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Grocery Industry Confronts a Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking (2017)

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Re: Grocery Industry Confronts a Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking (2017)

#31

Post by mdorazio »

sonofaplum wrote: post #24

I've been seeing a nutritionist to try to help with weight loss and his emphasis has been on a healthy plate, which is a plate that is half vegetables, a quarter protein, a quarter starch or grains. Even at nice restaurants, it is extremely difficult to order meals that fit these proportions, and, as you move down the quick service spectrum it gets harder and harder. By the time you arrive at fast food, its difficult…

Also worth noting is that a lot of the vegetables you get in restaurant dishes have been buttered, salted, and/or sugared to hell to make them taste better in a short amount of time. This, of course, makes it even harder to actually get healthy food when eating out.

Re: Grocery Industry Confronts a Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking (2017)

#32

Post by skybrian »

daenz wrote: post #10

Forget Neuralink, I wish someone would pioneer a way for me to pour Soylent directly into my stomach. Eating is fun socially, but it's just another inconvenience otherwise.

I'm assuming you're joking. Otherwise, try chocolate or mint chocolate flavors.

Re: Grocery Industry Confronts a Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking (2017)

#33

Post by mc32 »

Get kids introduced to Home Ec where they learn about food and cooking.

If you get into it early on, it may not be a thing you love to do, but you’re okay with doing.

Same with shop class. There are many people out there for whom fixing things around the house are a bit foreign because they’re not sure how to do it. YouTube does help full in some of that experience but it helps if people have been primed.

Re: Grocery Industry Confronts a Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking (2017)

#34

Post by abeppu »

A "demography is destiny" aspect to this: Since households are smaller (we marry later or not at all; have fewer children), those who do cook are cooking for fewer mouths, which leads to more time spent per meal consumed. 5 single people cooking and cleaning for themselves put in substantially more time than a one person cooking/cleaning for 5. Also there's some amount of waste from scaling down recipes originally written to serve some imagined nuclear family (what do I do with the rest of this can of tomato paste?).

I'm a single person, and I cook for myself, but it often feels like such a hassle for these reasons.

Re: Grocery Industry Confronts a Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking (2017)

#35

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

blakesterz wrote: post #21

Now I finally understand why Wegmans seems to be making such a big push into prepared food picks and Instacart. Assuming this article is correct, there's a decline of people who just go in and go shopping (though if there is I haven't seen it, my local store seems busy all the time). I guess it makes sense. More people eating out and getting food delivered from restaurants means fewer people going to Wegmans.

Wegmans has been doing prepared food since before any of those alternatives existed.

Re: Grocery Industry Confronts a Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking (2017)

#36

Post by dexwiz »

sonofaplum wrote: post #24

I've been seeing a nutritionist to try to help with weight loss and his emphasis has been on a healthy plate, which is a plate that is half vegetables, a quarter protein, a quarter starch or grains. Even at nice restaurants, it is extremely difficult to order meals that fit these proportions, and, as you move down the quick service spectrum it gets harder and harder. By the time you arrive at fast food, its difficult…

Traditional American cooking seems to be a Protein + 2 sides. On the surface most vegetarian options become 1) replace meat with tofu or 2) a salad. Both of which get boring very quickly.

For vegetarian dishes it’s helpful to look at non European cuisines. Curries and soups both have a huge variety and don’t require a meat to be complete. Chickpeas also make a great protein substitute besides Tofu. Dumplings are other meat free food that are pretty good, but they tend to be carb and oil heavy so not necessarily healthy. Indian and Thai both have great vegetarian dishes that aren’t meat based dishes with the meat removed.

Finally, cooking with spices makes vegetables much more varied. Americans seem to think spices and rubs are only for meat and vegetables need to be plain. A well spiced vegetable dish is delicious.

Re: Grocery Industry Confronts a Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking (2017)

#37

Post by chrisseaton »

sonofaplum wrote: post #24

I've been seeing a nutritionist to try to help with weight loss and his emphasis has been on a healthy plate, which is a plate that is half vegetables, a quarter protein, a quarter starch or grains. Even at nice restaurants, it is extremely difficult to order meals that fit these proportions, and, as you move down the quick service spectrum it gets harder and harder. By the time you arrive at fast food, its difficult…

A quarter protein? That's insane. You only need about 60 grammes of protein a day. Why are you eating a quarter of your food in protein?

Re: Grocery Industry Confronts a Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking (2017)

#38

Post by impendia »

sonofaplum wrote: post #24

I've been seeing a nutritionist to try to help with weight loss and his emphasis has been on a healthy plate, which is a plate that is half vegetables, a quarter protein, a quarter starch or grains. Even at nice restaurants, it is extremely difficult to order meals that fit these proportions, and, as you move down the quick service spectrum it gets harder and harder. By the time you arrive at fast food, its difficult…

As someone who doesn't enjoy cooking all that much, I've noticed this too and been distressed by it.

Restaurants, almost uniformly, serve unhealthy food. There are exceptions to this, but they don't seem to be all that popular. When I go out to eat with friends I am often stuck eating something heavier and less healthy than I would like.

Is there some good reason for this?

Re: Grocery Industry Confronts a Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking (2017)

#39

Post by JMTQp8lwXL »

sonofaplum wrote: post #24

I've been seeing a nutritionist to try to help with weight loss and his emphasis has been on a healthy plate, which is a plate that is half vegetables, a quarter protein, a quarter starch or grains. Even at nice restaurants, it is extremely difficult to order meals that fit these proportions, and, as you move down the quick service spectrum it gets harder and harder. By the time you arrive at fast food, its difficult…

I never understood why vegetables are difficult to get as a "fast food" format. With salt pepper oil and heat, they can be very tasty. There has to be a huge market for Jack in the box equivalent for healthy eating. Most of the existing fast casual chains miss the mark. Chipotle comes to mind, but it's still mostly grains and protein and still lacking in vegetables, beyond the optional pico de gallo for your burrito.

Re: Grocery Industry Confronts a Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking (2017)

#40

Post by JMTQp8lwXL »

impendia wrote: post #38
sonofaplum wrote: post #24

I've been seeing a nutritionist to try to help with weight loss and his emphasis has been on a healthy plate, which is a plate that is half vegetables, a quarter protein, a quarter starch or grains. Even at nice restaurants, it is extremely difficult to order meals that fit these proportions, and, as you move down the quick service spectrum it gets harder and harder. By the time you arrive at fast food, its difficult…

As someone who doesn't enjoy cooking all that much, I've noticed this too and been distressed by it. Restaurants, almost uniformly, serve unhealthy food. There are exceptions to this, but they don't seem to be all that popular. When I go out to eat with friends I am often stuck eating something heavier and less healthy than I would like. Is there some good reason for this?

99% of my dinners' vegetables are pre-heating the oven to 350-400, putting aluminum foil on a cookie sheet, and coating Vegetable X in salt, oil, and pepper, and cooking for 15-20 minutes. It's basically 0 cleanup and you're eating whole, unprocessed vegetables. Our bodies are built for that sort of diet.
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