Healthy Food Cult

by Yukito Yoneyama / 米山ゆきと


I've been on vacation past few days.
This year I chose Mars as my destination.
It is beautiful here.
Desolate, quiet, no traffic jams, and the mystique in the atmosphere,
are what make the trip through the light years worth while.

There is only one thing.
I can't breathe.



I woke up almost suffocating from the dream,
since the blankets I was using were covered in cat hair.
I'm allergic to cats.


I've been hanging out in a little cabin in the woods on planet Earth.





My family and I eat healthy and well.

Well, the definition of "healthy and well" is a bit abstract today,
but from our perspective, we do.

We spend a lot of time researching what is in the food that we take in.

Knowing the ingredients is crucial, since it is hard to see
what you are actually eating these days,
due to the extraordinary input of marketing and promotion into the food business.




When I go to the supermarket to buy food,
I always wonder how we came about over packaging what we eat to this extreme.


For example, when you shop for cereals for kids to eat,
most of the packages have some kind of characters on them to attract buyer's attention.

From kids' point of view, they must be at first confused on the contents of cereal box.


When I was a kid, Kellogg's Corn Flakes were just starting to appear on store shelves in Japan.

One day, my mom came home with a box.

She bought the cereal for breakfast Plan B.


Although my parents strongly believed in the healthy quality of traditional cooking,
which was passed down the generations,
the modern lifestyle did not always give them enough time.



Before opening the box, in my honest and innocent mind,
I seriously thought there was "Tony the Tiger" inside the box.
I waited for him to jump out the box saying "ggggreaaat!", and sit down next to me.

Nothing happened.

I stuck my hand in the box and searched while my mom wasn't looking.
It was a huge disappointment on my end.



Even today, I still catch myself being fooled by exaggerated marketing strategies.


Now, I would like to ask, why?

Why is that they have to go so far beyond in decorating and manipulating
what the actual products, whatever they may be, represent?



I understand the principle of competition.

Businesses must survive by generating more profit than the competitors, or they won't be able to continue what they are doing.

However, in my opinion, these "contests" have gotten out of control.

It seems to me that the whole purpose of businesses and corporations
is to win against their competitors,
while satisfaction and happiness of consumers became the secondary factor for their operation.




Picture two buses driving next to each other on a road.

The whole purpose of the buses is to get the passengers/customers
to the destination in one piece, in safety.

Perhaps, getting there in a given timeframe would be the next important thing.


Since these two buses are from two competing companies,
they started to advertise.

"We are safe, and we are faster!" or something like that.

After the safety of the buses have been taken for granted,
customers start to choose which bus to use depending on
how fast they can get the passengers to their destinations.

Slowly but surely, these two buses start to race against one another on the road.



It becomes the talk of the town which bus is faster and such.

The owners of two companies start to pressure the drivers to drive as fast as they can, but safely...
(a common business paradox)


The buses do just exactly what they are allowed to do legally to be the "fastest bus".

After a while, they can no longer go any faster, so they begin to decorate the buses with nice seats, TVs, good looking attendants, and so on to attract more customers.


One of the companies is facing financial difficulties.

But the competitor just launched a new campaign hiring a celebrity to represent the bus ride.
Fearing the competitor taking their customers, they decided to do the same.


Meanwhile, the bus was due for a tune up, tires and engines and such.
However, since they had just spent a fortune in hiring a celebrity for their ads,
they could not afford to do sufficient maintenance.

You know where I am going with this.


Let's get back to the beginning.

The sole purpose of the buses is to transport passengers to given destinations in safety.

The "contest" had gotten out of control,
and the customers suffer the consequences, or being put at risk.






I also veered off the subject.


Back to the food story.
In my opinion, if the product, let's say, a bag of potato chips is so tasty and irresistible,
that is all I need to know.

I don't care what type of container they are in, or design of packaging,
or the character that represents the freaking potato chips.

Yes, they are Very Important Potatoes and they must be represented by an imaginary friend.


After all, I do not eat the packaging.
I eat the potato chips.



I won't be surprised if they started airing commercials saying,

"Now a brand new potato chips for the 21st century!!
  You can even eat the colorful packaging!! Yeah!!"

with a cool beat in the background, and things flying everywhere, or whatever.



Then we will start seeing kids munching on bags of potato chips,

"Hey dad, it's really crunchy, and this packaging is pretty yummy itself!"


I'm scared, are you?





My in-laws told me how they used to buy potato chips in waxed bags at a local mom and pop store.

The bags had no pictures, no preservatives, no anti-sunlight film inside the bags,
and whatever else.

They told me in nostalgia how they came fresh in homemade style.

I believe in the quality of fresh food.

The potato chips in waxed bags were freshly made.
People went to buy them when they were fresh, or reasonably fresh and edible.

