Why Do People Eat Bad Food?
I don't mean just junk food. Because I'll admit it, I love the stuff, especially Cheetos.
But I just don't understand why--unless limited by real constraints on choice such as income or access--anyone would regularly chose to eat bland, boring, soft, squishy, meaty, crappy food. White bread. Mayonnaise. The exact same lunch every day for years?
I also simply can't believe how some people really think differently colored tomatoes are some kind of new designer food. Seriously, people? Tomatoes aren't just red! Peppers aren't just green or red! Squash comes in all kinds of shapes! Sometimes it's eeven spiky! (YUM, bittermelon.)
Most every day when I see colleagues during lunch time, they peer into my tupperware and ask, "What'd you bring for lunch today?" This makes me feel a little like a creature in a zoo, exotic and strange. Today I had leftovers, as usual. Moroccan curry--sweet potatoes, golden raisins, garbanzo beans, assorted veggies, all on couscous. "What's couscous?" In my mind, this doesn't make me unique. I just like delicious flavorful food. Shouldn't everyone?
Come on people, branch out, there's more to food than Luby's!
But I just don't understand why--unless limited by real constraints on choice such as income or access--anyone would regularly chose to eat bland, boring, soft, squishy, meaty, crappy food. White bread. Mayonnaise. The exact same lunch every day for years?
I also simply can't believe how some people really think differently colored tomatoes are some kind of new designer food. Seriously, people? Tomatoes aren't just red! Peppers aren't just green or red! Squash comes in all kinds of shapes! Sometimes it's eeven spiky! (YUM, bittermelon.)
Most every day when I see colleagues during lunch time, they peer into my tupperware and ask, "What'd you bring for lunch today?" This makes me feel a little like a creature in a zoo, exotic and strange. Today I had leftovers, as usual. Moroccan curry--sweet potatoes, golden raisins, garbanzo beans, assorted veggies, all on couscous. "What's couscous?" In my mind, this doesn't make me unique. I just like delicious flavorful food. Shouldn't everyone?
Come on people, branch out, there's more to food than Luby's!
posted by Julep at 1:22 PM
2 Comments:
This goes under the rubric that our culture is fundamentally conservative in that it is hard for people who are not raised in situations where they try different foods to try different foods.
I see it all the time at the worker. It is so hard to cook anything I would ever cook for myself, so i don't. It's a lot of pork chops and bland pasta and mashed potatoes and canned green beans and baked beans and pork n beans. Whatever has no texture and a lot of salt and sugar, a lot of fat is good as well. They think I'm a freak because i don't want to drink Koolaide every night.
All that is to say, I don't think it is a class thing as much as a personal context thing. A rich person can be raised on bad food with little variety as much as anyone.
Luby's serves liver.
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