Over the course of America’s
history, food defines our identity as a nation, and with changes brought upon
us by political and social influence, the relationship between the consumer and
producer constantly changes. Over time, something that has become increasingly
more important in today’s society is the desire for healthy, naturally prepared
foods. With the organic food movement gaining speed, the relationship between
people, companies, and advertisers morphs itself into a health conscious
community, labeling almost every package of food as “reduced fat” or “sugar
free.” The idea of eating something without having to pay the price of weight
gain is alluring to many people and with the environment becoming a monumental
political issue, organic food is a way to act politically conscious while being
aware of how your food is being created. Health’s crucial role in American
society impacts the entire food industry, and this shift from mass-produced,
bland food to all natural, fresh ingredients has been a continuous, steady work
in progress.
Throughout
history, American culture has been directly expressed through culinary arts.
With the rise in immigrants, the wide variety of dishes has made America the
“melting pot” of the world. With industrialization, mass production and
transportation of food has shown the capability of America as a leading world
power. With political and social unrest, America has expressed their opinions
through the food they eat, like Victory Gardens. American culture can always be
directly related to the latest food trends.
The
most prominent shift in food identity has gone from eating heart-stopping meals
to calorie-cutting cuisines. As David Leite wrote on his website, “While you may be lapping up fat-free yogurt
with a café latte and Sweet’N Low chaser, our fictitious centenarian, depending
where he lived, filled his plate with porridge, flapjacks, mutton or a
heart-stopping amount of home-cured bacon” (Leite). Ever since migration to the
new world, food has had a uniqueness to the time period. During early America,
food was always associated with English traditions (Mintz). However, as
industrialization expanded, food became more mass produced, mass marketed, and
standardized, allowing companies to control the purchase and consumption of
food products. During this time, processed cereals became
promoted as one of the first health foods
(Mintz). In addition, advertisers linked food to the industrial expansion of
America through advertisements. This Coca-Cola ad links their product to the
time period when mass production was an important concept in American
development. With a buzzing city with skyscrapers in the background, one can
enjoy a Coke while watching America grow.
In the early 1900’s, meal prices
sank and rich ingredients became popular. During the time period, sugar was
less of a dietary concern. The average person consumed 65 pounds of sugar
annually (Leite). During this time, processed foods like Marshmellow Fluff and
domineering food brands like Kellogg began to appear. More chain lunch counters
and cafeterias appeared, increasing the need more mass-produced food items
(Mintz). Muckraking journalists exposed insufficient health standards, which
lead to banning of unsafe food additives and inspections of food industries.
This link to enhancing health was also related to heightening the purity and
wholesomeness of food. Although the 1920’s society began to see health as an
issue, salads, a meal often associated with health, were still considered
strange at dinner tables and were not introduced until the 1930’s at a time
when food was scare and vegetables served as substitute for meat dishes
(Leite).
World War I in the 1940’s spurred the establishment of a new food
revolution. Prepared food became more common, but in support of the war came
the creation of Victory Gardens. The use of Victory Gardens made naturally
growing food important, and the mass growth of vegetables in gardens fattened
vegetable cook book sections (Leite). The war also created a higher diversity
of fresh produce year round. This growth towards naturally prepared meals
changed with the transportation evolution in the 1950’s. Due to the highway
systems, mass production of food was made easier and bland foods like frozen TV
dinners where an epidemic in residential homes (Leite). These periods in
history show how American societies flip back and forth between their food
identities and desires. With social and political unrest, nutrition of foods
becomes most important. With expansion of America, mass production of food is
most important and food health quality takes a back seat. In the 1960’s, growth
of the middle class and unrest with the Vietnam War lead to a “hippie”
mentality of unprocessed foods made from scratch (Leite). This is when hummus,
another food associated with health, was made famous.
The seventies and eighties show a difference in the way Americans ate.
Iconic cooking icon, Alice Walters, emphasized the importance of natural
ingredients. Also, the portion sizes began to change. Class played an
influential roll in the concept of paying more to eat less, creating meals with
pricy ingredients from scratch (Leite). However, what really propelled the
movement of health food is the 1990’s. The late 20th century is when
companies began to transform into healthier brands, making all natural, reduced
fat products. These changes in companies and advertisers are what allowed the
organic food movement to play such a detrimental role in today’s food culture.
