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Your grocery store is a bewildering sea of overly processed food. Here’s why and what to do (edition.cnn.com)
submitted 8 months ago by to c/news@lemmy.world
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[–] 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (4 children)

Someone linked here to an article about inflation in US some time ago. It was talking about an older lady that couldn't make cookies any more because the pre-made cookie mix she uses has different size now and her recipe doesn't work. It was just mind boggling to me. Cooking and baking is not that difficult. I'm just an IT guy and I can bake. You just follow the recipe, it's not rocket science. If older generations can't follow a cookie mix recipe I don't even want to imagine what young people eat.

And more on the topic. I do check ingredients on most things I buy and if I can't find something without preservatives I just make it. Yesterday I was making tortillas for tacos because the ones in stores have lots of additives. It's really simple but definitely more difficult than cookie mix recipe.

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  • [–] 10 points 8 months ago* (1 child)

    All the Boomers' recipes were designed to use boxed, processed ingredients. Think green bean casserole with Campbell's® Cream Of Mushroom Soup and French's® Original Crispy Fried Onions, for example. "Modern" "convenience foods" were all the rage when they were growing up and it shows.

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago

    In USA right? My grandparents (which would have been boomers if I’m not mistaken) here in Europe have never been seen using that kind of crap. They were doing their cans and crap and all kind of horrific preservation methods but they always did 100%. They, and my parents as well, had cooking courses in school. They were also very much into foraging, hunting, fishing… all due to living through and after the war.

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  • [–] 5 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    My grandmother was a great cook and also liked to cook, but she still needed my grandfather to do the very basic math to convert the recipe ratios in function of the amount of guests. She wasn't stupid, she just left school at 13yo to help in the house and the only math that she did after that was counting.

    All that to say: It's not because it's easy for you, that it's easy for everyone.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    I think the level of basic education in US is another issue and it's possible both have impact here. My mother only finished primary school in some tiny village in the middle of nowhere in communist Poland and still has broad general knowledge, likes to read books and yes, can scale recipes without issues.

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    I'm not from the USA, neither was my grandmother. Irregardless of that, even if we were from the USA, my grandmother would have left school decades before the USA education system fell behind that of other Western nations.

    My grandmother also read books and a non stupid daily news paper, but she still couldn't do basic arithmetics. It wasn't about intellect, sometimes it's opportunity and exposure, or maybe the unique wrinkles in our brain. There's all sorts of people, not everyone is able to do the same things, so grow some empathy.

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Anyway, I don't think math is that important here. I remember a TED talk I saw about cooking. It was talking about the decline of cooking at home in US and how when when people (well, women specifically because traditionally they do most of the cooking) are not good at cooking kids start associating home made meals with bad food and eating out with tasty food. Where I'm from, 30 years ago eating out was not a thing. As a kid I didn't understand what restaurants are for ("I guess some people are traveling and can't cook?"). I know how to cook, all my friends know how to cook, their kids know how to cook. So when I'm reading about old lady using pre-made cookie mix and not knowing how to follow a basic recipe it tells me that culture of cooking died there long time ago. Math is a secondary issue here.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    That lady is 1 person, there's no indication that she's representative of the USA population as a whole. To see 1 person and then assume that everyone else in her country must be like her, is a very stupid generalization. Your opinion is based on prejudice, not reason. So far you've shown a tendency for victim blaming, a lack of empathy towards individuals that are left behind & prejudice towards all US Americans. Should I assume from that that all Poles lack empathy, and are full of prejudices about other people? Of course not, because you're only 1 person and therefore too small a sample size to make a sweeping generalization like that.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago* (1 child)

    Yeah, I'm also sexist and racist because I don't cite data all the time.

