I often let the fridge run down to empty, not because I love looking at ketchup and wasabi as my options for dinner but because I like to make sure that I eat everything I buy before going back to the store. This proved to be difficult and I have spent many years perfecting a grocery run that allows for me to run out of food even with the last bit being considered a meal. But, this proves to be problematic when it happens on a Sunday afternoon and I get hungry Sunday evening. Further issues arise because I live a block from a 24hour gas station in my small suburb of 3000 people. So, naturally I find myself standing at the SuperAmerica at 10pm (in the middle of wrting my blog post of course) on a certain recent sunday with a choice....what to eat?
I try to eat healthy when I can, having most of my food come from the grocery store and preparing my own meals definitely aides in that endevour. But, if you've ever patronized a gas station for dinner you may understand how difficult that becomes. Before making my decision, I was driven by several factors. Economically, I'm not willing to spend much money, like 5 bucks max. That limits my options seeing as gas stations often elevated prices (my demand is high...they are literally the only supply). I wish I could say that ethics played a role, but being realistic, I was hungry and didnt care much what it was as long as I was full when finished. I settled on Hot Pockets.
The thought of hot pockets now makes me gag. They may be one of the most processed foods available to the US consumer. Every ingredient is modified in some way (i.e. hydrogenated oil, modified corn starch) or is simply a byproduct of another (corn syrup solids??). Overall, this leads the average hotpocket to a wonderfully bland, salty, fatty taste. Most importantly for me at the sunday evening juncture...its cheap. None of these ingredients 'cost' anything. Most of them are the remains from other products produced by Nestle. I think Pollan would be rather disappointed in my decision, but he is a succesful writer with money and co-ops, I'm a broke college student with a gas station.
But, the cost is truly passed on to society. Personally, I the consumer see it in the form of life shortening. I swear I'll live a week shorter just for eating the two (yep) that I did. Other costs are the result of small farms closing and rural communties withering as corporate food producers maintain the amount of economic power they do. So Nestle may be able to make monetarily 'cheap' products, but they are societally devestating. After reflecting on this choice, I realize that ethically I made the wrong decision. I should not support unhealthy swill being marketed to the masses as inexpensive option for eating. Rather I should advocate for the opposite. But, sadly in the country, who among us can say they havent made my mistake....even once.
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I'm definitely worser off in this department than you. I tend to buy Lean Pockets (I pretend they're better for me) with which to stuff my face.
ReplyDeleteMondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I work on campus until 12pm and then have to bus back to my apartment and drive to my internship in Northeast by 1. If I don't leave work early, that gives me about ten minutes to change into more appropriate clothing and eat something. Hot Pockets win the game because of portability.
I am shaving months off my life, aren't I?
You guys...
ReplyDeleteI know my position is unpopular amongst liberals (and I am a liberal, just a weird one), but I don't think that you are actually ravaging your bodies by eating these foods. Yes, moderation... but just because the ingredients can only be understood by a chemist doesn't mean that they're deadly or building up in your fatty tissues and slowly killing you.
One of the byproducts of our culture is this intense guilt about food. I think this plays a huge role. You guys both probably know that if it were really just about cost, everyone would eat baked beans and rice - a child can make it, you can cook it on Monday and eat it all week, its nutritious, its actually cheaper than junk food, etc. - but Snickers hit your pleasure centers better - and is Nestle actually bad for exploiting that, or are they amazing because sometimes it feels SO GOOD to eat a Snickers ?? (granted, sometimes it feels... terrible.)
The degree to which the food you are eating is unhealthy is mostly dependent on your body and mind - in ways you are able to help and in some ways that you aren't - I think we really downplay lifestyle choices here when we blame cheap food manufacturers for making us unhealthy or causing us to not live as long. The fact that we have *choice* is a huge responsibility - it means that we can use our five dollars to buy a bag of mixed nuts and a reusable water bottle or we can get what we REALLY want - a 500-800 calorie meal that'll stick to our bones. There is nothing inherently wrong with occasionally dining on hot pockets - there is something a little sketchy about blaming someone else for that choice though, when in reality, you can eat cheaply and 'healthfully' and without a huge time commitment, but you probably don't want to anymore than I do (I love me some fatty sugary saltiness.)
I think "super size me" shows us something pretty worthwhile, too - that McDonalds really messes you up... WHEN you eat nothing else, don't exercise, and over-eat, every day.
There are sketchy politics to the food industry - granted. And there is an argument that making fattening, sugary food "cheap" is evil because it exploits poor people, just one more downward pressure (which inherently also assumes that people aren't smart enough to decide what to feed themselves... or that "society" sort of insidiously created this culture of people who would be conveniently unable to 'choose' to eat well) ...
but I am skeptical. I am skeptical when someone says that they don't have enough time to cook or to exercise. There are trade-offs. More likely, people are 'choosing' something that they (subconsciously?) have given higher importance than their long term health - and I don't really want to live in a world that eliminates a lot of choice in order to protect people who, by someones definition, are making 'bad choices' ...
In conclusion (sorry if this is a bit of a ramble!)
I say, eat your damn hot pockets! and enjoy them, if you do - and they probably aren't killing you (but if you're really worried about it, maybe I'll do my intervention project on "what is in a hot pocket".. because I still haven't decided.). But probably you can't sustain your life on hot pockets alone - this wouldn't maximize most people's utility :) And probably you should exercise, be semi aware of how much you eat, and sleep regularly, and drink enough fluids, go to the doctor regularly, brush your teeth, etc... yadda yadda - so many factors, so many choices!
If you *are* going to stress out about that hot pocket, and if you *do* kinda hate Nestle for the politics... there are alternatives, my friends :)
First off, Julie, really admirable that you try to let your fridge run down. As an irrational consumer with just enough money (I hope) not to worry about a grocery run when my essential ingredients (mostly veggies) are turning to mush, it is easy to let the system of my own eating habits turn into a black box. And that's considering I'm fairly inconsistent in my 'organic/natural' food-buying (much like Esther says, love the co-op spring greens but every now and then, love the Reese's ice cream), so it's easy to lose track of what exactly I am eating.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I will bounce off of our weird liberal friend and say that I am a firm believer in the need to liberate oneself from the oppression of culturally-accepted guilt resulting from eating pretty much anything. Yes, everything you do counts, but much of that guilt is quantitative, based on a mathematical dietary logic that one could map on a Cartesian grid, which I think is often confused with decisions based on ethics.
Also, I was compelled to consider the potential differences in views on maximization of enjoyment from culture to culture, when earlier today I overheard in passing, "well you know what the Italians say - never trust a skinny chef!"
However, if I thought that personally boycotting one of those ethically-questionable, Rot-Pocket-like corporations would take away from their hold on millions of daily diets (the 'super-size me' kind), it's a different story - I would definitely restrict my occasional purchase of Rot.
Woops! I thought that was Julie's blog entry. To clarify, I was indeed responding to Heller's.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Heller.
ReplyDeleteEstheria reminded me of a sign I see at a small sandwich joint I eat at once a week: "You've had many choices for your meal today, but you came here. We appreciate your business!" Choices I believe is huge and we can all eat at home with the right circumstances. But when we're busy with life, school, etc., whatever can fix that hunger (hot pockets is a pretty quick fix), most of us will resort to that option. Do I believe companies can make these hot pockets healthier, tastier, and hopefully, guilt-free. But it will cost us more though because of operating costs to the company.
Till then, that greasy sausage and mozzarela hot pocket can get me by for the time being.