Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How America got hooked on ultraprocessed foods

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 387 posts

Re: How America got hooked on ultraprocessed foods

#111

Post by humptybumpty »

jeffbee wrote: post #36

I just opened up www dot amazon dot com and filled my cart with $50 worth of food that will be delivered to my door in a few hours: rice, potatoes, farro, beans, peppers, ginger, onions, garlic frozen peas, frozen carrots, plain low-fat yogurt, chicken thighs, and good bread. I don't want to hear anyone telling me that American capitalism has robbed us of real food. If anything, American capitalism has heaped upon us…

Maybe pricing has something to do with it?

Total 27,00€ ($31.57)

1kg potatos, 0,99€

3pcs bell peppers, 1,03€ (x)

1pcs ginger, 0,90€ (x)

1kg onions, 1,59€

100g garlic, 1,45€ (x)

500g carrots, 0,89€

500g frozen peas, 1,09€

1 can white beans, 1,09€ (x)

fresh fancy bread, 3,69€

400g chicken thighs, 4,99€

1l plain low-fat yogurt, 2,55€

1kg rice, 3,79€ (x)

650g ”farro”, 2,95€

(x) imported, not local

Typical prices in Finland, which is considered to be expensive European country.

Could maybe go down to 20+€ with cheapest options.

Re: How America got hooked on ultraprocessed foods

#112

Post by portaouflop »

jeffbee wrote: post #36

I just opened up www dot amazon dot com and filled my cart with $50 worth of food that will be delivered to my door in a few hours: rice, potatoes, farro, beans, peppers, ginger, onions, garlic frozen peas, frozen carrots, plain low-fat yogurt, chicken thighs, and good bread. I don't want to hear anyone telling me that American capitalism has robbed us of real food. If anything, American capitalism has heaped upon us…

Sad that you have to buy this stuff online. I can go downstairs to a grocery store and just buy it from real humans, not lining bezos pockets.

Re: How America got hooked on ultraprocessed foods

#113

Post by supportengineer »

tptacek wrote: post #93

This all has very big "uncured bacon" energy to me (if you didn't already know: there's no such thing; vendors of uncured bacon performatively drive the same chemical nitrite reaction using vegetable extracts). For example: yogurt becomes a UPF simply by dint of adding carrageenan, which is on the order of calling dashi a UPF because of the kombu. It's not that there isn't a very legitimate issue underneath all this:…

I only get the bacon that says "No nitrates, no nitrites"

Re: How America got hooked on ultraprocessed foods

#114

Post by tptacek »

supportengineer wrote: post #113
tptacek wrote: post #93

This all has very big "uncured bacon" energy to me (if you didn't already know: there's no such thing; vendors of uncured bacon performatively drive the same chemical nitrite reaction using vegetable extracts). For example: yogurt becomes a UPF simply by dint of adding carrageenan, which is on the order of calling dashi a UPF because of the kombu. It's not that there isn't a very legitimate issue underneath all this:…

I only get the bacon that says "No nitrates, no nitrites"

If you're talking about American-style bacon, and it tastes like bacon, there's no such thing. They're just exploiting labeling rules by selecting very specific nitrite sources. Nitrites are what give bacon (and ham) its flavor.

This is before we get to the whole premise of avoiding nitrates. Would you eat a beet? That's a serving of industrial bacon's worth of nitrates right there.

Later

(Actually, super bad example, since the concern is nitrosamines which are formed in the presence of proteins. The point about the illegitimacy of nitrite-free bacon stands!)

Re: How America got hooked on ultraprocessed foods

#115

Post by arp242 »

jeffbee wrote: post #36

I just opened up www dot amazon dot com and filled my cart with $50 worth of food that will be delivered to my door in a few hours: rice, potatoes, farro, beans, peppers, ginger, onions, garlic frozen peas, frozen carrots, plain low-fat yogurt, chicken thighs, and good bread. I don't want to hear anyone telling me that American capitalism has robbed us of real food. If anything, American capitalism has heaped upon us…

> some people just can't stop shoveling down Flamin' Hot Froot Loops.

If over a third if the country has serious problems with this then it seems to me there is a systemic problem, and you can't only chuck it to individual failure.

Doesn't mean there is no individual responsibility at all – but there's a reason obesity rates have risen so sharply and why there are quite big differences between countries of comparable levels of development.

I don't think anyone claimed that it's impossible to eat healthy food – certainly the article didn't.

Re: How America got hooked on ultraprocessed foods

#116

Post by [deleted] »

Insanity wrote: post #2

As a European who moved to Canada and spends a fair amount of time in the States, one thing that really surprised me is how hard it is to find healthy food options compared to the unhealthy ones. Food was a bit of a concern before moving, but I didn't know just how frustrating it would be. Even something as simple as Yogurt is usually insanely sweet / sugary compared to European variants. Ingredients that are banned…

[deleted]

Re: How America got hooked on ultraprocessed foods

#117

Post by nradov »

arrozconcosas wrote: post #90
nradov wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every grocery store where I've shopped has yogurt with no added sugar. It's right there on the shelf, just look at the label. Antibiotic resistance is a concern but the FDA has made progress in that area. https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/safety-health/antimicr... The EU bans routine antibiotic use for promoting animal growth but antibiotics are still widely used for other purposes. https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/n…

They exist but are a small minority of the shelf. You have to really look for them.

Look? As in open your eyes? It's literally right on the front of the package in large letters. You can see exactly what you're getting without even squinting at the fine print on the back.

Re: How America got hooked on ultraprocessed foods

#118

Post by supportengineer »

kulahan wrote: post #80
vector_spaces wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Every grocery store where I've shopped has yogurt with no added sugar. It's right there on the shelf, just look at the label. Large parts of the US are designated as food deserts, where one's best option for groceries might be the convenience store attached to a gas station. Good luck finding plain yogurt with no sugar added there. Your specific experience is exactly that. [1] https://ers.usda.gov/data-products/cha…

Looking at your source, it seems as though food deserts exist almost exclusively when you're very far from civilization. In which case you can just grow the food.

A good example of a food desert would be an inner-city neighborhood, the first time I heard this term, they were talking specifically about places in Oakland, CA. Which ironically is a short train ride away from the Food Mecca of the USA.
Post reply on HN