    That 1 lady is just an example. We're commenting below an article about overly processed food, we keep hearing about food deserts and low food quality in US (lot's of this stuff can't be even exported to Europe). You want some data? Here: https://www.gallup.com/analytics/512897/global-cooking-research.aspx

    EU is were people cook the most. US ranks somewhere in the middle. US is also the dominant market for frozen and microwave ready meals. No idea why would you assume I'm basing my opinions on a case of a single lady. It's just weird. I'm not going to back up everyone comment with full bibliography. You can just assume most people know more then they have time to write down in a single comment.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago (1 child)

    What this data also tells you is there is not a single country where 100% of people know how to cook, there will be people like that lady in every country. Some countries will have more as a percentage of the population, others less. Even Poland will have some. Those people deserve empathy, not scorn.

    What this data also shows is that going out to eat is unlikely to be the reason for not being able to cook. People in western Europe and especially Spain/Portugal/Italy go out to eat very regularly, often daily, yet these countries rank higher on the cooking map than eastern Europe where people eat out less. That part of your reasoning, is again based on prejudice.

    Prejudice, lack of empathy, scorn, I realize that these are negative terms and that you will find them offensive when applied to you, but ... they are the correct terms. Your reasoning is based on prejudice. Your attitude towards that woman was scornful. You show a lack of empathy with people who are not like you.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago (1 child)

    Ok, I get it. I though we're trying to discuss a greater point but you're just hung up on that anonymous lady I was mean to. You're right, I shouldn't have single her out like that and use her as an example. I'm sure she's a great person, everyone actually loves her cooking and her inability to make proper cookies doesn't diminish her value as a human being in any way. In the future I will be more careful about mentioning random people in my comments. I was trying to make a point about quality of food and ability to cook in US which I believe is backed by lots of better data than a single lady and her cookies.

    Cookie lady, if you're reading this: I'm sorry. It's not your fault you don't know how to make cookies and shouldn't have judged you like this. If you ever want to learn how to bake let me know and we will arrange some lessons.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago (1 child)

    Yeah, there's that scorn again that I was talking about. Your derision and scorn towards those that are less able than you demonstrate a lack of empathy and an absence of sympathy. Your "lots of data" is just your prejudices, you're making sweeping generalizations, not based on knowledge or understanding, but largely based on your preconceived ignorant opinions.

    That lady isn't perfect, but as we can see, neither are you. Nor am I obviously. Cut people some slack, grow some empathy.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago* (1 child)

    I'm agreeing with you while at the same time laughing at the idea of defending some random lady mentioned in a comment. Yes, I judged her cookie making abilities without knowing her full background. I also don't think a random comment on lemmy she's not aware of hurt her feelings.

    Wait, are you that lady? That would explain a lot. Maybe there's some trauma behind it. Sorry, I just didn't think you would see it. I will be more careful int he future, promise.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago

    That's scorn + derision.

    The argument was never about the lady, the lady her plight is a story telling device to make this abstract problem more relatable, to make the story more compelling and to get empathy + sympathy from the audience. The same way I tried to use my grandmother's experience as a story telling device to make you more empathic with people who are differently able than you. These kinds of people exist in every country, you may even know some without knowing it because it's not exactly written on our faces what our cognitive capabilities are. They deserve our sympathy and help if they want it, but to be scornful towards them is bad imo. I really don't like victim blaming.

    What I'm trying to say is: Keep an open mind, don't let your prejudices determine your opinions about people, grow some empathy and try to be sympathetic with people's situations. Scorn is never the right answer.

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  • [–] 4 points 8 months ago

    Yeah, I hit the same thing with a chocolate cheesecake recipe of mine. It calls for a 12 ounce bag of miniature chocolate chips.

    The "good" brand chips are all 10 ounce and 20 ounce bags now. Fortunately I found a store brand that was 12 ounces.

    I do have a kitchen scale so it would have been possible to buy the 20 ounce bag and measure out 12 ounces...but still!

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  • [–] 4 points 8 months ago* (1 child)

    most people can't follow directions. let alone do fractional math conversions that are required for converting recipies.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    I'm pretty sure the new recipe in printed on the box. You can also look up new recipe that doesn't use the mix and just follow it. What I mean is that is someone only knows one recipe by heart and is unable to learn a new one it means they can't cook and if old people can't cook then well... the skill of cooking in the society must be completely gone by now.

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