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Among scientists, there is a remarkable consensus that the current [food] policy direction cannot continue. These contradictions are unbearable – literally so, because if the world continues the trend to eat like the West, the burdens on ecosystems, healthcare systems and finance will be unsupportable. That, at least, is the uncomfortable conclusion one must draw, when one looks at the evidence.
But since when has the politics of consumption been about evidence? The few studies conducted into consumers' response to this big picture about unsustainable diets show that consumers become a little indignant when they find out. A careful study by Which? found consumers asking: why weren't we told about this? They want to know more. Rightly so, but how, and from whom?
Hard-pressed teachers turn to commerce for fact sheets. Parents are too often in the dark, if truth be told. Nor could any food label convey the depth and scale of what consumers really need to know. Giant food companies have replaced schools and parents as sources of public "education". They are the Nanny Corporations, replacing the fictitious Nanny State. They filter what people are to know. Coca-Cola's annual marketing budget is US$4billion (£3.18 billion), twice the entire World Health Organisation annual budget in 2014-15, and much more than its budget for non-communicable diseases ($0.32 billion) or for promoting health through the life-course ($0.39 billion).
How can this by unlocked? Consumers buying food too often without knowing the consequences. Politicians distancing themselves from this unfolding disaster. Workers and companies vying with each other to produce more for less. This is crazy ecological economics – self-defeating food culture. It piles up burdens on public health.
It's obvious really – a new politics of food has to unfold in which academics treat consumers with dignity and tell them the truth. Politics follows the public, not the other way round. So it's the public which must be helped. The neoliberal rhetoric is of consumer sovereignty, yet everywhere they are kept in the dark.
That must be why authorities are encouraging entomophagy: "Let them eat bugs!"
(Score: 5, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday April 21 2017, @06:41PM (5 children)
I'm limited to under $20 a week for groceries usually. Yes, it's that bad. And I eat a looooot of (brown) rice and beans.
There are two key things to remember here:
1) a grain and a pulse = complete protein, vegan even and
2) If you're okay with animal products, get bones and make stock. Stock makes EVERYTHING taste better. If meat is no good, you can do mushroom stock but it's not the same.
Tonight I'm going to use the last of the big pot of stock I made to make several days' worth of split pea soup. 1lb washed split peas, 1C stock with fat, water, heat, and time. Eat with rice and bob's yer mother's brother.
Lentils are also awesome. You can make curries, soups, etc fairly cheaply; again, combine with rice or whole-grain pasta, whichever is cheap.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 21 2017, @08:56PM (2 children)
Many people have trouble digesting beans. There is a reason why we make jokes about beans causing gas. Cultures that consume good amount of beans all developed, over a long period of time, intricate and laborious processes to make it easier to digest - i.e., humus, felafal, tofu, refried beans, etc.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday April 22 2017, @12:17AM
All very true, and I've probably got good genetics in this regard. Soaking the little bastards overnight helps too, I find, as does mixing carminative spices into the dish.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday April 22 2017, @11:39AM
Gas from eating beans and lots of leafy green vegetables seems to abate after a couple of weeks, even for people from food cultures that don't normally eat those things. Your body adjusts. The research on microflora in your gut and its role in processing your food may explain why that is--change the inputs in your system and different varieties of bacteria will thrive.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 22 2017, @01:23AM
I was on a similar diet in college, the catch phrase was "economic vegetarian". The bible was "Diet for A Small Planet", an old copy just surfaced during spring cleaning and it holds up nicely after all those years.
At the time it just seemed normal, no real problems. 40 years later I still eat vege every week (1-2 days usually). If I did rice & beans all the time I'm afraid that I would blow the budget on Beano...or else my stomach would explode from gas.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday April 22 2017, @12:30PM
If things are that dire, i would urge anyone in that state to check out their local food bank. My mother volunteers at one. They have piles of high quality stuff they can't give away because most of the people who go there are looking for McDonald's. So all of the gourmet food, the ethnic options, go unclaimed. It being the West, they also get pounds and pounds of venison and other game donated by hunters. Nobody takes it because "it tastes funny."
If you don't have a food bank near you, but can fish or hunt it's a great way to supplement your diet. Lots of people did it where i grew up. You can feed a family of four for a year off 1 elk. You can also make friends with hunters and fishermen and offer to pay for their tags, because many of them love to hunt and fish for the activity itself. And because you can drink before noon. They have fun, you get the meat.
Washington DC delenda est.