Our Tastes

There is no denying diets and manipulating entire food groups led to big money. Remember the fat-free rampage that started in 1972? Almost every product was reprocessed and reformulated to fit the low-fat mandate that would fix everything. Skim milk, low-fat cheese and margarine replaced our whole foods. Skim milk tastes pretty close to crap, but think how much more you can drink just by giving up the rich flavor of the real thing!

In the 50s, Americans supposedly ate home-cooked, nutritious meals of lean meats, fresh vegetables and fruits. In actuality, we liked greasy burgers, fries and full strength soda at White Castle. We drank frozen juice concentrates diluted with tap water. The “fresh” vegetables were usually canned or frozen except in summer. We used lots of Crisco, of course, as every home had a tub of it. This was our “secret” ingredient in our home cooked fried chicken, fried potatoes, grits, piecrusts, and cakes.

Eating in America is complicated. Tech innovator Steve Jobs’ devised his own cuisine which at one point was subsisting on broccoli alone. He was a man who traveled widely and, apparently, didn’t want to experience another culture’s cuisine. The broccoli period was one of many phases plagued by disordered eating. He eventually went on to become a fruitarian followed by a pancreatic cancer diagnosis. Any dietician will confirm this is one of the worst diets he could have chosen. For nine months following his diagnosis, he tried to cure himself with another wacky diet.

Tech genius Bill Gates ate Big Macs while starting Microsoft. President Clinton loved Big Macs too ( with his educated palate it was just a short route to veganism). Our newest President is lovin’ it at McDonalds.

Americans believe taste is personal and there are no standards. Our foods are just as complex as the cuisines created by the French and Chinese cultures. Yet the five basic tastes — bitter, salty, sour, sweet and savory — are reduced to only two in the American fast food eating environment. This means that we can take our mouths anywhere and consume in any place anytime. That’s progress., right!