My friend Sarah sent me this amazing article on class and food in the UK from the Guardian. It's a must read for anyone who's ever judged families at the drive-thru.
To care about food is to enjoy pleasure, but it often also means caring about people and social structure. Crumbling family life, long work hours and readily-available processed foods are just as hard at work in our country as they are in the UK -- even more so, I would say. I can't be more eloquent than the Guardian writer, so I'm not going to try.
While flipping channels the other day, I saw a clip on Inside Edition featuring a woman who claimed to feed her family of five on $10/week. Sadly, her savings came from studious manufacturer's coupon clipping in combination with in-stores savings -- which of course means no fresh food. Her family, as you can imagine, looked overweight, including the little ones. Telling quote:
To care about food is to enjoy pleasure, but it often also means caring about people and social structure. Crumbling family life, long work hours and readily-available processed foods are just as hard at work in our country as they are in the UK -- even more so, I would say. I can't be more eloquent than the Guardian writer, so I'm not going to try.
While flipping channels the other day, I saw a clip on Inside Edition featuring a woman who claimed to feed her family of five on $10/week. Sadly, her savings came from studious manufacturer's coupon clipping in combination with in-stores savings -- which of course means no fresh food. Her family, as you can imagine, looked overweight, including the little ones. Telling quote:
"Best of all, she says her family is not deprived; they eat the same store brands as everyone else."It breaks my heart. I don't know where I'm going with all this. But I don't see the situation improving as our economy tanks.
This article makes me want to eat a box of doughnuts.
It's true that limited budgets can mean less nutritious food. But, I think a lot of it comes down to priorities. Families who never eat fast food or from a corner bodega are going to have more options at the grocery store. Getting fresh produce into low-income neighborhood grocery stores (if there even ARE grocery stores) is another story.
Jeanne -- u r funny. Didn't you love the phrase "As phlegmatic as a tricoteuse at the guillotine"?
Hilary -- You're right about the fresh produce in the stores thing. I remember being pretty shocked when I moved into Sunset Park at how sad the produce selection was at the National, esp. coming from CA where low income Mexicans and Asians like their fruits and veggies.
But what good is the $1 bag of squash if you don't know what to do with that squash? Cooking, like grammar, is something you either pick up from the people around you or you learn through self-application. To make something delicious from cheap scraps is not something that comes naturally.
Just as education is supposed to be a child's means out of economic poverty, perhaps cooking needs to be framed as a necessity, a means of helping the chips and chocolate crowd out of cardiovascular poverty. Because this kind of poverty is no less devastating to a family in the long run -- it taxes our healthcare systems, it can mean shorter working lives for parents, early health problems for kids.
But maybe these families need to first learn to yearn for more, to know that there is a better way and to strive for that better way. I don't know. I could use a box of doughnuts now, too.
You guys should read this article from The Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/09/nyregion/09promise.html
I'm a huge fan of Geoffrey Canada, and I remembered this article because I thought it was such a smart thing to do.