a couple of handsful is enough.

We need to eat more simply. Fat, salt, and natural sweeteners are ok if controlled and placed in balance with whole grains, fresh veggies, etc. It's when these substances hijack our diet that we get into trouble.  

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by: The Western Sun @ Thu Jul 16, 2009 at 21:53:13 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Is industrial food good? (4.00 / 3)

Distinctly not!!!  I know: Just 8 days ago I underwent my second open heart coronary bypass operation (at the very young age of 66). Thanks for asking, I'm doing just fine, up and around, taking walks, brushing the beatles off the potato plants, cutting down some overgrown weeds, etc. The operation went fast, smooth, clean, I left the hospital 4 days after the operation. Went so much better this year than it did 27 years ago.

My wife and I thought we were eating well up until the last few years. But we were buying industrial food products, not growing our own, following the standard dietary recommendations. Hell, what did we know??

But since my retirement in 2005, I have A) become a reformed economist; B) been doing lots of reading on gardening which broadened out into organic (and anti-industrial) farming; C) learned much about the locavore movement; and D) become a reformed economist.  We have a large garden now and buy all our meats locally as well as some produce from local farmers' markets.

I would say that our eating now is much healthier and much tastier (does anything taste quite as good as a potato dug fresh from the soil?? Oh yummmmm...) But the knowledge developed too late to save me from a second bypass operation.  And yes, there is a significant genetic component. But I figure, knowing what I know now, that I'm good for another 30 years. I really, really want to see how the world handles the approaching crises of population growth, hunger (due to maldistribution of food), peak oil, and running out of water.  Also global climate change which appears to coming at us at an accelerating pace.

Good luck to all you youngsters out there. You've got a challenging future, best as I can see.

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by: DennisP @ Thu Jul 16, 2009 at 11:39:01 AM CDT