Although I haven't fully gotten my arms around the issue, it more and more seems to me that when we began the agricultural revolution after WWII that incorporated chemical fertilizers and the use of all things corn in our food products (the beginning of raising food that was not so labor intensive and thus "expensive") we started down the road to cheap food.
Cheap by the world's standards - Americans spend less of their income on food than those in other countries.
At the same time we started down the road to cheap food of another definition - food that was less nutritious and as we've come to see, made with ingredients that have caused us to become a
fat nation.
At the same time we lost the connection to the seasons and the understanding of where food comes from we also stopped cooking, relying on fast food or prepared food for many if not all meals. Yes, I know not everyone does this, but so many do...a majority I think. We've lost the ability to say "no" to things that occupy time and steal it from cooking the way I remember growing up. I still cook that way - mostly. But so many don't.
And we've assumed that we don't need to plan for the future - even next week. We decide what we want to eat on the way home rather than thinking through menus, working with leftovers and sometimes, eating what we have, rather than what we want. Of course I'm talking here about the people who can afford to do this. They don't eat so well. Neither do those who can't afford fresh food and have to rely on fast food or lots of carbos and sugar.
So we are a country where those who have the money to eat healthy don't (in theory) have the time, and where those who don't have the money to eat healthy, probably don't have the time either. And then there are all those who don't even know that they aren't eating well.
Sad state of affairs...
Labels: cooking, eating well, food
