Jack, my relationship with food is indeed complicated. These perspectives are super insightful and will provide an assist in that complication! This essay totally reinforces the name of your Substack and is of service to us readers. 🙏
James, great to see your name here! Thanks so much for reading and sharing your thoughts. Makes me so happy to hear these ideas are of some assistance -- they're playing the same role for me as I untangle and understand my own complicated and not totally healthy relationship with food.
...so so so so so much love these "food" tear downs...remind me next time we talk to lay on you a lifetime of growing up in food corp...the things that were tested on me and how long i have lived with them in me...the one thing i can validate is that preservatives preserve (at least for the time being and also totally in jest i jest)...we had a candy cupboard growing up...ate only microwave meals for years...eating out meant a new meal at mcdonalds...none of these things should have been or should still be considered normal...i'm ready to be hated on by the lords and lions of in and out burgers...but they are called in and out because they are made to @#$% you...food as business is such a dirty game...especially when you end up on that kansas turnpike the only "fresh" food you can eat a bag of taco's bell or sub's way...lol...keep going down this corridor man...food shouldn't be a money game...not while people are starving...
I would absolutely love to hear more of those stories... I imagine it may inspire me to write more and more of these pieces which, naturally, are quite easy to write because of how corrupt and dirty and backwards and poisoned so much of the things we consider as "food" are. How governments allow some of the marketing and deception that goes on is beyond me. But hopefully people who can see behind the smoke and mirrors continue to spread knowledge and educate those they love. That's the goal with these pieces: to give my readers (largely people who already know about this stuff) the words to share with their family and friends who don't. Thanks for reading and supporting, CansaFis -- means a lot to me.
...don't forget governments are also the merchants of death spending most of their money of objects of destruction...to that end i, cynical i, am not that surprised that not only do our governments allow this, they support it...the aims of the powerful are to make and stay in power...there is no us in that worldview no matter what the corporate motto says...food stuffs are so weird...i'll dive in soon maybe even this weekend...will be a fun remember...
“Similarly, broccoli and chicken don’t get together to put on commercials claiming how healthy they are. Nor do almonds and walnuts.
They don’t need to.”
Great point. While reading labels I’ve wondered if I’m trying to justify eating something, to get permission to eat something, that I already know is bad for me.
I 100% do that too Tim... my go to treat is dark chocolate almonds. Partially because they're delicious, partially because I can convince myself that there's some nutritional value from the almonds and dark chocolate if it's high quality. But there's nothing wrong with indulging every so often as long as you're doing it with your eyes wide open.
Thanks for reading and dropping your thoughts here!
Such a great piece! Loved that you looped me in for some early review, always happy to be there for you. Much needed reminder that the people making our food (especially their marketing departments) don't have our best interests in mind.
Thanks, Jeremy! You played a massive role in helping refine and distill this post into its clearest form. So thank you for that. And you nailed it: most of the people marketing the food we eat do not have our best interests in mind. That leaves the responsibility on us to understand what we're actually putting into our bodies rather than relying on the packaging to tell the full story.
Jack, my relationship with food is indeed complicated. These perspectives are super insightful and will provide an assist in that complication! This essay totally reinforces the name of your Substack and is of service to us readers. 🙏
James, great to see your name here! Thanks so much for reading and sharing your thoughts. Makes me so happy to hear these ideas are of some assistance -- they're playing the same role for me as I untangle and understand my own complicated and not totally healthy relationship with food.
I agree with James, this was super useful and well-written Jack.
Thanks for your support, Rick. An endorsement from James and yourself - writers and men I wildly respect - makes me a happy guy.
Me clicking in to this article while eating Froot Loops. 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀
Haha I have nothing against Froot Loops directly, just don’t appreciate how they’re marketed. Thanks for reading, Thomas!
...so so so so so much love these "food" tear downs...remind me next time we talk to lay on you a lifetime of growing up in food corp...the things that were tested on me and how long i have lived with them in me...the one thing i can validate is that preservatives preserve (at least for the time being and also totally in jest i jest)...we had a candy cupboard growing up...ate only microwave meals for years...eating out meant a new meal at mcdonalds...none of these things should have been or should still be considered normal...i'm ready to be hated on by the lords and lions of in and out burgers...but they are called in and out because they are made to @#$% you...food as business is such a dirty game...especially when you end up on that kansas turnpike the only "fresh" food you can eat a bag of taco's bell or sub's way...lol...keep going down this corridor man...food shouldn't be a money game...not while people are starving...
I would absolutely love to hear more of those stories... I imagine it may inspire me to write more and more of these pieces which, naturally, are quite easy to write because of how corrupt and dirty and backwards and poisoned so much of the things we consider as "food" are. How governments allow some of the marketing and deception that goes on is beyond me. But hopefully people who can see behind the smoke and mirrors continue to spread knowledge and educate those they love. That's the goal with these pieces: to give my readers (largely people who already know about this stuff) the words to share with their family and friends who don't. Thanks for reading and supporting, CansaFis -- means a lot to me.
...don't forget governments are also the merchants of death spending most of their money of objects of destruction...to that end i, cynical i, am not that surprised that not only do our governments allow this, they support it...the aims of the powerful are to make and stay in power...there is no us in that worldview no matter what the corporate motto says...food stuffs are so weird...i'll dive in soon maybe even this weekend...will be a fun remember...
“Similarly, broccoli and chicken don’t get together to put on commercials claiming how healthy they are. Nor do almonds and walnuts.
They don’t need to.”
Great point. While reading labels I’ve wondered if I’m trying to justify eating something, to get permission to eat something, that I already know is bad for me.
I 100% do that too Tim... my go to treat is dark chocolate almonds. Partially because they're delicious, partially because I can convince myself that there's some nutritional value from the almonds and dark chocolate if it's high quality. But there's nothing wrong with indulging every so often as long as you're doing it with your eyes wide open.
Thanks for reading and dropping your thoughts here!
We all need to indulge in and enjoy something or life itself feels dark
Absolutely... if we're not having some fun what are we doing here
Such a great piece! Loved that you looped me in for some early review, always happy to be there for you. Much needed reminder that the people making our food (especially their marketing departments) don't have our best interests in mind.
Thanks, Jeremy! You played a massive role in helping refine and distill this post into its clearest form. So thank you for that. And you nailed it: most of the people marketing the food we eat do not have our best interests in mind. That leaves the responsibility on us to understand what we're actually putting into our bodies rather than relying on the packaging to tell the full story.