At an informal gathering, I participated in a discussion about a proposed sugar tax in New Zealand. The conversation centered on the taxation of food, government over-intervention, and ways to encourage healthier eating. Everyone felt a moral obligation to improve people’s eating habits. However, we agreed that food has varying levels of usefulness and nutritional value for each person and has no inherent moral value.
A repeated suggestion was to educate people about food and its origins, especially the poor. But wealthy investors want to continue using any means to increase the profits of their genetically modified foods, including slave labor and abuse. People already understand food. Let me give you an example.
As I drive to work each morning, I pass a Domino’s pizza franchise. The other day, I noticed a poster for a meat-lovers pizza in their window. The calorie count was twice the size of the price, taking up a third of the page. It’s more important to tell people how many calories are in a pizza than its price. Who thinks that anyone buying a meat-lover pizza is ignorant or cares about calories? You’re either buying it cheap to feed a hungry family, or you want a greasy pizza and care about calories. You could put the calories in a big, scary font with flames, and people would still buy it because they want it or have no other option.
I have a problem with educating people about food, primarily when it’s aimed at poor people, who are the biggest consumers of fast/processed food. Fast/processed food is cheap, and the attitude that poor people need to be educated about food is classism, usually coming from the wealthy.
A person from a lower socioeconomic background knows more about food and its value than any affluent person. As someone who has lived through poverty, I can tell you we know everything about the food we spend our little money on. I would spend more time looking at the price than the nutritional value. I wanted the most filling, calorie-loaded food that would last the longest for the least amount of money. Poor people aren’t ignorant; they’re poor. They don’t choose fast food because they don’t know any better; they prefer it because it’s cheap, easy, filling, and available.
Fat people are often misunderstood as ignorant about food. However, I’ve been educated about food since childhood and am now 52. I’ve spent decades calculating food facts due to dieting and disordered eating habits. I’m not alone in this experience. Fat people are the least ignorant about food’s nutritional information. Poor people are often the least aware of it, too.
To help people eat more nutritious food, we must make it affordable. A living wage for fast food workers would make healthy food as expensive as fast food. Imagine working a long day to cover expenses and having little time to shop for and prepare vegetables. You need something quick, hot, and filling, which is why fast food workers often work long hours.
Enough ranting. I’m concerned about the addictive chemicals in low-cost food that keep me coming back for more. Withdrawal symptoms are here!
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