An indigestible food narrative
From the trays of our schools to the headlines of our papers, the American food landscape is being served a narrative that looks, smells, and tastes like well... shit.
Hi!! I went through a 2 week no-cook slump. My one kid has a stomach bug and my other is covered in hives. PARENTHOOD, am I right?
RECIPE ROUND-UP
La Scala salad with lil cheese ravioli things I got from Costco. 10/10 - I prepped the salad part and we ate this for like 4 days.
Dalgona coffees - I have had maybe 1 hot coffee in the last 14 days. I know, like who even am I?
Buffalo Chickpea Salad - This recipe is going into my summer salad rotation. If you make it, just know that I didn’t pan sear the chickpeas like the recipe calls for. Instead, I rinsed and dried the chickpeas. Coated them in avocado oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, and smoked paprika (no measurements, just measure with your heart), roasted them at 425°F for 20 minutes, flipped them over and roasted them for another 10 minutes. THEN I coated them in Franks. Otherwise, this salad is bomb. I also added thinly shredded lettuce because fiber.
Are you watching summer house? Danielle is embarrassing. I LOVE Paige so much.
Martha’s Vineyard is so fucking good this season.
Hack Your Health - I give this documentary a 7.5/10. I did a live reaction on Threads. Basically I wish they explored the impact of SDoH on gut health (-2), but the stuff they did show was pretty cool and I wish my patients had access to it. I mean it would be amazing to do a poo analysis and know how your brain lights up in response to food stimuli would be so cool. I will say, towards the end *spoiler alert* the end of the doc felt like FMT propaganda and I was gagging when the girl was DIYing her own FMT (-0.5). But all in all, I didn’t hate it.
Unpacking the American Food Dilemma: Beyond Choices and Lunch Trays
This was inspired by Jess Wilson's interview with Washington Post reporter Sasha Chavkin. In the episode, Sasha stated the intent for any of his pieces are to drive positive change and the exposé of anti-diet dietitians and their collaboration with scary Big Cereal was meant to do just that. While I do agree Chavkin et al., aimed to shed light on important issues with their 3-part series: proper ad disclosures on social media, the lack of transparency in the food industry, and the rise of poor health outcomes in America, the framing of the story—highlighting anti-diet messaging amid rising obesity rates— is fucking SUS. Sasha inadvertently (or intentionally) level sets individual food choices with social determinants of health. Which (1) tells me everything I need to know about his understanding of SDoH and (2) has me wondering:
How did a discussion about the nation’s diet turn into a blame game on personal choices, while overlooking the real culprits behind our nutritional crisis?
This comparison perpetuates a meritocratic view of health and reinforces healthism.
As I was scrolling on Threads on Friday night, I saw a few posts in support of universal school lunch. And in similar, conspiracy theory fashion, the dots started connecting.
What do the naysayers of universal school lunch have in common with The Washington Post/ Examination team?
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