SOURCE ANNOTATION THOUGHTS/CONNECTIONSIkerd, J.The New American Food Culture(Undated)

Ikerd’s paper highlights the main drive behind the past and mostly current food culture as “cost, convenience, and appearance.” However, his analysis of the “new American food ethic” uncovers many factors contributing to the change in food culture. He notes that while organic/healthy foods still account for a very small proportion of the market share there is an increase in the number of Americans “expressing doubts and outright dissatisfaction with the current American food system.” Ikerd believes that Americans are becoming more concerned about “how their food is produced and who benefits and suffers as a consequence” than with the actual food itself. This is a direct indication of the rising popularity of the farm-to-table movement. Ikerd categorizes this group as the “cultural creatives” who support and include sustainable farmers that share the same concerns and beliefs about the production of food. Ikerd recognizes that although this subset of the population is small it is a “critical part of the much larger movement that is creating a new American culture.”

Professor John Ikerd’s publication provides great insight into the subcultures of the American population that play different roles in the American food revolution. Ikerd’s work has also led to my investigation of sustainable agriculture in my research.

Mowbray, S.The Rise of the New Food CultureOctober 12, 2012

Scott Mowbray’s Huffington Post article highlights a “deep cultural change” which he argues will allow the American population to overcome many of its nutrition based problems. Mowbray places the blame on “Big food” and “the anonymous food scientist” for the food culture that has controlled the nation for the past fifty years. The turning point, he believes, has not only been the realization of the “fatal flaws” of the current diet (heart disease, Type-2 diabetes) but more importantly he attributes the change in culture. Current popular culture is broad. Mowbray believes that the

Scott Mowbray’s article is necessary for me to gain an insight into the industry that has created a food culture that has led to chronic disease and obesity.

combination of “immigrant knowledge” and “American traditions” coupled with a more travelled population will drive the changing food culture. The writer feels that the time has come for the food producers to adapt to the changing tastes of the nation rather than dictating the “dictating tastes to a new generation.”

Villacorta, M.When Organic, Sustainable, Fresh and Local Is Not EnoughJanuary 9, 2011

Manuel Villacorta’s article focuses not on the content of the food we eat but the way in which we consume our food. Villacorta, a dietician, offers an insight into many of his encounters with clients and compares their eating habits with experiences in Spain, Italy, and Peru. He is critical of the American lifestyle when it comes to the consumption of food. In comparison with many European countries who take at least one hour for lunch, many of his American clients are more concerned with “deadlines, meetings, pressure” and as a result of this are “overweight with health issues.” Villacorta believes that if Americans concentrated more on the way they eat their food they would not only reduce the number of trips they take to the vending machine but by “eating slower means eating less.”

Villacorta’s does not give good insight into the changing food trend in America. However, it does highlight a major factor in the development of obesity and weight related health issues. By comparing the way Americans eat their food against that of Europeans or South Americans it supports the idea that a broader cultural dynamic is driving the food revolution.

Food, Inc.Dir. Robert Kenner. Magnolia Home Entertainment, 2009

Food, Inc. is a movie about the corporate American food industry. The movie traces the production of several key ingredients. The movie opens by telling the viewer that the food industry has changed more in the last 50 years than in the previous 10,000 years. In particular, the rise of fast food – produced as if on an assembly line – has created a market for mass produced food. These fast food companies value consistency in their products – the same product for all customers. Because companies want the same product to sell across America, they

The movie provides graphic images and examples of the modern food production industry. Although my paper will focus more on what’s driving the local food culture, big food industry certainly plays a role. In many ways, the local food culture could be a backlash by individuals who prefer to pay a higher price for a “better” product. These individuals value ethically sourced produce and meat, and avoid synthetic products and added chemicals.

have extraordinary market power. In the same time period, the producers of meat, produce, and corn have consolidated. There are now many fewer meat processing companies than there were in 1970 – now there are just 4 major companies holding over 80% of the market.

