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I think it was because America was the first country that could eat afford to eat like that, so we did. Look at the differences in traditional Italian food and
by learc83 12y ago
I think it was because America was the first country that could eat afford to eat like that, so we did. Look at the differences in traditional Italian food and Italian American food.
Dealing with virtually unlimited quantities of food is a very recent problem, and Americans were the first to have this problem at scale.
Most of the rest of the world now has this problem too. If you look at overweight trends, most developed countries are about were America was 30 years ago [1].
There are other differences as well. For one, America was the first country with ubiquitous car ownership--contributing to lower population density and less walking, more time sitting, and drive through restaurants.
[1] http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/the-world-is-fat/ http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/the-world-is-fa...
- ska 12y agoI think there is some truth to this, but it also seems to be true that on average the US is valuing quantity over quality (in food) more than many other economies that can certainly afford to overeat.
- learc83 12y agoI'm sure there are some cultural differences, but keep in mind 30-40 years ago we didn't have huge quantities they way we do now, and we didn't go out to eat the way we do now. It took time for the cultural norm to catch up to our ability to overeat. While other countries can now afford to overeat as easily as we can, they've been able to do so for a lot less time. Again the charts for percentage of the population that is overweight and obese back up this hypothesis--other developed countries are trailing behind the US by about 30 years. They have just had less time to make a habit out of over-consumption. Also, most other developed countries still haven't caught up to the US in terms of affordable overeating. In PPP terms the US ranks 10 in GDP per capita, higher than every other major economy and higher than almost all of Europe by a very significant margin.
- kolev 12y agoIf we have to use the info from [1], it could be argued that America can afford the most! [1] http://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/our-research/the-hunger-study/ http://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/our-research...
- cafard 12y agoBut portions have gone up considerably over the last 40 years. Take a look at the size of dinner plates from 1960 and those from 1980 or since.