“When did it become okay to eat in bookstores?” That’s what Marion Nestle, author of Food Politics and New York University professor, asked at a keynote speech she gave at Monterey Bay Aquarium’s annual Sustainable Foods Institute / Cooking For Solutions event last weekend.
Pointing at the growing obesity problem in the U.S., Marion railed against the big food corporations that are making fattening foods ubiquitous, putting nutritionally-poor snacks everywhere, including school vending machines.
We got her point. After all, the audience itself was trying to hold itself back from this spread at the back of the room:
Yes, those would be giant, M&M-studded cookies and chemical-filled, too-sweet soft drinks.
To be fair, the foods served at the Cooking For Solutions events were, overall, much healthier and more sustainable than the traditional American fare. Earlier that day, for example, the crowd enjoyed a fresh, fruity breakfast where juicy strawberries dominated the buffet table, then an organic, salad-heavy lunch buffet at Earthbound Farms. But the afternoon snacks provided by the hotel where the event was held made for an unusual — yet telling — juxtaposition, illustrating in the back of the room exactly what Marion was expounding about in the front.
At the podium, Marion pointed to the constant availability of junk foods as a big part of the problem. After all, self-control doesn’t come in an unlimited supply. “Individuals can’t do this on their own,” Marion explained. “It’s too hard.” The food has to be stopped at the source, so smaller portions are served in fewer places — including smaller portions even of organic desserts, which Marion said were “undermining the spirit of organics”: “If you’re going to buy junk food, I’d rather buy organic versus non organic – but that’s about as far as it goes.”
What Marion’s talk really brought into focus for me was how much our expectations as individuals about food have been shaped by the forces that have made cheap junk food ubiquitous. Most people I know aren’t railing against baked goods in bookstores. In fact, bookstore cafes have become practically de rigeur; people expect them.
And even at a sustainable food conference, we expect to see food at every break, at every turn. Most of us (me included) had probably eaten way too much lunch at Earthbound Farms that day — because those 8 different kinds of organic mini desserts, ranging from chocolate cookies to jammy tarts, were really, really tough to resist. Yet just a few hours later — and just hours before a gala event when 75 restaurants were going to be offering tastes of gourmet dishes — the audience was nibbling on gigantic afternoon snacks.
We’ve come to expect afternoon snacks — and morning and evening snacks too. On Thursday, when no afternoon nibbles tray came around, my friend Tracy Hepler of Your Daily Thread said, “Are they not feeding us anymore?” She said this jokingly — but her comment’s one that I think crossed the minds of many of the attendees, who craned their necks looking around for the snack cart during the 45-minute break.
How do we take away junk food from a society that expects and demands it all the time? Do we simply serve organic-certified junk food? Limit the snack tray to fruit and crudite? Get rid of the snacks altogether?
And what do you do when the snack tray comes around at conferences and other big events? Do you welcome it, rail against it — or find yourself nibbling from it despite efforts to keep away?
Earlier:
>> Paul Hawken wants you to take back your tastebuds
>> Monterey Bay Aquarium guilted me into using my PeopleTowel
Top photo courtesy of foodpolitics.com; bottom photo by Siel
Agreed that there’s too much of a “food expectation” at every turn, I think for every event I’ve planned for work, no matter what time of day, there’s always the question “Who are we getting to cater?”
For me, I tend to pass on snack trays unless it’s actually unique — and keep my hands and mouth occupied with a low-/no- calorie beverage; water, coffee, and the very occasional diet soda.
But I definitely like the idea of crudites and fruits for snacks!
Comment by H.C. — May 24, 2010 @ 10:13 am
You know, Siel, I hadn’t caught the irony of this until reading your post. And I was at another conference recently about healthful, sustainable foods, and until people complained, huge candy bars and sodas dominated the central table.
I plead guilty, too. I moved to the back of the conference room to get a better view of Marion Nestle, and when I passed that cookie table, I grabbed one, even though, honestly, I didn’t even want it. Mea culpa!
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Comment by Cheryl — May 24, 2010 @ 11:30 am
I recently attended a conference that was heavy on the problem hunger in Africa, yet we too had abundant goodies. Happily, said goodies included fruit, cheese, and whole grain crackers in addition to cookies, but it still felt wrong to be eating snacks while discussing the hunger of our brothers and sisters across the ocean.
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Comment by Anastasia — May 24, 2010 @ 1:15 pm
oh, man, I hear you. Recently, I’ve read a couple different articles in various places that talk about the need for snacks with kids’ events. I teach environmental ed, so I follow a lot of mommy blogs. Several people discussed the ridiculous expectations that food be served even at a two hour event.
This summer, I’ve got summer camp for preschoolers and kindergartners, and I’m expected to do snack each day. Again, it’s just a two hour camp. I would think the parents would want me to have their kids outside, doing stuff instead of sitting indoors having snack.
One thing is for sure: I am planning to give the kids water with their snacks and not juice. I’m firmly committed to the idea that kids really do get too much sugar, and a big part of their exposure is through “healthy” juice (and faux-juices). When I have kids, I fully intend to reserve juice for special events — basically, to treat it like soda. Soda will be saved for once or twice a year splurges. That’s how I live my life now, and there’s no reason why we can’t do the same with kids.
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Comment by Leah — May 24, 2010 @ 2:26 pm
It’s a tough conundrum, because even as someone who already knows we as a society have way too much snacking opportunities around and often overeat at meals in general, I must honestly say that when the snack or dessert tray comes out, I look forward to nibbling from it.
I guess it’s hardwired response, which is why Marion and others are pointing out that the opportunities should not be presented in the first place because once presented, people (me included) find it tough to resist. And with cheap junk food being, well, so cheap, it becomes so cheap to make people happy (at least v. temporarily) by feeding them high fructose corn syrup and transfats.
I guess for now I am in the crudites and fruit camp — at least to ease people into a better healthier way of living / eating, since as Leah’s pointing out, getting rid of snacks altogether seems to inspire great stress and angst. ‘Sides, I don’t know anyone who got fat by eating watermelon :) Fruits and veggies allow people to better observe natural stopping points, at least.
Comment by Siel — June 19, 2010 @ 3:12 pm