The movie then focuses on two key ingredients: meat and corn. The filmmakers visit a chicken farmer (who sells to Perdue) and show how chickens have been engineered to grow larger breasts (of the white meat consumers prefer) and mature more quickly than “natural” chickens do. The filmmakers also discuss how antibiotics and the conditions in which the animals are raised allow certain bacteria – like e. coli – to flourish. This bacteria inevitably makes its way into the market. The film, for example, features one family who lost a child after he ate an e. coli infected hamburger patty. The film explores how big industry lobbies government regulators to avoid strict oversight. Indeed, some key regulators were once food production lobbyists.

Anything That Moves: Renegade Chefs, Fearless Eaters, and the Making of a New American Food Culture, Dana Goodyear, 2013

Anything That Moves explores the world’s fascination with weird food. Basically, the author explains that some Americans are now rejecting mass-produced industrial food, in favor of local flavors and ethnic cooking. These people seek out food experiences to share and relish trying new foods and ingredients that are “strange” (at least to them). In a world where consumers prefer the white meat chicken breast, a certain class of consumer is seeking out ways to use the whole bird, to eat marrow and organ meats. This creativity and new complexity is a feature of the growing local food movement. It stems from

Anything that Moves offers a good background into the origins of certain food practices and how they have been incorporated into US cuisine. While it does focus on the extreme practices and the competition between chefs to push the boundaries of acceptable, it does illustrate the acceptance of tamer practices among a wider population. The content of this book will need support from more sources.

multiculturalism. Many of the new food trends within the US are not only adaptations from the culinary history of France, Italy, or Spain, but also from poverty stricken countries of South America and Africa. The book further illustrates the FDA’s alliance with big food corporations. It covers the closure of more natural, “raw” food producers by the government for their healthier practices. Although it predominantly covers the extreme food trends, Anything that Moves offers an indication of where the new food culture is headed for the majority of participants.

The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food, Michael Moss, 2013 (New York Times)

The New York Times article The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food, opens with a discussion of James Behnke. Behnke is a scientist and former Pillsbury executive, and he describes a meeting of top food industry scientists and executives to discuss the food industry’s concern over the American obesity crisis. A Kraft executive who presented at the meeting went so far as to compare marketing junk food to children as equivalent to marketing cigarettes. Another top executive at the meeting—the General Mills executive who invented sugary Yoplait and “Gogurt” for kids—reminded the group that consumers liked what tasted good.

The author then turns to a discussion of the science companies use to “get people hooked on foods that are convenient and inexpensive”—“sugary, salty, fatty foods [that] are not good for us in the quantities that we consume them.” He met with a “food optimizer” – Howard Moskowitz -- who literally spends time combining taste, packaging, and color and testing the combinations on consumers to find the match that will sell. Moskowitz seeks

Food Inc. led me to do more research into the practices of re-engineering food. This article, in addition to the Food Inc documentary may be one of the primary drivers of the new food culture. It is a confirmation of the lack of ethical integrity with the industrial food industry.

to find the consumer “bliss point” – the point when there’s just enough sugar or salt in a food (like Prego spaghetti sauce) but not too much. He researches a product’s “sensory satiety” and “mouth feel” to determine how it will be received by—and craved by—consumers. The author also interviewed the inventor of “Lunchables.” According to the inventor, processed foods worked better than healthy, fresh items in the lunch packs, because they wouldn’t go bad. The inventor also tapped into the psychology of appealing to kids: kids wanted the “power” to make their own lunch—which made lunchable pizza kits, tacos, and burgers incredibly popular. Ironically, the author asks whether the inventor’s three grandchildren have ever eaten a Lunchable – the answer is no.

The also author interviews an ex-Coke executive who has turned to “repay Karma” by packaging and selling crunchy baby carrots as a popular kid snack. During his time at Coke, the executive explained that the company targeted poor communities (where Coke drinking is more common), and tried to get “heavy users” to drink more.

