Reading the chapter “Cheap Food, Hunger, and Obesity” from Michael Carolan’s The Real Cost of Cheap Food was particularly eye-opening with regards to the obesity epidemic in the U.S. Living in Spain, I hear plenty of commentary about “fat Americans” and their propensity for eating Big Macs. This behavior is typically blamed on individual laziness and a need to want “more.” It was thus quite shocking to read about the extent to which American policy actually influences obesity rates, and how it is a lot less about individual decision making than one may think.
I had never considered, for example, the extent to which advertising affects processed and junk food consumption. Carolan discusses how the corn subsidies provided by the U.S. government reduce costs of the production of foods with high fructose corn syrup; this in turn beefs up the advertising budgets of companies such as PepsiCo (69). Carolan then describes the correlation between watching television and obesity. One would think that this is due to the lack of physical activity associated with television watching, but Carolan points out that “studies have consistently found a positive correlation between number of television hours watched by children and frequency of requests, purchases and servings eaten of advertised food” (70). As my favorite female rapper Reverie points out with regards to food in her song “While I’m Still Here,” “If it has a commercial or a theme song, then don’t buy it.”
Yet, simply avoiding such foods is not easy for many communities. Carolan calls attention to the fact that, in many poor/minority neighborhoods, there are often more convenience stores and fast food establishments than grocery stores- and that the grocery stores don’t stock as many fruits and vegetables or other healthy food options that the community wants (71). Fruits and vegetables are also frequently more expensive than processed or junk food (73). Thus, the concept of voting with one’s dollar is impossible for people who don’t have enough dollars to vote with in the first place. One can thus see that individual food choices are not so individual after all.
Works Cited:
Carolan, Michael. “Cheap Food, Hunger, and Obesity.” The Real Cost of Cheap Food. Earthscan, 2011.
“Reverie & Louden- While I’m Still Here (All I Know).” YouTube, uploaded by REVERIE LOVE, 7 March 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXmkb8dwsw4.