Organic food is defined as organic farming
without the use of pesticides, fertilizers, genetically modified organisms, or
food additives (Albala, Allen 288). Eating organic is not only healthy for the
body, it is also environmentally sustainable. This bond with nature resembles a
pure, clean relationship. Large natural food supermarkets like Whole Foods
began to pop up in the 1980’s and
organic
brands began to partner with conventional food companies, like the fusion of
Cascadian Farms with General Mills (Albala, Allen 289). Other wide scale
companies like Heinz, Gerber, Kelloggs, and Campbells soup acquired organic
brands. Even the superpower Walmart plans to double their offering of organic
products (Albala, Allen 291). This shows how important companies role is in
promoting healthy food alternatives.
Advertisers have evolved their
campaigns to mimic the food trends over time. For example, Heinz ketchup has
transformed their ads to focus centrally on health versus taste. The 1900’s
Heinz advertisement resembles tradition and flavor while the recent ketchup ad
focuses on health and less additives like sugar. This illustrates how our
society has become more health conscious over time and how important nutrition
is in America today. It is rare to enter a grocery store and sift through items
without finding at least one healthier alternative to a typical meal.
Organic food has become one of many food trends for many reasons.
Expensively priced all natural food acts as a class marker. Even advertisers
manufacture their packaging in a way to target certain audiences. This similar
trend is seen in Freedman and Jurafsky’s analyzing of potato chip
advertisements. Freedman and Jurafsky placed
importance on complex language, health, and authenticity and how it relates to
higher/lower class audiences. While expensive potato chips often include more
educated languages and more words in general, inexpensive potato chips tend to
be more basic and straightforward. Also, all of the more expensive potato chip
bags had the word “all natural” on their labels, focusing on how all natural
food is targeted towards a specific class status.
The
rise in organic food also has political significance, like the rise in vegetarian, all natural diets. For example,
when I visited Illegal Petes, I recognized a wide variety of vegetarian, gluten
free options. This is not something most restaurants would have had even ten
years ago. Organic food also acts as a mechanism to resist corporate food
practices including mass production and the use of unhealthy ingredients
(Mintz).
Health has always been important in food practices in America, but the
relationship between food and health has strengthened over time. The
significance of health has increased for political, environmental, personal, and
social reasons. Also, the influence of body image as portrayed in the media and
advertisements promotes a slim figure, and with obesity rising in America, it
is important all brands focus on becoming more health conscious. Today, it is
about how much you eat and what effect that has on one’s body. Instead of
enjoying food for its taste or rich, salty ingredients, we choose to indulge on
a healthier snack instead and eating the unhealthy food is often followed by
guilt. The food we put into our mouths is based more on what is better for our
bodies and better for the environment. The pressure to be thin and to eat
healthy is what has allowed the all natural foods to make such an impact on the
food industry. America has adopted a culture of high pressure to look good and
be successful, and one of the ways to do so is through good health. By promoting
health in the food industry, companies, government, and advertisers can work
together to further promote the health and wellbeing of American society.
Work Cited
Leite, David. "Dining
Through the Decades: 100 Years of American Foods." Leite's
Culinaria. Leite's Culinaria Inc.,
16 Dec. 1999. Web. 24 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/food.cfm>.
Mintz, Steven. "Food
in America." Digital History.
Hyperhistorian, 23 Apr. 2012.
Pollan’s article “Our National Eating Disorder” discusses
the infatuation America’s culture has with cutting carbs, calories, and fat. We
are anxious eaters who no longer depend on taste and tradition but instead
stress about eating for sake of good health, which is ironic considering
America has some of the highest obesity rates and dietary issues in the world. In
America, we treat food similar to a science experiment, continuously
discovering microscopic “poisonous” ailments in our food that lead to a greater
risk of diabetes, heart failure, or weight gain. Because we consistently find
our food flawed due to unhealthy ingredients or production, we have become
obsessed with health and looking good in a culture that stresses physical
appearance. Other causes of our “healthy” obsession include the Omnivore’s dilemma,
a wide variety of choices, a lack of tradition instilled in America alone, and
the guilt accompanied by overindulging in fattening food. 
What I found most interesting was the comparisons between
America and other cultures like French and Italian. Many Americans look to
France and Italy as culinary utopias due to the taste and tradition involved in
their dishes. This is an accurate statement because a lot or their foods
originated from that spot. America however acts more as a “melting pot” of
cultures, lacking their own traditional foods other than items like hamburgers
and Spam. Other cultures have a more relaxed, social relationship with food
while Americans use food to become skinnier and the pleasure of food is less
related with enjoying the food through our senses and more about the pleasures
of looking good and being healthy. 
