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ShareHow do we choose what to eat? Buffeted by health claims--should we, for example, restrict our intake of carbs or fats or both? Is organic food better for us?--we become confused and tune out.
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In supermarkets we buy semi-consciously, unaware that our choices are carefully orchestrated by sophisticated marketing strategies concerned only with the bottom line.
That we should confront such persuasion is the major point made by nutritionist-consumer advocate Marion Nestle in her extraordinary What to Eat, an aisle-by-aisle guide to supermarket buying and thus an anatomy of American food business.
"The way food is situated in today's society discourages healthful food choices," Nestle tells us, a fact that finds literal representation in our supermarkets, where food placement--dependant on "slotting fees," guaranteed advertising and other incentives--determines every purchase we make.
Nestle walks readers through every supermarket section--produce, meat, fish, dairy, packaged foods, bottled waters, and more--decoding labels and clarifying nutritional and other claims (in supermarket-speak, for example, "fresh" means most likely to spoil first, not recently picked or prepared), and in so doing explores issues like the effects of food production on our environment, the way pricing works, and additives and their effect on nutrition.
What Nestle reveals is both discouraging and empowering.
Through ubiquitous advertising, almost universal food availability, the growth of portion size, and unchecked marketing to kids, we're encouraged to eat more than we need, with consequent negative impact on our health.
For more information about the title What to Eat, read the full description at Amazon.com, or see the following related books:
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals — A New York Times bestseller that has changed the way readers view the ecology of eating, this revolutionary book by award winner Michael Pollan asks ... > read more
Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century — Worldchanging is poised to be the Whole Earth Catalog for this millennium. Written by leading new thinkers who believe that the means for building a ... > read more
Syndrome X: The Complete Nutritional Program to Prevent and Reverse Insulin Resistance — If you're aging prematurely, getting fatter, feeling sluggish, and watching your blood pressure and cholesterol sneak upwards, you may have "Syndrome ... > read more
Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times (Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series) — The decline of cheap oil is inspiring increasing numbers of North Americans to achieve some measure of backyard food self-sufficiency. In hard times, ... > read moreRecommend this page on Facebook, Twitter,
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