coffee for the apocalypse

This 347 page book may look daunting but I assure you, it’s a page turner. Michael Moss conducted hundreds of interviews with key players in the industry and everyday people alike. It’s a fascinating and infuriating look at the people and industries that make most of our food in America. Techniques that were developed back in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s to preserve food and make that longer lasting food taste good, have now been mutated into getting Americans addicted to the taste and mouthfeel of the food they buy. Money money money.

This thoroughly researched book tells all they ways the bigwigs are working with scientists and psychologists to make people crave, and repeatedly spend money on, their products. They go after young people, working parents, underprivileged areas, in naked attempts to make more god damned money. Do they care that they are negatively impacting people? Nope. In the book Monica Drane, daughter of Bob Drane the inventor of the Lunchable, says her children have never eaten one and never will. She denounces all of it, from nutritional content to wasteful packaging. When asked if it was worth it, Bob himself said “It’s a trade off…”

I am not perfect. In really low moments I have a habit of reaching for the crappiest, cheapest food that makes me “feel better” at the time. Of course, like many people with this problem I feel even worse 15 minutes after eating it. The producers of this stuff are counting on us to do this. They test how different levels of the titular salt, sugar, and fat react with our brains and give us that “high”. They want people to crave this food they make and build a repeat customer base. As much as that sounds like a conspiracy theory, it isn’t- they admit to doing this and other things like seeding message boards and equating their products with loving your family to bring people in.

They bring their products to places where the people need good nutrition and clean water. If the soda you can buy is cleaner than the drinking water around you, you’re going to drink the soda. This has been proven to lower the quality of life in these areas, skyrocketing the rates of obesity, dental problems, and diabetes. But you know, as long as the people keep spending money *eyeroll* (I’m reading another book that mentions this- The Way We Eat Now by Bee Wilson. I’ll talk about it sometime when I’ve finished it)

When I read this book a couple of years ago it really opened my eyes to a lot of things. Not the least of which was how closely many of these food companies work with Philip Morris (notorious tobacco company) either through funding, marketing, or straight up being acquired.

To lighten the mood slightly, here are a couple of notable quotes from the book. “Oscar Mayer was known as America’s favorite meat company.” It’s official, “America’s favorite meat company” is the name of my new punk band. The other one that stood out to me and my twisted sense of humor is “They came out with new ads featuring men loving bologna.” See, twisted.

While these companies strive to move product with pointed intentions the information in this book forces you to stop and think about your personal responsibility to your body, the environment, and especially society as a whole. I am well aware that there are people who do not have the resources to even think about improving what they purchase and consume. I have been that person, the mother to that family. There was at least a year that the only thing my husband ate for lunch was one pack of Ramen noodles a day at a physically demanding job. At least four nights out of seven we would have different kinds of Hamburger Helper. The only reason it wasn’t 7/7 is because Mema, bless her, helped us out sometimes. These companies are preying on families like this and that’s cruel and unhealthy.

I would recommend this book even if you aren’t looking to make any big changes and even if you already eat a diet free of these pre-packaged frankenfoods. Knowledge is power and if nothing else it will give you many random, interesting facts to share at dinner parties. Hopefully, they won’t be serving Lunchables.

If you’re interested in reading Salt, Sugar, Fat by Michael Moss, click the link below and it helps us both!