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Ch. 5 - The processing plant : making complex foods

#31: Oct. - Dec. 2006 (Non-Fiction)
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Chris OConnor

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Ch. 5 - The processing plant : making complex foods

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This thread is for discussing Chapter 5, The processing plant: making complex foods.
SolinaJoki

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Some musings on calorie-free food:In the Chapter 3 discussion, Mr. P says: "...Pollan also mentions some chicanery in food science in which there are developments in foods that do not get digested, and thus do not fill our bellies...and thus will have us spending more on industrial food. What the fuck!? Does this not piss everyone else off?"Pissed me off royally! I have been ranting about this since reading it a month ago! It is as if we know nothing other than "I want what I want and I want it now." It strikes me that this is the same dilemma as our looming energy problems. Rather than moving to a way of living that requires less energy in order to preserve our limited resources, we are trying to use technology to solve the problem for us, by attempting to produce as much energy from wind, geothermal, solar, etc., that oil has provided us for the last century. And don't get me started on nuclear!How about learning to love carrots and celery for snacks rather than calorie-free processed food? How about learning to use less air conditioning/heating or walking instead of driving rather than burning more oil. We do not do well with saying "no" to ourselves. Was this true 100 years ago, but there were not the material substances to indulge in? Or have we changed?I have been wondering if this "I want what I want and I want it now" is a North American trait or human nature? On the side of human nature, the Easter Islanders did say "Got to have more statues, regardless of the consequences." Perhaps we North Americans revere our Starbucks coffee and Krispy Kremes in the same way that the Easter Islanders revered their statues. Here in my part of Canada, there are a whole lot more people who spend Sunday mornings at Tim Horton's having doughnuts and coffee before the little league game than in church like they used to 50 years ago. Are we being lead by industry in the same way we used to be lead by the church?
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Re: Ch. 5 - The processing plant : making complex foods

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Just want to say ONE thing in response to this right now...Tim Horton was a great hockey player!! Mr. P. Mr. P's place. I warned you!!!Mr. P's Bookshelf.The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper
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Re: Ch. 5 - The processing plant : making complex foods

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SolinaJoki: How about learning to love carrots and celery for snacks rather than calorie-free processed food?It isn't even really necessary to make it a struggle between raw vegetables and processed food. It is, after all, possible to make pastries and confections that aren't 80% corn syrup. And I guarantee you that we can make them a damn site healthier, too. What we can't do, apparantly, is make them more natural and more healthy and distribute them over 1,000 square miles with a shelf life of two years.I have been wondering if this "I want what I want and I want it now" is a North American trait or human nature?I've been reading some Wendell Berry lately, and I'm starting to wonder if our conspicuous consumption isn't in some part the result of distorting early American ideology -- the notion that we're all self-sufficient individuals to the extent that we're practically islands unto ourselves. Which, incidentally, ties into our short story discussion about "The Willows" (ahem, plug).Are we being lead by industry in the same way we used to be lead by the church?Just based on some prior reading, I'd say that early North American attitudes towards church were also a great deal more democratic and liberal than our modern attitudes towards consumption.
SolinaJoki

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Tim Horton was a hockey player?! Field or ice? But seriously now, I say (knowing nothing about hockey) he makes a great cup of coffee My husband says, "Yeah, but he was no Davey Keon."
AubreyAlexis

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I have never felt more taken advantage of than when I read this chapter. I feel betrayed by the one industry (food) that is supposed to support our intrinsic needs..... not change them, not USE us as a way to dispose of product and make money!I am also very suspicious now after reading what Pollan said about "natural raspberry flavor." BAH!
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