The irony of the commercial food business is that we have focused so much on creating efficiencies that we have depressed prices lower, squeezing margins even more. That means volume is the only way out. So we look for more and more ways to get the cost of the raw material down, and the yields up. It is obvious now that both nutrition and food safety have suffered along the way.
TIME magazine’s cover story this week The High Cost of Cheap Food, explores the primary drivers for our very cheap food. It further points out that not all calories are created equal, since fruits and vegetables do not have the broad subsidies that drive the protein side of the business. The good news is that our current proteins are lower in cost than they have ever been in history, while fruits and vegetables remain very high cost in comparison. Is it any surprise that America --- and now the world --- is suddenly dealing with severe health issues arising from obesity?
This article links and outlines some of the same issues discussed in my Food Ink posting a couple weeks ago, so the mainstream media is beginning to pay attention. However, our addiction to cheap and high fat food will not disappear based on an article or two or an investigative documentary film. The local foods, sustainability, and healthcare movements seem to be converging toward some solutions. But it’s not going to happen on its own. It will take continued awareness, education, legislation, regulation, and most of all…personal motivation.
"Ultimately it's going to be consumer demand that will cause change, not Washington," says Fedele Bauccio, Bon Appétit's co-founder.