Lindsey Crawford

Library 201

4 April 2010

Food and Culture

When I was little my mother told me scallops were little pieces of chicken without the skin. For years I believed her and ate them every time they were prepared for me, no complaints. Then, around age seven, my older brother told me the truth. One night before dinner he let it slip that “chicken bits,” or so I’d taken to calling them, were not chicken at all; that we were having scallops, a type of fish that came from the sea. That did it for me. Once I knew what they were and where they came from I refused to eat scallops. I rationalized this choice on moral grounds; that because I loved to swim I could not eat any creature whose favorite pastime was the same as mine. From that day on I stopped eating, not just scallops, but all kinds of seafood. In retrospect I realize that I was wrong. The decision to abstain from seafood had nothing to do with my affinity for all things aquatic. Like many Americans, my taste preferences were shaped by early experiences with food and my family. I developed a distaste for seafood because I was lied to about the contents of a favorite food dish by someone that I trusted.

In America there is a huge disconnect between food and its origin because much of it is highly processed and packaged. In consequence, it is hard for young kids to look at a hamburger or donut and easily discern where it came from. Parents also have a tendency to further this confusion. Faced with questions like what is a chicken nugget or what all those hard to pronounce ingredients on the back of a box of twinkies are, parents too often respond by giving oversimplified answers or telling downright lies. Chicken nuggets are breaded chicken breasts cut into smaller pieces. Those long complex words on twinkie packaging are the scientific names for common baking ingredients. These types of responses are anything but clarifying; they are harmful, contributing to poor lifelong eating habits.

As a whole, Americans are unhealthy eaters. According to the surgeon general, more than 60% of Americans are currently either overweight or obese. There are several factors contributing to this alarming statistic, such as genetics and lack of physical activity; however, like many experts, I believe that the obesity epidemic is primarily caused by cultural factors, by Americans relationship with food and eating. Other than lying to me about the ingredients in a few dishes, my parents did a good job of providing me with clear and factual knowledge about the food that we ate. I was fortunate to grow up in a household where proper nutrition was taught and the value of family mealtime was stressed. For many of my friends, this was not the case.

Americans are constantly on the go. We are time obsessed. This fact, coupled with the low cost of fast food and junk food, results in many Americans eating very unhealthy on a daily basis. For many of my friends, dinner came most frequently from a drive through or take out menu and was eaten in front of the TV.

Once eating habits are established there are very hard to unlearn. Trying to learn to like fish is an uphill battle. That is why it is crucial that good habits and a knowledge of nutrition are learned early on, during meal time. Americans need to change there cultural relationship with food. We need to value it differently. All foods are not equal. Portion size matters. Eating should not just be about satisfying hunger but about sharing time with the people that we love.

Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York:

Penguin Group, 2006.

Scholosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. New York: Hougton Mifflin Company, 2002.