In This our Modern World

The American history of food is a confusing series of laws instated to keep food prices low and production up. During times of need cheep substitutes were created. In times of fear, comfort foods were invented to lessen the worry of impending changes (Twinkies which were invented to put in fallout shelters).  In times of plenty products were invented to use the extras, such as instant cereal products when grain production was too high for several years. Today we have stores full of food products that have lost their meaning but stuck around, either out of nostalgia or just good businesses sense (for a profit not for the health of our food system). 

I am not saying that no good has come from our collective food history. We have much safer handling practices than we did 100 years ago. What I am saying is perhaps we should take a look at the food we eat and the things we do to make ourselves feel better. Pepto is a great medicine, its PH level is a base rather than an acid, so in the event of an upset stomach due to high acid production, taking it will balance out the PH in your stomach and the indigestion goes away (same with Tums). I have never taken it myself, eating a piece of bread or some plain yogurt usually fixes any stomach problem I may be experiencing. But I could see myself partaking if my usual remedies didn’t work. When I do get a stomach ache I always think about through what I have eaten that day to try to pinpoint what may have caused the upset. Something I don’t normally eat, something that may have been slightly over it safe to eat window, or something I ate a lot of are the usual suspects. Highly processed meats like hot dogs, and lunch meats tend to give me an upset stomach, so I rarely eat them.

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 Imagine my surprise, then shock, then confusion, the surprise again when I saw this above photo. Pepto and Heinze co-hosting a hotdog celebration. Yes you will probably need the Pepto if you eat whatever Mr. Mariah Carry is cooking up there for you.  But if you know you are going to need to Pepto to eat the food, why eat it. And is advertising a product that gives you indigestion in conjunction with a product that then takes it away really really stupid, or positively brilliant. I have no answers. I am simply baffled and clearly my eating habits do not belong on this our modern world. Or maybe they do, and we all just need to work a little harder to edit the way we think about food.