Food addicts, chemists, illusionists and shareholders: a correlation

Over the last 30 to 40 years we've moved from cooking our own food to having manufacturers do it for us and, in the process, we've witnessed the fattening of the western world - I'm not picking on a particular country here, rather on most of the (so-called) "civilized world" where folks barely have time for their loved ones, never mind for cooking their own meals the way grandma used to do.

With most of these multinationals being publicly traded and with many consumers being shareholders of said corporations, these food manufacturers know that the fiduciary relationship they have with their shareholders mandates that they keep them happy; in order to do this, they are going to do their due diligence to put out a product good enough to entice even more consumption, thus increasing sales and making those quarterly dividends even fatter; and as long as consumers’ taste buds and shareholders are happy it's a win-win situation and all is good, right? Not so fast.

During the process of market analysis and product development, the ultimate goal of putting out a product that is enticing to consumers' palates leads these food manufacturers to enlist on their payroll a slew of very well paid and enthusiastic chemists and other scientists whose sole responsibility is to mimic nature's scents and flavors in a laboratory setting. The aim is to make products irresistible to human taste buds, thus increasing consumption, product demand, profits, dividends and, in the process, obesity rates.

The byproduct of all this conniving (or “good business practices” depending on who is asked) is called food addiction. There are different types of addiction, it is not a "one size fits all", it affects different people in different ways, it is not something "in someone's head". Addiction in general (and food addiction in particular) is very real and not necessarily a case of weakness or laziness as is so often misconstrued. And this is why willpower does not work. And this is the reason why so many addicts hate themselves for putting their bodies, their lives and the lives of their loved ones through so much turmoil.

And this is why I stopped being judgmental whenever I see a morbidly obese person stuffing his/her face with junk food, or someone who is now homeless solely due to a drug or alcohol problem. I try not to judge behaviors that I don’t understand. I always think that it could have been me or a loved one of mine in the same predicament. And I would then be powerless to help them (or myself) which is how many of these addicts now feel. And this why this whole business is a shame. Good business practices, my foot!

So much pride, so much effrontery in putting together formulas that produce irresistible flavors, that remind us of the tastes and scents in nature and that elicit in us feelings of well being:  

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-flavorists-tweaking-tastes-and-creating-cravings-27-11-2011/ 

·         “You want to do it over and over again until you get a headache.”

·         “A chicken that has been translated into a flavor.”

·         “A chicken in the hose.”

·         “Chicken for vegetarians, a.k.a. chicken without chicken”

[ it will be a long time coming before I sink my teeth into anything that comes out of a box, a jar or a can again! ]