They did not need to extend the shelf life of the potato chips,
because they were meant to be eaten in reasonable timeframe.
Several hours, perhaps.

That's why they were good and tasty.




Have your mother or father ever prepared dinner while taking the shelf life (table life)
of the dinner into consideration?

I think not, and hope not.



"Hey honey, let me put some chemicals in our kid's meatball pasta,
  so that her/his dinner can stay on the table for a long long time."


"Oh dear, that is a great idea!
  You know what, now you have mentioned it,
  what do you think of hiring a panda from a zoo to represent this
  once-in-a-lifetime meatball pasta I made tonight!
  So that the whole world will know what a wonderful pasta maker I am!"


"My, sweat heart, what would I do without you! let's get right to it!


......



I suppose the same can be said about everything that is out there for sale.



I have been noticing quite bit of change in the food world in this country.
When I first came over as an exchange student, the food was pretty awful.

No offense, but when I spent a year in Idaho,
I could count the variety of food options I had in one hand.
Pretty much.

The almighty McD's, Taco Bell, Domino's, potatoes (come in many forms, but still),
and steak (my favorite of all times, still to this day).

I could also count the supplemental food group, such as potato chips, snickers (two a day),
beef jerky (crucial to this day), Cup Noodles (they followed me from Japan),
and all other junk food you can possibly think of.

I gained 20 pounds in 2 months.



Prior to my arrival, my diet wasn't anything to write about.
Indeed, I was eating McD's, Cup Noodles, and other junk foods back in Japan also.


[McDonald's in Japan took a different and clever approach
in order for them to adjust to Japanese market.

They came up with Teriyaki Burger, which was my favorite,
Chicken Tatsuta (deep fried chicken) Burger.
And of course the famous Big Mac and Cheeseburger, which all of you are well accustomed to.]


Although I was eating all these junks while being out,
I ate really well at home while living with my parents.

Most of our family menus were based on traditional Japanese cooking and diet,
which consists of carefully designed combinations of grains, vegetables, meat, fish,
and so on, and most importantly, in moderate proportion.

There is a saying in Japan,

"80 % Stomach"

It means that you stop eating just a little before you feel full.
If you feel full, you ate too much.

I always stayed in good shape without really doing anything about it.




I remember my grand parents teaching me about food on
what to eat, when to eat them, and how to cook them in certain combinations.


They knew which plants and herbs come in use at any given situations.

As a kid, I always wondered how they acquired the in-depth understanding
of the complex dynamics of nutritions involved.

Their knowledge was beyond my understanding.




My grand parents were full-time farmers.

They had been doing it all their long lives,
and they were almost self-sufficient in terms of what they consumed for themselves.

    
I was amazed by their capability on living with the surrounding nature.

They got up when the roosters fulfilled their morning duty,
and they went to sleep shortly after the sun went down.

Everything was done and built by their own hands,
except for the house they lived in (due to the earthquake safety regulations),
and the few machines they had to adopt to use for farming,
since the local coop farming organization, which they were part of, required them to do so.



Their knowledge did not come from labs.
There weren't any scientists in white lab coats testing things and such behind their kitchen.


By the time I was in junior high school,
I had a pretty good understanding of the science and the modern world.

What my grandparents knew often superseded the scientific explanations.

It was based on physical and actual experiences, instead of theories.

It was truly fascinating every time they had shared what they knew with me.


I must say that it was wisdom talking.

The information was built upon generations and generations of trial and error.
I could sense even when I was an adolescent, my grand parents didn't figure it all out by themselves.


My grandpa used to tell me,

"All that we know was passed down the generations by our ancestors.
I had learned it from my grandfather, and he learned it from his grand father, and on and on."


I thought to my self in my kids mind,

"Grandfathers are great, I guess dads don't do anything. Except leave the house and come back."





Today, when my family and I try to share what we learned about food with others,
some of them look at us as if we have feet sticking out of our ears.

Well, that is usually the initial reaction.


When we proceed, they get a bit scared, or even offended.

They look at us as if we are the leaders of some cult group.


After the misunderstanding is cleared,
I would find out that in most of these cases,
they have never questioned nor examined what they eat.


I was astonished when I heard that there are kids out there in this country,
who have never seen fruit or vegetable in real life.
Only packaged food.

And naturally, they think what they eat come from the supermarkets.



"Food does not come from the supermarkets, they come from the Earth."


I'm gonna repeat myself in case someone out there has forgotten.


"Food does not come from the supermarkets, they come from the Earth."



I feel like this should be a mantra of some sort for us to chant and chant until everyone gets it.


"Food does not...

ok. enough.


Join the Healthy Food Cult!
And I will give you a new name!


No. no name change or naked thing here.

We just eat clean, good, and healthy food.

Are you scared? not I.





Keep it natural. just saying.





love,


y