Charlotte Wakes Up Bankers’ Taste Buds, Kim Severson, 2012. (The New York Times)

Kim Severson’s article in The New York Times, Charlotte Wakes Up Bankers’ Taste Buds, reports Charlotte’s culinary evolution ahead of the city’s hosting of the 2012 Democratic National Convention. As Kristie Greco, communications director for the Democratic National Convention Committee, states in the article, “Like mushrooms springing to life after a forest fire, it seems a serious food scene has emerged in Charlotte in the recovery from the economic crisis.” The new food scene perhaps explains

Charlotte Wakes Up Bankers’ Taste Buds was a key article in allowing me to build on Ikerd’s article as to why and how food culture is changing. The article gave me insight into the way national food trends are playing out here in Charlotte.

why the 2012 Democratic National Convention was held in Charlotte.

The article goes on to explain some of the rationale behind the movement. Charlotte was best known as a “moneymaking mecca,” and the food industry played on that for many years, offering high-end chain steakhouses and barbecue for the financial elite. However, in the wake of the financial crisis coupled with the introduction of Johnson & Wales, amongst other factors, “[F]armers and cooks found each other, and the whole town just seemed to be interested in expanding how it ate.”

Heirloom Restaurant, Heidi Billotto, 2014. (Charlotte Living)

Heidi Billotto’s article Heirloom Restaurant is a short feature in Charlotte Living’s Winter 2014 edition. It focuses on the Charlotte restaurant Heirloom, and its extreme commitment to locally sourced produce. Chef Clark Barlowe (a graduate of Johnson & Wales) has opened Heirloom, a restaurant dedicated to only using North Carolina ingredients. Heirloom’s menu is “based on what is available that week, that day, that hour.” In addition, Barlowe sources his ingredients, his cooking tools, and even the decorations for the restaurant from North Carolina farms and businesses, maintaining the “local” theme throughout his restaurant.

Billotto’s article helped to build on the findings in Charlotte Wakes Up Bankers’ Taste Buds, allowing me to strengthen the focus on the changing food scene in Charlotte.

Apples To Twinkies 2013: Comparing Taxpayer Subsidies for Fresh Produce and Junk Food, Mike Russo and Dan Smith, 2013.

Russo and Smith’s research shows how the traditional American diet has led to rapid increase in heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. Obesity is now at epidemic levels in the United States, where children are now three times more likely to be overweight or obese than the American youth a decade ago.

However, at the same time, the United

This research study was useful in demonstrating the amount of money the U.S. government spends to subsidize corn (many times the amount spent on apple production, for example).

(U.S. Public Interest Research Group)

States government has heavily subsidized corn and soy production in the United States since the mid-1990s. The production of corn sweeteners, cornstarch, and soy oils have cost American taxpayers as much as $19.2 billion in subsidies since 1995. This $19.2 billion figure is even more staggering considering that it does not include the additional amount the U.S. government has paid to keep corn feed—for large meat production facilities—cheap. This is a colossal figure when compared to the $689 million spent on the apple production subsidies over the past 18 years.

Local & Regional Food Systems, Grace Communications Foundation, 2015. (http://www.sustainabletable.org/254/local-regional-food-systems)

The Local & Regional Food Systems document is a web page that defines local food systems, and explains other key terms related to the local food movement.

Since “local food system” means many things to different people, it was helpful to see the term defined and discussed at length. This article helped me support my point that “local food” may mean different things to different groups.

10 Tips To A Great Plate, USDA, 2015. (choosemyplate.gov)

This one-page document is a list of tips for eating healthy from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. The document has fairly common sense tips, like “Balance calories” you take in with physical activity, “enjoy your food, but eat less,” and “make half your plate fruits and vegetables.” The document also lists several foods to eat less often, including “pizza . . . ribs, sausage, bacon, and hot dogs.”

This article helped me identify nutritional basics supported by the U.S. government, but also raised questions for me about how the government may offer nutritional “tips” in one document, yet heavily subsidize corn and soy (which go into very unhealthy foods) at the same time.

If we are what we eat, Americans are corn and soy, Dr. Sanjay Gupta,

Dr. Sanjay Gupta explores the long-term effects that certain foods have on the body and mind. Todd Dawson, a plant biologist from the University of California-Berkeley, can determine the

Gupta’s article was helpful to me in providing support for the statement that Americans eat a lot of corn and soy, products heavily subsidized by the U.S. government.

