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A friend of mine has said that he thinks the biggest problem in the US is that food is cheap. It is really that food that is bad for you is cheap and food that

by dekayed 16y ago

A friend of mine has said that he thinks the biggest problem in the US is that food is cheap. It is really that food that is bad for you is cheap and food that is good for you is expensive. Cheap + full usually wins against expensive + hungry with most people.

silentbicycle 16y ago
Mostly true, but it's more complicated than that - beans, garlic, and kale are cheap, for example. So is oatmeal. The cheap-but-nutritious ingredients take a bit of preparation, though, and generally aren't eaten as a single-ingredient convenience food. Don't get me wrong, though - there's definitely a lot of artificially cheap, nutritionally barren food.
GHFigs 16y ago
Convenience is another factor. Unless you live adjacent to a grocery store, you are almost always nearer to a source of junk food in the form of a convenience store or fast food restaurant. Neither are likely to be cheaper than what one can make easily from generally healthful ingredients. (Cheap comes into play e.g. with chain sit-down restaurants, who get around the problem of having mediocre food by serving it in comically huge portions slathered in some unhealthy flavorizing agent like butter or Ranch dressing. They can probably beat anything you can make at home in terms of price per calorie. The meal doesn't actually get cheaper, meanwhile the impact on your health is worse because you're buying a whole lot of calories you don't need.) In poor communities I've seen it's sometimes the case that shopping at an actual grocery store can be a two or three hour round trip due to bus schedules while the corner store is a five minute walk. Both also profit immensely from the wealthier car culture: fast food could not be what it is today without the drive-through window and people's eagerness to consume meals in their cars, and the typical convenience store is a convenient source of food because it also happens to sell gas, which every driver needs. Both allow the consumer to trade away money and health for immediate satiation.
- silentbicycle 16y ago
  > In poor communities I've seen it's sometimes the case that shopping at an actual grocery store can be a two or three hour round trip due to bus schedules while the corner store is a five minute walk. These are usually called "food deserts".

by dekayed 16y ago

silentbicycle 16y ago

Mostly true, but it's more complicated than that - beans, garlic, and kale are cheap, for example. So is oatmeal. The cheap-but-nutritious ingredients take a bit of preparation, though, and generally aren't eaten as a single-ingredient convenience food. Don't get me wrong, though - there's definitely a lot of artificially cheap, nutritionally barren food.

GHFigs 16y ago

Convenience is another factor. Unless you live adjacent to a grocery store, you are almost always nearer to a source of junk food in the form of a convenience store or fast food restaurant. Neither are likely to be cheaper than what one can make easily from generally healthful ingredients. (Cheap comes into play e.g. with chain sit-down restaurants, who get around the problem of having mediocre food by serving it in comically huge portions slathered in some unhealthy flavorizing agent like butter or Ranch dressing. They can probably beat anything you can make at home in terms of price per calorie. The meal doesn't actually get cheaper, meanwhile the impact on your health is worse because you're buying a whole lot of calories you don't need.) In poor communities I've seen it's sometimes the case that shopping at an actual grocery store can be a two or three hour round trip due to bus schedules while the corner store is a five minute walk. Both also profit immensely from the wealthier car culture: fast food could not be what it is today without the drive-through window and people's eagerness to consume meals in their cars, and the typical convenience store is a convenient source of food because it also happens to sell gas, which every driver needs. Both allow the consumer to trade away money and health for immediate satiation.

silentbicycle 16y ago
> In poor communities I've seen it's sometimes the case that shopping at an actual grocery store can be a two or three hour round trip due to bus schedules while the corner store is a five minute walk. These are usually called "food deserts".