The Bigger the Fridge, the Worse We Eat? Why Is the American Diet So Terrible? | Food Talk Vol. 21
In this episode, the Food Talk hosts welcomed back an old friend, Shu Meng, who holds a PhD in sociology from Cornell University. We will use her widely read article “The Bigger the Fridge, the Worse We Eat? The Food System Inside America’s Middle-Class Fridge” as a starting point. Why does the oversized fridge that appears to symbolise household abundance actually reflect a scarcity of real food?
The hosts and guest shared their own experiences in the United States, kicking off a “roast” of the American way of eating: shopping distances of over thirty minutes, supersized packaging in vast supermarkets, and pricey leafy greens are among the factors that have shaped America’s unhealthy diet and triggered a host of health problems. The appearance of fresh but expensive produce in supermarkets serving upper-middle-class communities adds yet another layer of class and regional stratification to food access.
But at the same time, America’s diverse range of alternative food options is something to envy. From the delightful quest to buy ginger at a farmers’ market to the operation of a small-producer grocery shop run by the Cornell University Student Union, the “non-mainstream” model has proven capable of delivering tasty, healthy and fresh local food amid the tide of change in American eating habits.
Compared with the endless parade of “white people food” online, the hosts marvelled that China’s local agricultural produce markets and wet markets are a happiness we barely notice. Yet we also worry: has food consumption in China in recent years been drifting towards a pressure-driven, high-salt, sugar and fat diet? Are young people raised within an industrialised food system left with a domesticated tongue, having lost any sense of what truly tastes good?
Within such an enormous system, can individuals make different choices? Can we shape our own food choices through collective action? How can we hold on to who we are under the discipline of the social clock and try to create alternative scripts? How should we eat to sustain a life of dignity? Let each of us go out and find our own answer!
This Episode’s Guest
Li Shumeng
Foodthink regular contributor, PhD in sociology from Cornell University, and a staunch opponent of “white people food”.
This Episode’s Hosts
Tianle
Foodthink editor. She always thought of herself as a lazy cook rescued by the wonderful ingredients of small-scale ecological farmers, only to realise recently that half the dishes she makes most often could be classed as “white people food”.
Wan Lin
Foodthink project officer. She never imagined she would end up working for an organisation focused on food, which is perhaps down to her nine years of living abroad.
Wang Hao
Foodthink editor. The only person in this episode who has never been to the United States – though from a food perspective, that may be something of a blessing.
Timeline
06:41 In supermarkets in American middle-class and above neighbourhoods, fresh but expensive produce is beginning to appear. Differences in consumer preferences carry yet another layer of class and regional stratification. Compared with the “food deserts” in the United States where fresh vegetables are simply out of reach, having local agricultural produce markets and wet markets in China is a great blessing.
12:54 The shocking “white people food”: carrot sticks and cucumber sticks in little boxes – a dab of dip and that’s a meal. The early image of America was a “consumer paradise of extreme material abundance”; only after actually living there did one realise how impoverished the diet truly is.
19:12 Ginger, impossible to find anywhere in America, finally turned up at a farmers’ market.
21:52 A small-producer grocery shop organised by the Cornell University Student Union: offering students an affordable food choice while helping local small-scale farms build stable sales channels – beyond the mainstream supply system, we need alternative models to deliver tasty, healthy, fresh, local food.
25:03 A plate of salad after a meal of junk food: have you ever bought an “indulgence” in the name of “healthy eating”?
28:55 It isn’t only Americans who eat too much meat – the data show that people in China also consume far more meat than vegetables. Why are Chinese mukbang videos all about processed food? Stir-fried rice cakes, Buldak noodles, milk tea gulped down mouthful after mouthful… Why does mounting stress pull the diet ever further towards one driven by an instinct for “salt, sugar and fat”? A meal like that fills you up, yet it lacks nutrition and can lead to “hidden hunger”.
31:06 Could a generation of young people raised within an industrialised food system simply have no idea what good food tastes like? The industrialised system preserves no diversity and denies consumers the right to choose better-quality food: in Shanghai, after the rise of semi-finished products and ready meals, it is already hard to find shengjian buns cooked over an open flame.
36:59 As a consumer, you have no way of knowing what has actually been added to your food: from pesticide residues to antibiotics, an unhealthy diet makes you gain weight and break out in spots. Chasing a high-salt, sugar and fat diet under social pressure can even disrupt hormone levels, making it harder to change your eating habits.
43:47 Eating boxed meals from the school canteen since childhood, then settling for bare-bones meals as an adult under life’s pressures – perhaps this is one of the results of being disciplined by a social clock that demands efficiency and uniformity. When the script of collective behaviour is too powerful, it is hard for any individual to break free on their own will alone.
54:24 Although individual choice is deeply embedded in the social structure, there will always be people who create “alternative scripts”, offering others a path to liberation.
58:40 The insight of a sociology PhD: how we eat is an essential social activity in sustaining a life of dignity.
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Images
Jishi, Foodthink
This Episode’s Podcast Production Team
Coordination: Xiaojing
Production: Xiaoputao
Cover art: Wan Lin
Music: Ba Nong
Editing: Wang Hao
Layout: Xiaoshu
Contact email
xiaojing@foodthink.cn