Well, the problem there is A) assuming anything "Big Company" is bad,
Okay, you've got me there - I do tend to be anti-multinationals, but not just for the health reasons. But I doubt you really want to argue global economics and such. *grins*
and B) equating the "Big Company" with 'unhealthy'.
Okay, maybe not every multinational is unhealthy, however, what I found when I was there was when I read the labels of various products, there were much larger amounts of sugar, artificial flavours, artificial colours, fats and salts than I'm used to seeing in Aussie products. It's also just about impossible to get anything that isn't Jumbo Extra Large With An Added 10%. And it's stuff that doesn't last, like dip, for example, so of course you have to eat the whole thing in the same amount of time you would finish a smaller container in. Great for big families, but afaik, family sizes are shrinking, not expanding.
Anywhere you go, you can find a whole foods store or farmers' market with "natural-grown" produce and suchlike - you'll just pay more for it. Because the mass-produced stuff is CHEAPER to make and harvest, and you get what you pay for. Simple economics.
I beg to differ. Having travelled through a fair chunk of your fair nation, it is not easy to find whole foods stores etc. Yes, there are farmer's markets, so fresh fruit and veggies are easy to find, but I'm talking the other stuff - juice, margarine, milk, cheese, bread. In a lot of towns the supermarket is the only option, and within that only option there are few options.
Perhaps I noticed the difference because of where I'm from. In Australia, yes, we have those wacky healthfood type stores where everything's organic and additive free. We also have those sections in the supermarkets. I can go to my local Safeway and get fresh-squeezed orange juice with no added sugar, and cheese from Tasmania. And yes, there is a difference in price, but not always.
We have the cheap sandwich bread here (WONDER Bread, for example) that's got the nutritional value of cardboard, but it's also cheap. Whereas whole grain bread from a local bakery is better for you, but also more expensive.
Good example. Yes, we have our Wonder Bread equivalent, but within the same supermarket, on the same shelf, even, you have about ten other types of bread, including multigrain, wholemeal and rye variations. And some of it for the same amount of money, or not a lot more. And then I can go to the bakery and get another whole range of bread. That, to me, is choice. Not what I saw in American supermarkets.
But there's loads of freedom of choice (and for all Gerg would know about US habits, being a Great White Northerner, ptui) when it comes to food.
Ah, but we both saw it for ourselves whilst travelling from LA to Savannah, and beyond. ;)
There's not a lot of informed choice, simply because people are too lazy to inform themselves. Not some evil "Big Company" at work.
Yes and no. People are lazy, and the information is there for those with the resources and the questioning minds to seek it. However, if you are given only a certain amount of choice, how are you to know there are alternatives? It astounded me that in California, land of orange production, orange juice was still far more expensive than any other drink. Yes, you could probably buy good, cheap juice from the orchard itself, but how many people are going to go to that effort? Where are the small local juice company labels in the supermarket fridges? My guess is that any small company that tried to break into the market would end up being overwhelmed or bought out by the multinationals.
*shrugs* Maybe I'm too quick to decry the multinationals. But I'll stand by my comment that for all your freedom of choice, your actual choices are kind of limited. That's based on my own perceptions.,
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Re: Pernicious Anemia
Date: 2003-05-14 03:36 am (UTC)Okay, you've got me there - I do tend to be anti-multinationals, but not just for the health reasons. But I doubt you really want to argue global economics and such. *grins*
and B) equating the "Big Company" with 'unhealthy'.
Okay, maybe not every multinational is unhealthy, however, what I found when I was there was when I read the labels of various products, there were much larger amounts of sugar, artificial flavours, artificial colours, fats and salts than I'm used to seeing in Aussie products. It's also just about impossible to get anything that isn't Jumbo Extra Large With An Added 10%. And it's stuff that doesn't last, like dip, for example, so of course you have to eat the whole thing in the same amount of time you would finish a smaller container in. Great for big families, but afaik, family sizes are shrinking, not expanding.
Anywhere you go, you can find a whole foods store or farmers' market with "natural-grown" produce and suchlike - you'll just pay more for it. Because the mass-produced stuff is CHEAPER to make and harvest, and you get what you pay for. Simple economics.
I beg to differ. Having travelled through a fair chunk of your fair nation, it is not easy to find whole foods stores etc. Yes, there are farmer's markets, so fresh fruit and veggies are easy to find, but I'm talking the other stuff - juice, margarine, milk, cheese, bread. In a lot of towns the supermarket is the only option, and within that only option there are few options.
Perhaps I noticed the difference because of where I'm from. In Australia, yes, we have those wacky healthfood type stores where everything's organic and additive free. We also have those sections in the supermarkets. I can go to my local Safeway and get fresh-squeezed orange juice with no added sugar, and cheese from Tasmania. And yes, there is a difference in price, but not always.
We have the cheap sandwich bread here (WONDER Bread, for example) that's got the nutritional value of cardboard, but it's also cheap. Whereas whole grain bread from a local bakery is better for you, but also more expensive.
Good example. Yes, we have our Wonder Bread equivalent, but within the same supermarket, on the same shelf, even, you have about ten other types of bread, including multigrain, wholemeal and rye variations. And some of it for the same amount of money, or not a lot more. And then I can go to the bakery and get another whole range of bread. That, to me, is choice. Not what I saw in American supermarkets.
But there's loads of freedom of choice (and for all Gerg would know about US habits, being a Great White Northerner, ptui) when it comes to food.
Ah, but we both saw it for ourselves whilst travelling from LA to Savannah, and beyond. ;)
There's not a lot of informed choice, simply because people are too lazy to inform themselves. Not some evil "Big Company" at work.
Yes and no. People are lazy, and the information is there for those with the resources and the questioning minds to seek it. However, if you are given only a certain amount of choice, how are you to know there are alternatives? It astounded me that in California, land of orange production, orange juice was still far more expensive than any other drink. Yes, you could probably buy good, cheap juice from the orchard itself, but how many people are going to go to that effort? Where are the small local juice company labels in the supermarket fridges? My guess is that any small company that tried to break into the market would end up being overwhelmed or bought out by the multinationals.
*shrugs* Maybe I'm too quick to decry the multinationals. But I'll stand by my comment that for all your freedom of choice, your actual choices are kind of limited. That's based on my own perceptions.,