@1David McGowan

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What Is Driving Food Movement?

It's almost impossible to avoid local food culture, especially in an urban center likeCharlotte. Coffee shops market locally-roasted, fair-trade coffee; restaurants list the sources for

their meat products, alongside higher prices. Changes in culture and food preferences are driving

this local food movement. Although many Americans continue to follow eating habits adopted by

a prior generation -

consuming large quantities of processed food -

a courter movement is

spreading in the United States. Young adults with higher expendable incomes are putting their

dollars towards organic, locally-sourced, minimally-processed food. This paper explores the trend

and what drives it. {lrt u ! TrwJ )rqyD Sttvaks qr\^/v -e/),0 au,q.dvFor decades America has led the way when it comes to heavily processed foods, for two

two primary reasons. First, "Americans like things that are fast and easy, requiring minimal

personaloreconomicsacrifice,,(lkerd*W1@odCulture,,).Thishasbeenthemainselling point for the factory-to-table foods produced in the United States over the past fewdecades. Corporations have engineered their products to have near-addictive tastes, improved

mouth-feels, enhanced appearances, and longer shelf lives. This was achieved by pumping foods

full of salt, fat, and corn extracts in a bid to hook the consumer. Corporations had little regard for

the nutritional value of their products.

The 2013 New York Times article The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Foodby

Michael Moss publicizes engineering foods to appeal to consumers. The article opens with a

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discussion of James Behnke. Behnke is a scientist and former Pillsbury executive. 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 tocompare marketing junk food to children as equivalent to marketing cigarettes. Another topexecutive at the meeting-the General Mills executive who invented sugary Yoplait and"Gogurt" for kids-reminded the group that consumers like what tastes gooa( llO{ f'Atd A U*a-tOrl

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Moss then discusses the science companies use to "get people hooked on foods that are

convenient and inexpel5ivs"-665ugtry, salty, fatty foods [that] are not good for us in thequantities that we consume them." (Moss, "The Extraordinary Science Of Addictive Junk Food").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 the most product. Moskowitz seeks to find the consumer "bliss point" -

the point when

there's just enough sugar or salt in a product but not too much. He researches a product's"sensory satiety" and 'omouth feel" to determine how it

-r, ,. r"#3. tflfrtf:-Y#jconsumers (Moss, "The Extraordinary science of Addictiv)e Junk Food").

The traditional American diet has led to rapid increase in heart disease and, Type 2diabetes. 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 (Russo and-*=--_

-Smith 1). 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/ A 2011 leadingUnited States govemment health campaign advised Americans to "cut back on foods high in solid

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3fats, added sugars, and salt. They include cakes, cookies, ice cream, candies, sweetened drinks,

pizza,and fatty meats like ribs, sausages, bacon, and hot dogs" (choosemyplate.gov).'* H,Stl"t-