Grocery Shopping.

I went grocery shopping with a friend, unaware that she would be such an inspiration for this project. Food-wise, she is the antithesis of me. I have been raised to eat food I can recognize; she goes to what is the most attractive. I never thought anyone could shop like this.

I managed to stop her from buying "easy cheese", an item that I would never consider but that she apparently eats constantly. Then she got excited over a cereal box that contained a Shrek toy inside. She had a similar reaction with Macaroni and Cheese. Advertising for kids? I don't think so.

Continuing on this subject, I recall that this kind of advertising is prohibited in most European countries (at least France). You will never find a McDonald’s cartoon there and many less (if not any) TV characters on products. Wonder why American kids are fatter than European ones? This might be an answer.

By the time we were done shopping I was bewildered by her cart and her response was as simple as "healthy food is not tasty! I do not care about healthy, I could get hit by a car anytime but THIS (an onion dip) is good!"

I then made her an entire meal that she ate alright but that she finalized with her chips and onion dip. Needless to say, we are all aware of what is healthy and what is not. If you are fine with the second option, no argument will be convincing enough to change your habits. If she is ok with this, who am I to tell her to change?

I attribute our different points of view on our education. Food education was stressed during my childhood at home and at school and it definitely shaped my relationship towards it. Yet organizations or programs to educate children about food seem inexistent here. Perhaps that I was not researching correctly (even though “food education in schools in San Francisco” should not be so out of the target) even so, this information should not be hard to find. I found a site that gave advice on how to become more sustainable but nowadays few parents have time to make such a commitment.

If one is not educated about food, how can want be aware of what is going on? It seems crucial to me to have talks at schools explaining to kids about the food pyramid and such; that is what will shape their awareness towards current issues that are otherwise passively ignored.