The NYT just published this interesting article about how Americans, despite all efforts to convince them otherwise, refuse to eat their vegetables (I combine the exception categories in one curved swoop: an older, well-educated, better-paid woman).
This fascinates me on a purely rhetorical level: here we have serious efforts of persuasion that fail, and fail again, and then fail some more. I am also delighted by the Rockin' Baby Carrot Campaign, though I think reimagining baby carrots as junk food is probably NOT the wisest decision. But who knows what works with kids these days?
The two points that stand out for me beyond all the whining excuses are these: vegetables are expensive, and they require work to integrate them into a meal. If we want more Americans to eat veggies, we first need to make them cheaper--rather than subsidizing processed foods that at once fatten us while starving us of vital nutrients, we should apply those subsidies to make vegetables cheaper (and the logical first place to start this is Food Stamps). I really think that's the quickest and best fix. But it'd also be good to teach America's children more about good eating habits--there is a clarity of mind in young people, who see things in Black and White, that makes them amenable to clear arguments about healthy choices, and they would take this propaganda home with them (childless that I am, I might be romanticizing America's youth--still, I have seen 9-year-olds that are remarkably receptive to anti-smoking arguments, for instance). In the longterm, these children would also have the education about food to make better choices and avoid fad diets--this could be a comprehensive win.
All of this is fantasy territory, however. The corporate food producers fattened and fed by subsidies will never let Congress make such a change, and even I can see that America's education system needs other fixes first, as we slide ever lower in reading and math.
My oldest nephew (currently age 11) is an herbivore. He has ALWAYS preferred veggies over meat. My theory? He grew up with a mother and father whose primary food source is, you guessed it, veggies. My other nephew will not eat veggies. My theory? His parents are not veggie eaters. It has to start at home...but, it won't do any good if our school systems won't support those efforts. Also, I think people are intimidated by veggies because they don't know how to cook them. Sounds silly...but, it's true.
ReplyDeleteOh, I absolutely agree that kids will eat what is expected of them. My older brother was the pickier eater of the two of us, but we always ate our vegetables because they were always around and served to us--well, except for the green peas. :)
ReplyDeleteVeggies are harder--you have to prep them, flavor them, and cook them. I cooked vegetarian for years before I started cooking meat, and to this day I'm still floored by how much easier it can be to prepare a meat entree as opposed to a vegetarian one (one of the reasons why I'm more inclined to cook meat for myself). But as the article points out, even prepped veggies and pre-washed salads aren't enough to get people to start eating more vegetables.
I am not sure in the end what is really needed to make us healthier, but it's a cultural thing rather than an individual one, much as the obesity epidemic is cultural. To my mind, when you have so many people fitting a pattern, you miss the forest for the trees when you blame it on individual choice.