Why has the world become more dependent on processed food?

1209 words

Food has always been a vast part of everyone’s lives, since without it humans will not be able to live. It is essential to human’s lives because it gives us a purpose, and it’s rich in nutrients to nourish their bodies. Before slaughter houses and farms, humans used to survive on a hunter and gatherer lifestyle. They would work for their food all day, then at the end they would celebrate their hard work with a delicious meal that gave them the nutrients they need to strive, with the bonus of good company, and traditions. In the recent years food has lost this meaning tremendously. It has been more about fixing your cravings and eating a salty snack so your stomach doesn’t grumble while you’re sitting at your desk working, rather than eating a healthy meal at the dinner table with family and or friends. It is no longer a priority, and more about being a convenience so we can fit more things into our busy schedule. This turn has been made because society has moved towards faster methods of producing and making the food, but has also made the foods nutritional value go down drastically due to the food industries methods. During the time processed food was making an entrance into society, so was the movement of feminism. Since the 1950’s, feminism has become a large subject, leading the food industry to utilize its movement to also promote fast food, microwavable food, and less natural home grown and cooked dinners in general.

Companies have used societal movements such as feminism to advertise their products since the beginning of advertisement. How you may ask? In the 1950’s women were trying to see the world outside their homes and have the same rights as men. This consisted of women going into the workforce, and not spending all day at home. With women slowly getting out of the house, and focusing on another job rather than their family job, they have had less time in the kitchen to cook their family a heart healthy meal that we need to survive. This is when the advertisements came on the television and poster boards to show how quick and easy it is to rely on the great invention of microwaveable processed food as well as precooked and prepackaged meals. The reason for these advertisements were to persuade the women in the family that they had more time outside the home to have freedom. Due to working a lot more in recent years, women don’t have the time or energy to create a family sit down dinner like they used to so faster methods of making food are becoming more popular because of their convenience.

One example of how the food industry utilized feminism to sell their product is the 2017 Special K commercial “Own It”. In this video, it hypes the idea of girl power and highly emphasized some of the few amazing things that women can do. After hyping women up, the advertisement said that women can do these amazing things because they eat, specially the ingredients in Special K cereal. This is the same idea that I was talking about earlier where faster food that “gets you all of the nutrition that you need” is becoming more popular. In advertisements like this, producers of food want it to look like a really healthy and good thing to enjoy their product. Some examples of this from the Special K commercial are that women can run marathons, grow babies, and they eat. They really try to make you believe that the salted nuts, dried out strawberries, and milky chocolate in Special K make it good and healthy for women and their children. This all leads to the idea that faster food is healthier so that you can give it to your kids and once again, have more time to do things that women can and should do. Another part in the video that uses feminism to sell their product is when the girl sits on the couch, takes off her bra, and starts snacking. The significance of her taking of her bra is that it signifies freedom from a 1960s feminism movement. In 1968, nearly four hundred women protested the Miss America pageant because they felt that it was promoting ‘ludicrous 'beauty' standards. During ‘bra burning’ protest, they took off and threw away their bras in the trash indicating freedom of who they are and embracing their true selves. The girl in the commercial is a clear example of Special K portraying their product as a movement of processed food, and feminism supporting their snack.

Due to the fact that women are busier with full time jobs instead of doing home chores all day like they used to, the original sit-down family dinner idea has been disappearing. In the past, really since the beginning of humans in the world, they have always appreciated Earth’s food. Humans have hunted, gathered, and grown their own food during the day and came together in the evening to give thanks for food and eat as a family. They would work with nature, rather than work against it. When food and humans have this relationship, and the food is prepared like this, it is much healthier and more substantial than food today which is often processed.

You might be asking, why does this even matter? Doesn’t more time to do what women love due to food being produced faster and being made more accessible sound like a good thing? And although there definitely have been improvements with feminism creating these faster ways to create dinner and have more time for them to do what they love, it also has many drawbacks. It matters because the western culture has relied on processed, microwaveable, premade meals that contain ingredients that are unhealthy for society, and this practice is starting to spread and become more popular in other countries putting those citizens in danger of health risks and loss of their society’s culture. Heart disease, diabetes, and obesity is all becoming more common because processed food is taking over. The whole idea of faster food has made it so that many family meals are created and eaten faster than they used to. In the past, women would have to create a family dinner and this would take time and energy that they had because it was their only job. These family dinners had a lot more nutritional value than many of todays meals. Not only was the nutritional value of these meals better, but they also helped to create a sense of home, family, and thanks that is not around as much in today’s society. It used to be much more normal before the 50/60’s to have a healthy family dinner than it is today. This whole idea pulls the family apart as more time isn’t spent together talking about their days and lives in general. In general families in today are not as close as they used to be, many more people are out and not having family dinners, or if they are they are leaving soon after because the dinner was created as well as eaten much faster.