Chip Dip and Dieting: an Analysis of my Relationship with Food
When considering how I would describe the food I ate as a kid, the first word that used to come to mind was ‘normal’. I had always thought that my diet growing was the same as that of any typical American; an average week’s meals consisted of foods like pizza, sloppy joes, hot dogs, or submarine sandwiches. Under further inspection, my family's privileged circumstances, cultural messages about health and dieting, and the industrialization of American food have extraordinarily impacted my eating habits. The more I have learned about the extent to which food is a manifestation of personal and cultural experience, the more I have come to realize that there is no true ‘normal’ when it comes to eating. I lived in the United States, more specifically Canton, Michigan, for the entire duration of my childhood; the most exotic place that my family traveled was Orlando, Florida. This geographic stagnancy was likely a consequence of my family’s middle class status and the lack of travel experience my parents had. It was always my impression that international travel was out of my family’s budget, and even if it was not too expensive my parents seemed to consider it difficult and dangerous. I presumed that non-Western food was a taboo in my family because of this lack of global experience. However, throughout the semester I began to think a little harder about why we ate these primarily “American” foods. The thing that struck me as odd was that my dad is open-minded when it comes to unfamiliar foods; his taste buds have no limitations and I know he would love to have Japanese, Indian, or Nigerian dishes for dinner every night. It was my mom, the primary cook of the household, who is both unaccustomed to and incurious towards most types of foreign food. Under further scrutiny, I realized even the “American” dishes we ate growing up were of a limited variety. Whenever we went to see my maternal grandmother she always had new dishes for use to try; though her food too was largely lacking international influences, she always experimented with a wide variety of homemade ingredients and recipes, something my mom never did. This year over Thanksgiving break, I asked my mom why we ate in such a limited way. She laughed and said “It’s because I was a spoiled child; my mom never taught me how to cook because I never wanted to learn.” As it turns out, my mom’s limited use of diverse ingredients and techniques in her cooking was not only because of her lack of global experience, but also her relationship with her own mother. In addition to my mom’s unfamiliarity with "international cooking" (and possibly cooking in general), the lack of diversity in my diet was likely also due to my upbringing in a suburban, predominantly white community. Even if my parents had been interested in expanding my palette, ingredients commonly used in other countries would likely not have even been available in my community due to the racial makeup of the area. Because of this lack of exposure, I like to refer to my childhood eating habits as sheltered rather than picky. In spite of my family’s inclination to avoid international fare, products from elsewhere in the United States were fair game. Some foods commonly grown in Michigan that I recall consuming frequently are apples, blueberries, and cucumbers. This being said, I also remember loving to have bananas and oranges with breakfast, and warm split pea soup in the winter despite these items either not being grown in Michigan or being out of season. This is the result of a variety of food systems at work, such as the well-maintained infrastructure of the United States that makes domestic transport possible, and government regulations that allow for out of season produce to be imported from countries in the southern hemisphere. I also benefited from the privilege of living in a community where a variety of produce was available at local grocery stores and living in a household with the means to refrigerate these products. After reading parts of The American Way of Eating by Tracy McMillan and watching the documentary La Cosecha I have come to find out my year-round access to these locally out-of-season types of produce is also likely dependent on the cheap labor of migrant workers. Another important thing to note is that for most of my childhood my parents were overweight. This was probably due to both the availability of unhealthy convenience foods along with the stress associated with middle class life. It was clear to me from a young age that my parents felt shame about their sizes, and they were constantly attempting to lose weight by on-and-off phases of dieting. After years of watching my parents struggle through these commercial weight loss diets, they finally shed the pounds by increasing their physical activity. Though I disliked the condescending tone used in the article “More Fitness, Less Fatness” by Jane Brody, I agree from watching their experiences that fitness seems to be a more beneficial and sustainable way to decrease obesity on a personal level than “dieting”. As a result of my parents’ battle with overweightness, I consumed a wide variety of processed “health foods” in my school lunches. These foods, such as yogurt covered raisins and fruit leather, were probably not truly healthy but my parents purchased them over Oreo's because they perceived them as a more nutritious option. My parents’ ideas of nutrition and healthful eating habits were largely influenced by labels and advertising, which often do not correctly inform consumers of real health impacts of products. I now realize that my parents' obsession with dieting also caused me to develop somewhat disordered eating habits such as skipping meals throughout the day and replacing them with heavy snacking, binge-eating during times of stress, and overwhelming feelings of guilt after eating foods I perceive as unhealthy. Despite these imperfections in my food experience, I have countless meaningful food-related memories. The most significant revolves around a dish that has been made in my family for four generations. It has four simple ingredients: cream cheese, milk, garlic salt, and onion powder. We refer to it as chip dip; it is commonly consumed with potato chips and pretzels but has also been topped on anything from baby carrots to mini hot dogs. It is a tradition for dip to be served without exception at every family celebration, and as a child we would have chip dip ‘picnics’ on our living room floor and watch movies. My great grandma began the tradition, and I now recognize this was likely due to the increase in popularity of convenience foods such as packaged cream cheese and potato chips around the time she became a mother. In his article “The Tyranny of Convenience,” Tim Wu expresses his concern that convenience has taken some of the meaning out of life. Though I agree on some level it likely has, I also disagree because I can see how this convenience food has aided in forming a bond within my family The biggest turning point in my food timeline occurred when I was thirteen years old and decided on a whim that I was going to stop eating meat. It was at a volunteer training with a local humane society which often partnered with a farm animal rescue that the idea popped into my head: if I really loved animals so much, why was I supporting a system that put them through so much pain? That night at dinner I proudly announced over a bowl of chicken noodle soup that I would no longer be eating meat. One question Jonathan Safran Foer posed in his book Eating Animals was the same one that had begun to weigh on thirteen-year-old Maddy: why do we eat cows but not dogs? Though the original reason I ceased my meat consumption was because of personal ethics regarding the treatment of livestock, my rationale has shifted dramatically over the years. As I have learned more about vegetarianism, my motivation to avoid animal products has changed from animal rights to the environmental impacts of animal agriculture and since beginning this class, to the public health consequences of industrial meat production. Foer’s description of egg production has influenced me to look even more critically at the animal products I do consume. Even after cutting meat from my diet, I was not a healthy herbivore. Most of my daily calories came from carbohydrate-rich foods like bread and fatty dairy products. I became somewhat dependent on processed, frozen meat alternatives because my family still was consuming mostly meat-based meals and I was responsible for making my own food. This was not because my family was not supportive of my decision, but that they were just not interested in eating vegetarian dinners. College brought about a massive change in my eating habits; I have become much more comfortable trying new foods because I have more exposure to them through fellow vegetarians, vegans, and friends from different countries who I have met here. Even though I would love to eat home-cooked, plant-based meals three times a day, I still tend to view cooking as a chore rather than something I enjoy doing. When reading “Something from the Oven” by Laura Shapiro I found myself identifying with the busy, working womenportrayed by the food companies that were attempting to sell convenience food products. This made me wonder,is cooking really the chore I have always deemed it to be? Or do I only consider it that because that is the only way it is portrayed in modern advertising? Although through this class I have become much more aware of the negative sides of modern American food systems that have contributed to shaping my eating habits, I feel more confident than ever in my ability to examine these habits critically and to change them. When I first wrote this paper in September, I said that I felt as though the eating habits instilled in me throughout my upbringing by my family, community, and overall American society were so ingrained that I will never be able to shed them. I do not identify with that statement anymore; not only have I learned more about the issues with modern food systems, I also now know more about the solutions that I as an individual can take to be a more conscious consumer.