When we back up and look at the whole picture of how we got here (or at least as much of it as I can see right now), what happened was a mind-boggling perfect storm scenario.

I’m not a historical sociologist, but go with me here for a sec:

1. We came out of the Great Depression and subsequent years of sacrificing for war-time efforts with a major need to take a knee.  Who wouldn’t want to let loose after Prohibition for God’s sake.

2. Being able to afford the “conveniences” in the store instead of making stuff from scratch became a societal mark of stature during this recovery phase. Don’t be quick to eye-roll here; a show of strength whilst gaining a foothold as a world power was necessary for the times… this was bigger than just the Jonses’ trying to outdo each other cause someone had a bug up their ass.

3. Woman started working outside the home, and with that certain skill sets and education were not passed down to the next generations- the effect of which seems to me to be exponential the more generations you add. (And before you lose it on me here this isn’t meant to be a -sexist, feminist, whatever you want to label it as- remark, rather just an objective statement of things that actually occurred. I am going to come back to this in some detail later on however, and invite you to lose it then should you find it correct to do so. For now let’s stay focused on the food.)

4. With the discovery that antibiotics added to feed produced larger livestock we for the first time busted out of the feast-or-famine cycle that had regulated our population and it’s caloric intake since oh, the beginning of time.

5. Antibiotics also allowed more animals to be raised in a much denser area than ever before. Read: hello sanitation issues. Funny how those two fuel each other isn’t it.

6. The deep-rooted psychology behind not reexamining foods we bonded with in childhood, and ignoring their changes in content/ingredients over the years. We are definitely coming back to this one later, as this is a huge part of the reason large companies selling complete crap are wildly successful.

There are more which I may add later, and these are by no means one-size-fits-all, but pieced together they form a very interesting picture… so let’s look.

There is a lot of hate spewing and finger wagging today in our delightfully litigious-magic-pill-solution society, however I whole-heartedly believe fast food companies (and agribusiness extensions) didn’t start with a malicious intent, nor did we begin putting antibiotics in food to harm people.

As a country we were trying to feed people who’d been struggling for years, focusing on creating a stable supply of critical foods (think protein here) that were safer and available with predictability. There were no evil cackling people with hairy moles on their noses rubbing their hands together in dark corners.

Couple that with the automobile becoming a major method of transportation, and cheaper since unlike trolley or rail the auto industry didn’t have to pay to maintain or build roads, and got the government to do it instead. Still not sure how they pulled that boon off. And the independence for people!! Not tied to rail schedules and routes!  (this one I specifically learned from Fast Food Nation.  Phenomenal read by the by)

Couple that with families now with two working parents needing a way to feed their family that was still “healthy” and felt wholesome. In other words, we still had a strong tie to the relationship our bodies had with food and needed our quicker food solutions to look and somewhat taste as if it had been made from scratch. Interesting one that, eh?

This is the beginning of our big picture:

All the adults in the household working outside the home, so we have a need.  Cheap transportation that provided independence and a long reach, not to mention the ability to develop places that were previously inaccessible. Enough food available to actually supply these other two growing demands…

Independently these were all, without a shadow of a doubt, absolutely great things meant to positively progress our society and solve some majorly bad issues.

Tied together they defined our current relationship with food.

If you’re asking yourself, what relationship? Then you’re spot on.

We’re not going to go into the normal “shop around the outside of the store” and other rhetoric in this and future posts because I’ve come to learn that doesn’t actually help anyone, and mostly just frustrates people.

Instead, we are going to figure out the why.

When you understand how something works, you can find the answer that’s best for you.