Mastodawn

Audelle Hinnant Feb 27

In my opinion; food is created specifically for consumerism purposes. "Your stomach is growling? Stick this chemical filled substance into your stomach. It has meat and some kind of vitamins inside it. Although the chemicals may negate the vitamin intake, we've flavoured it so that your taste buds believe it's editable.
You're hungry, don't worry we have 500 options for your stomach.
This is why we're sick.
#consumerism and #capitalism at their finest!

I mean...yes, people do produce food in order that others (and themselves) may consume it.

Audelle Hinnant Feb 27

@AlexanderKingsbury yes. There are farms, and food produced without chemicals. However, it is becoming harder to find cheap, healthier options when you only have a 30 minute lunch break, don't drive, and forget your lunch.
Working in a grocery store, I see how much product has shelf dates of several months. Yes, the preserving chemicals are in there. However, I am speaking of the other chemicals. The foods designed to trick your brain. That has helped with the #consumerism disease.

AKingsbury Feb 27

"The chemicals designed to trick your brain"? As in, sugar and fat?

Audelle Hinnant Feb 27

@AlexanderKingsbury I said it was my opinion.
Flavour enhancers
Boost taste without adding real ingredients.
- Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
- Disodium inosinate / disodium guanylate
- Artificial flavours (umbrella term for lab‑created compounds)
This is what I was referring to.

Audelle Hinnant Feb 27

@AlexanderKingsbury I don't know about the rest of the world, but it is an US thing.

AKingsbury Feb 27

Well, there are such thing all over the world, different in different places, of course. For what it's worth, MSG is naturally occurring; it's coupled with the "umami" flavor profile.

But yes, people do put a lot of effort into making things tasty, even at the cost of health. But is that really so odd? For a birthday party, would you rather I make you a cake or a kale salad?

Audelle Hinnant Feb 27

@AlexanderKingsbury kale salad. 😆 but I don't like a lot of sweets. If I had a cake, I would want it hand made from non bleached all natural food. However, I prefer good old fashioned pastry, like Franzbrötchen.

AKingsbury Feb 27

Which is fine...and also the result of processing. Flour, refined sugar, these things do not occur naturally. If you prefer a chocolate franzbrötchen, as all sane people do, the chocolate itself involves a fair bit of fermentation, milling, etc. It just seems kind of arbitrary. Even artificial or synthetic ingredients are really just the result of people taking naturally occurring materials and sending them through various processes, as a miller grinds grain to get flour.

Audelle Hinnant Feb 27

@AlexanderKingsbury yes. However, there is a difference between taking your wheat to the mill and grinding it for making bread. It is after the grinding it and sending it to the factory. An example of this is sending it to a bread making company. You send it to the bread making company and they add, not only preservatives, but "taste enhancement" chemicals to it. Along with additives, food colouring, and other chemicals. They are not necessary to our bodies.

AKingsbury Feb 27

Most things we eat are not necessary to our bodies. It's not a necessity to eat franzbrötchen, or any pastry really. It's a mistake to point to "necessity" as a legitimate metric in most contexts. Thankfully, and in no small part thanks to capitalism, we have moved far, FAR beyond the point where we only satisfy basic necessities.

Audelle Hinnant Feb 28

@AlexanderKingsbury I understand your point. However, I would rather eat a farm raised chicken from my yard, with grains from my own crops, with bread from my own grains, and vegetables from heirloom seeds, and live a longer life without the consumerism ideology that stock piling your shelves with chemical filled bits and bobs they call food, as something "normal".
It's not normal and it's why people are sick.

AKingsbury Feb 28

There are plenty of people who would prefer to raise all their own food. A handful of them even do. But different people have different priorities, and I don't see anything wrong with that.

Audelle Hinnant Feb 28

@AlexanderKingsbury hey, like I said at the very it's my opinion. I think if you want food that fills you up, with no nutritional value whatsoever, that's up to you.
I never said there was anything wrong with people doing what they enjoyed.
What I said was it's the reason we're all sick, and it was caused by consumerism.
Consumerism is caused by capitalism.
Humanity became so board, all they do is fill their houses and bodies with convenience.

AKingsbury Feb 28

I think there are many reasons people are ill, but I think it's a mistake to point to capitalism as the cause, even indirectly. If the worst thing it ever does is produce too much abundance, that's a small price to pay.

AKingsbury Feb 28

A lot of these issues are not the fault of capitalism. Take corn, for example. It's in about half the food products available, and most doctors think that's bad. Why is it in so many products? Not because people demand that; it's because corn is super cheap (well, kind of). Why is it so cheap? The government HEAVILY subsidizes it, AKA violates the free market principles of capitalism.