Processed Food In Society

Both articles, “Unhappy Meals” by Michael Pollan and “History of Food Advice” by Melanie Dupuis focus heavily on how the eating habits of Americans have changed over the years. The focus is on how nutrition has played a role in the changing of food and how food becomes less natural as scientists attempt to make food healthier. Pollan makes the statement early on in his paper that most of we eat can’t technically be called food. This is a problem that I consistently see in the food industry more and more these days. The amount of processed food that we eat increases year after year, just because it is said to have some nutrient or another in it.

            The first time this hit me was when I had a job as a babysitter. The kids I babysat were very spoiled so they basically got whatever they wanted. They also watched a lot of TV so they were exposed to many commercials for all those fun food products like Fruit Gushers and Lunchables. So, on any given day, their house was stocked full of all these types of foods. I can’t even quite recall there being actual food in their house, like fresh fruit or vegetables. This is just one example of many that shows the extent to which the incorporation of processed foods has had on society.

            Both of the authors agree that processed food has moved to incorporate more nutrients to be “healthier”. However, while they are doing that, they are adding substances that are harmful for our bodies. Pollan makes the observation that most of what we eat would not be recognizable as food by our great-great grandparents. The “food” that one finds in Lunchables would fall into that category. The things that are in those individual size packages cannot possibly qualify as food. The packages claim some health fact or another, but what they don’t tell you is the amount of unhealthy chemicals they place in their product, or the unhealthy amount of sodium found in each package. This is just one example of the processed food industry, but you be sure that there are countless others that are just the same, if not worse.