2007. (CNN) amount of corn in a person’s diet by testing strands of their hair for certain forms of carbon. “We are what we eat with respect to carbon, for sure. So if we eat a particular kind of food, and it has a particular kind of carbon in it, that’s recorded in us, in our tissues, in our hair, in our fingernails, in the muscles”, says Dawson. This is a direct result of the consumption of foods that are high-fat and low in nutritional value. Many of these foods are developed and produced using corn and soy extracts. While corn or soy products are not necessarily harmful to our bodies, the sheer volume of these ingredients when considering our entire consumption of food is alarming.

McDonald’s Sales Continue To Slide, Bruce Horovitz, 2015. (USA Today)

USA Today’s Bruce Horovitz highlights the declining sales experienced by McDonalds. In the article, McDonald’s are stated as saying, “Consumer needs and preferences have changed and McDonald's current performance reflects the urgent need to evolve with today's consumers.” Young adults are turning away from typical fast-food choices in recent years. Instead, these individuals – many of whom are willing and able to pay a “premium” for healthier and seemingly more wholesome choices, are choosing such “fast-casual” options as Chipotle, Panera, and Subway. These chains – promising healthy options and more upscale atmosphere – have exploded in recent years, while traditional, low-priced fast food chains – like McDonald’s – have remained stagnant. The fact that fast food chains attempt to incorporate “healthy” options (apple slices at McDonald’s, for example) shows that they are attempting to capture a segment of the more health-conscious market.

Horovitz’s article was helpful for me to show that traditional fast-food chains like McDonald’s have struggled in recent years, while fast-casual and seemingly “healthier” options (Chipotle) have thrived. Many of the articles I found show that big food production companies and fast food companies have a strong interest in continuing to appeal to consumers, whether it’s by cleaning up their operations or making their products seem healthier.

The Gluten-Free Craze: Is It Healthy?, Julie Jargon, 2014. (The Wall Street Journal)

The 2014 article, The Gluten-Free Craze: Is It Healthy?, focuses on the evolution of the gluten-free movement and how a once successful weight loss practice has been influenced by big corporations trying to take hold of the gluten-free market. Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, explains how a decade ago a gluten-free diet would have helped an individual to lose weight by cutting out breads, cakes, and muffins. However, her article explains that the “gluten-free fad has actually undermined people's health because now there are gluten-free varieties of all that junk food. Whether your doughnut is gluten-free or not, it’s still a doughnut” (Jargon, par. 32). Under Wootan’s logic, one might also ask whether the “hip” local food buzzwords have become code words for “health food,” when that might not actually be the case (for example, a locally-sourced doughnut is still a doughnut). Likewise, one might ask whether large food production companies are now using the buzzwords to sugarcoat (no pun intended) their not-so-changed products.

Jargon’s article allowed me to identify one of the strongest food trends in recent years and use it as an example of potentially short-lived food trends. It often seems that people who pick up certain food or health trends do not fully understand them.

Guess What Makes The Cut As A “Smart-Snack” In Schools? Hot Cheetos, Monica Eng, 2015. (NPR)

Monica Eng’s NPR article, Guess What Makes The Cut As A “Smart-Snack” In Schools? Hot Cheetos, offers insight into the lengths that big food and snack companies are going to in order to remain in certain areas of the market. With the Obama administration’s new guidelines regarding the food standards in schools, many snack products did not meet these new standards are were eliminated from school vending machines. The article reports how Frito-Lay reformulated their Flaming Hot Cheetos in order to meet the new guidelines. Marion Nestle, a New York University nutrition professor,

This radio segment/article helped me see the lengths that big food companies will go to to make their unhealthy foods seem like a better choice. The article also shows the appeal that certain junk foods have for children, a theme that runs through several of the articles I found this semester.

states, “If you set up nutrition standards, the food industry can do anything to meet those standards, and this is a perfect example of that. So this is a ‘better-for-you’ junk food and, of course, the question is, is that a good choice? And no, of course, it’s not.”