Peace, Love and Music

section9:

victura:

Why Americans are Fat

Simply put, Americans have become lazy.  There is no other way to describe it.  We seem to enjoy watching others cook food much more so than having to cook food ourselves.  In an excellent New York Times Magazine article back in 2009, Michael Pollan explores this very question of what is happening to cooking in America.  Just a few tidbits from the article clearly show that our lack of cooking is affecting our health as a nation:

• Average American spends a mere 27 minutes a day on food preparation
• Less than half the time that we spent cooking and cleaning up than when Julia Child arrived on our television screens
• Amount of time spent on food preparation in America has fallen at the same precipitous rate of about 40 percent since 1965
• Amount of time Americans spend cooking has dropped by about half, the number of meals Americans eat in a day has climbed; since 1977, we’ve added approximately half a meal to our daily intake
• More time a nation devotes to food preparation at home, the lower its rate of obesity
• Amount of time spent cooking predicts obesity rates more reliably than female participation in the labor force or income

Well, I think the quick response here, is who gets home in time to cook every night?

And I think that is part of the problem. We have forgotten how to actually relax and live and settle for always having something to do. And that doesn’t mean busy. Americans spend more time at work and get less done than many other people in the world. Cooking used to be a joy a priority, now everyone is running so fast that they forget how to stop and be.