Feb 09 2009
Mark Bittman: Food Matters, part 2
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In Part 2 of this Cooking Up a Story: Food News interview, Mark Bittman, best-selling food author, and New York Times Columnist, lays out the central tenet of his life’s work as a food writer, and home cook. The “minimalist” view that we need to eat substantially more plant based foods, and consume substantially less animal products than what currently defines the typical Western diet.
Duration : 0:7:3
[youtube aGMIhutMDLE]
The American …
The American agricultural industry is controlled by corporate entity’s that just care about pumping out beef for export.
That’s why we produce so much corn.
We produce bushels and bushels of corn to feed factory farms. These factory farms produce cheap livestock for export on the global market.
American food bills …
American food bills tend to be about 9-10% of salary. In France and Spain, it is 15-16% of salary.
You’re not taking …
You’re not taking into consideration how Nixon and Earl Butz expanded ag. production of corn and soybeans from tree line to tree line to make food choice. It happened and the avg. no. of calories per capita went up by 400-600 calories. Presto — obesity.
Yes, vegetables cost more, but healthy things cost more in a supermarket. Poor people are eating “cheap” foods to fill themselves with calories.
90% of calories …
90% of calories from plants? That is ridiculous. We need unprocessed animal food more than we need vegetables.
I hope so but I …
I hope so but I don’t have a lot of faith.
Also, I must say, …
Also, I must say, its not too hard to eat well and cheep, its all about priorities. Rice and pasta are cheep, but fruits, beans, and veg, are still cheaper than meats. It is too easy to eat well 3 squares a day on a very low budget. Its all about training and food culture. If you expect meat every meal, you will spend more money and be less healthy.
Great points. But, …
Great points. But, after living in Europe for a few years, I have to say, over there they really do shop for what they cook each day. Just in the size of the grocery carts says a lot. As an American it is amazing to shop in a German store and see what everyone else buys and what you get. We shop for a week plus, they go for a few days.
Awesome. Great …
Awesome. Great video, thanks!
Processed foods are …
Processed foods are cheap for the same reason street drugs are cheap the first around…you feel like they are an easy fix, don’t cost you much and aren’t really thaaattt bad for you.
Fresh vegetables …
Fresh vegetables and fruits are really expensive. People in poverty which a lot of people are in now, can’t afford to eat good.
Its really simple, poor people eat the crap, and the people that well off eat well.
You can’t eat fresh vegetables all year round because they don’t grow all year round. Unless you want to buy that head of broccoli that probably came from somewhere in South America, or China its just not accessible.
Hopefully we can …
Hopefully we can prevent Vilsack from giving Monsanto carteblanche….
One of the …
One of the discussions around ‘eating right’ or good, fresh, unprocessed foods is food costs vs. health care costs. But not everyone can afford to eat in a healthy way. That’s why people are voicing concern on the policy level in different states. With a $90 billion engine in the form of the Farm Bill – perhaps subsidy allocations can be moved around to help/support farmers who grow fresh foods for their communities and less to large (profitable) food conglomerates.
I would like to see …
I would like to see an analysis of what it costs the consumer , in terms of food dollars spent, to eat “right” vs “wrong”. My experience has been that the food bill is considerably higher if you “eat right:”.