I'd say the processed food industry is inherently prone to unhealthy "food." The combination of mass production, market, required shelf life, "crave-ability," etc. just leads to it. If you take something unhealthful out, they're just going to put something else back in. The problem is too few people cooking and eating real food.
Have you priced out the cost of leading a fresh-foods-only lifestyle recently? A lot of people, particularly those with families, cannot afford to do so. Just because someone lives in an urban area and can't afford to shop at Whole Paycheck, or has to work two jobs or do shift work, doesn't mean they deserve to essentially be poisoned by food manufacturers.
Real food is usually cheaper than processed fake food. Slow food or real food or whatever is not the same as shopping at one of the overpriced boutique "whole foods" markets--which also have a history of poor labor practices as compared to unionized mainstream markets. (And are full of their own versions of fake food anyway.)
IME, it's not the cost of the *food*, it's the cost of the *time* for cooking and the time to go shopping several times a week (good, fresh food doesn't have much shelf life, so you have to market every day or two). People on the edge of poverty are often working two jobs or couples trading off working a job each and taking care of kids when the other is working. Convenience is generally the driver for packaged and preserved foods.
That said, I'm always struck when I buy produce how cheap it is (at a farmers market, at a co-op or high-end grocers, or at a supermarket) compared with anything else I buy. It's even more than the difference between me buying a really nice steak versus going to a really nice restaurant and ordering a steak; that may only be 2-3 times the base price, whereas veg can be as much as 10x the cost of raw.
It's also the cost of the food itself. There was an experiment done last year where members of Congress tried to live on a food-stamp-supplemented budget that represented the average food budget of someone hovering near the poverty line - it was virtually impossible for them to really buy fresh produce . The foods they came up with, to stay within budget, were largely packaged and canned foods, beans, and ramen. It's a big part of social welfpare policy literature, actually, that the poorer people simply can't afford a healthy diet. You're right that the time is a very important factor too - hell, it's hard for us even sometimes, and we're not nearly under the pressures of some other people.
HFCS is really insidious though, and not just in the processed "junk" type foods. I'm pretty adamant about not eating it, and I had to hunt and hunt and hunt to find food that didn't contain it - GRANOLA contained it, which utterly flabbergasted me and pissed me off. I'm pretty sure they'd inject it into fresh fruit and vegetables if they could. =/
There was an experiment done last year where members of Congress tried to live on a food-stamp-supplemented budget that represented the average food budget of someone hovering near the poverty line - it was virtually impossible for them to really buy fresh produce.
It probably was, but it probably wasn't a matter of cost. It would have been a matter of *availability*. IME, fresh produce is *always* cheaper in a US city than comparable preserved foods *if it's available* (obviously a different story if you're talking about an island, a small town in the middle of the desert, etc.) The thing is, large super market chains don't fall over themselves to serve inner city neighborhoods, leaving residents to fall back on small neighbourhood shops that don't stock much--if any--produce and (horrifying to say) convenience stores (7-11, Wawa, Circle K) for buying food for family meals. Try eating right under *those* circumstances, and you have a real problem.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 03:49 pm (UTC)Yes, I'm a Slow Food fanatic...
Date: 2009-04-09 05:55 pm (UTC)Re: Yes, I'm a Slow Food fanatic...
Date: 2009-04-09 06:09 pm (UTC)Re: Yes, I'm a Slow Food fanatic...
Date: 2009-04-09 06:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 07:55 pm (UTC)That said, I'm always struck when I buy produce how cheap it is (at a farmers market, at a co-op or high-end grocers, or at a supermarket) compared with anything else I buy. It's even more than the difference between me buying a really nice steak versus going to a really nice restaurant and ordering a steak; that may only be 2-3 times the base price, whereas veg can be as much as 10x the cost of raw.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 11:04 pm (UTC)HFCS is really insidious though, and not just in the processed "junk" type foods. I'm pretty adamant about not eating it, and I had to hunt and hunt and hunt to find food that didn't contain it - GRANOLA contained it, which utterly flabbergasted me and pissed me off. I'm pretty sure they'd inject it into fresh fruit and vegetables if they could. =/
no subject
Date: 2009-04-10 01:33 pm (UTC)It probably was, but it probably wasn't a matter of cost. It would have been a matter of *availability*. IME, fresh produce is *always* cheaper in a US city than comparable preserved foods *if it's available* (obviously a different story if you're talking about an island, a small town in the middle of the desert, etc.) The thing is, large super market chains don't fall over themselves to serve inner city neighborhoods, leaving residents to fall back on small neighbourhood shops that don't stock much--if any--produce and (horrifying to say) convenience stores (7-11, Wawa, Circle K) for buying food for family meals. Try eating right under *those* circumstances, and you have a real problem.