This morning, on the local TV news site, I saw an interesting interview/article about a local High School Government Class. For context, it's important to remember that here in Mississippi, we are the "largest" of the fifty states which is pretty impressive for a state that actually ranks 32nd among the 50 in actually land area. In Mississippi, we are winning the fat race.
I often, sarcastically say to friends, "Mississippi is finally first in something." Now don't get me wrong this is my adopted state and it's been good to me. I have wonderful friends here and love the area. It's like family, I can criticize but you sure better not unless you live here (or have lived here).
How does this relate to the local government class? The instructor took his students on two trips, one to a grocery store and one to the unnamed fast food joint of the Golden Arches. They were tasked in the market to find vegetables for one dollar. Then, at the fast food restaurant they were asked to buy food for one dollar. When they got back to class they compared their shopping.
In the interview about the project, government teacher Hardy James said, "For the first time in probably, in human history, what we eat makes us sick. That's really kind of crazy. And there are government policies behind these cheap, high-calorie, low-nutrition foods."
I'm very impressed that this high school government class is discussing the politics of food. The interview goes onto state that the "goal of the lesson was to get students to question what's in their food and who should be to blame for the spike in obesity and diabetes". Fascinating stuff, at least for me. I'm not one to say the government should regulate what we eat, but it's hardly even a question that the US Government hand in hand with big industry tweaked the way we use food, produce food, and view food. (Read Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma for a discussion on corn and how it drives our food market.) If you're interested in watching the video of this shopping experiment, check it out Here.
They were tasked in the market to find vegetables for one dollar.
ReplyDeleteExcept you can get several pounds of potatoes for a dollar. Or cabbage. Apples. Bananas. If you check the produce bargain counter (every store should have one!), you can get produce for about 1/4 the original price.
That does not mean I support the farm bill or subsidizing corn sweetener and taxing the heck out of imported sugar to protect those five sugar beet farmers in Montana or milk price supports (hello, legislators! It's 2010! We have a good highway system and cold chain now - milk does not have to be produced locally!) etc, in any way. But it is possible to eat healthfully and inexpensively if you do your own cooking.
I wanted to slap the family in Food Inc who had spent $11 for a meal at McDonald's and were whining about the dad's diabetes and their weight problem. Half the money had gone to soda. For $11, I could have fed that family a roasted chicken, potatoes, broccoli, and dessert and had money left over.
....In Australia there are "hidden ingredients" largely including corn syrup - added to enhance the taste of just about everything. We need laws around truth on labels. How many people would "magically" drop pounds/kilos by cooking and eating food from scratch ( and trust me it doesnt have to be slow food - then again in winter my slow cooker is my best friend as well but that is a whole otehr story.....) I can ( and have ) fed a family of 5 on less than $50 a week - including snakcs and home baked goodies and noone went hungry or without. I sprouted my own seeds under the kitchen sink for fresh greens ( including alfalfa, snow pea shoots and mung beans ) have grown and picked vegetables for salad and crunch and soup in pots on unit verandahs...or kitchen windows...mmmm Can you tell I am passionate about this????
ReplyDeleteI can remember having similar classes when I was in high school but it didn't really hit home until I got out on my own and was able to start making my own choices about what I would buy and eat. I hope this sticks with these kids and really makes them think.
ReplyDeleteCF, I'm not sure how well the article described the the purpose of the lesson or how the lesson was implemented. I was just impressed that the a government class was taking time to look into food. I remember my senior year I had one semester of government and one semester of economics taught by the same teacher. That's about all I remember. What I do seem to remember is that it was mostly focused on foreign policy and it certainly never touched on domestic discussions like farm bills.
ReplyDeleteMaggs, glad to see your new blog! I haven't had time to read your full entry yet but I'll try to make it over there this evening. It's actually hard for me to wrap my mind around "hidden" ingredients. Here, they are all out in the open, it's just that many people don't bother (or care) to read labels and often don't know what the ingredients are when they do. I heard on our National Public Radio the other day that there is a movement among the high fructose corn syrup people to have the name changed on labeling because hfcs has gotten such bad publicity. Food has taken so many strange turns in our modern world.
Elisa, I hope it helps them think about the choices they make for themselves. Sadly, one girl in the interview was already blaming obesity on the government.