JerekKruger wrote:...as well as moral problems like animal suffering, both of which can lead one to become vegetarian...
I think all people can be intelligent, meat eater or not, but that point is the reason my wife continues to be vegetarian. Not that it's perfect and not that a single person's actions can change larger cultural forces but her purpose and reason for being vegetarian is rooted firmly in what is often cruel and horrible treatment of animals for food. She's not a crusader or a militant vegetarian (thank god, else I couldn't be married to her), but that's her core reason. She doesn't preach about it either, but at her core (and I have to say I understand her point though I am not vegetarian), she has an issue supporting an industry that is, by necessity, unmoved by suffering or rather, unmotivated to limit suffering.
I may not agree with her all the time about it, for a variety of reasons, but I do think there is something to be said for empathy for suffering and one can carry and act on that empathy without being a super-duper liberal I think.
Hope that's alright to post here. Not turning this into a political thread but that moral problem you mentioned Jerek is such a profound concept regardless of what one's political leanings are, you know?
JerekKruger wrote:And in the US you have the situation where fast food is absurdly cheap (much cheaper than in the UK) such that even if you do have access to fresh food and a place to cook it, it's a lot more expensive to do so. It's little wonder there's such an obesity crisis in America.
Yes, this is a huge difference. There is a culture of cheap food in the U.S. That doesn't excuse personal responsibility for eating right and being healthy, but cheap calories are appealing. Cheap and quick calories are even better. The food industry lives on such thin margins that any differentiation to drive more customers makes meaningful difference. Combine that with the cost necessity of finding cheaper ingredients to improve margins and unfortunately it seems almost like a no brainer that the U.S. has a culture obsessed with "quicker and easier".
The other challenge is that it is also cultural in nature. Maybe regional or socio-demographic is a better way to describe it actually. Areas which tend to have lower incomes also tend also be more obese and what suspected cause is the availability of cheap food sources. I'm not certain making "fresher foods" available in some places leads to more healthy living because it seems that there is also personal culpability in maintaining healthy weight and eating habits though being "poor" makes it even more challenging. Farmers markets in the U.S. are a growing phenomenon these days. But of the 3 farmers markets in my city, guess where they are located? The wealthier areas where people can afford $5 per pound organically raised, free roaming chicken.
Certainly I'm painting with a broad brush there, but you really hit the nail on the head when you talked about cheap food.
