Fat Land
Author: Greg Critser. Publisher:Penguin
A clothes shop in South Dublin called Mr. Big has “everything for the big man” and if you believe what author Greg Critser says in his book Fat Land, the future is bright for Mr. Big.
Bigger Chairs
The blurb on the back describes Fat Land as “a brilliant expose of how the land of the free became the land of the fat.” Whether you consider the book brilliant or not is up to you but if you work in the food industry or have an interest in food and how we relate to it in the 21st century, it is worth a read.
Critser’s journalistic style makes sure that the book trips along at a nice pace most of the time. Like a lot of American writers however he just cannot help getting bogged down in statistics so that at times it feels like reading a report of a baseball game.One of the most telling anecdotes in the book relates to a complaint made by a customer to the head of a chain of Italian restaurants that he could no longer fit into any of the chairs in his establishments. The main thesis of the book is that Americans and increasingly, citizens of other first world countries are simply getting fatter and fatter to the point where obesity and its negative health spin offs have become a major problem.The owner ordered a thousand large sized chairs in recognition of the fact that he needs this guy and others like him because they eat lots of food.
The More you eat, the more you need to eat
As he moves through his story, Critser takes us on a journey through the world of food politics via the discovery and development of High Fructose Corn Syrup, the importance of Malaysian Palm Oil (described by its opponents as “more highly saturated than hog lard”) and Soybean oil. Reductions in the prices of these key ingredients allowed food and drink companies to boost portion sizes and still make a profit.
An important point here lies in the simple fact known to us all that the more you eat the more you need to eat. By enticing people to eat bigger portions, Critser suggests, the American food industry laid the foundation for a progression to obesity.
7% of French are obese compared to 22% of Americans
An article in Irish Times noted that despite the fact that the French eat a lot of fat laden food, only 7% of them are obese compared to 22% of Americans. The answer it seems lies in portion size with the average French portion at 25% less than its American counterpart.
On reading that article, I found myself comparing the average European sandwich with what happens if you order a sandwich in a New York Deli. Anyone who eats like that every day has got to become obese or suffer some form of digestive system overload. As Critser says “it’s good to tell Johnny when enough is enough”.
The problem of course is how to convince people to stop eating so much when they are surrounded by food, when everywhere they go they find food on offer. It took time for this phenomenon to develop and it will take time to get it under control.
Neurotic Relationship with Food
What we have here is a potent and potentially deadly mix of politics, sociology, psychology, drive for profit and human frailty. Fat Land underlines the neurotic relationship we have with food in western society. We are becoming afraid of food. We have disconnected from our basic need for food and the fact that eating should be an enjoyable, guilt free experience. If booze is the new tobacco, food looks like eventually becoming the new booze.
In the chapter “who let the calories in” Critser charts the move towards over-eating in the context of parenting trends particularly the laissez faire philosophies brought about by the power to the people movements of the 70’s and liberationist ‘80’s. The concept of eating when you want to, he argues, grew from such philosophies and facilitated a new concept of snack foods requiring little or no preparation. The instant gratification generation was born and they favoured high fat food and drinks.
You become what you eat
Education funding cutbacks facilitated the entry of fast food and soft drinks’ companies into American schools, giving them sales opportunities and the apparent endorsement of the school system. Those of you who think the Atkins diet is a recent invention might be surprised to learn that his book Dr Atkin’s Diet Revolution first went to the top of the charts in 1972. As in advertising, it seems there’s no such thing as a new idea in the world of dieting. Just when you thought it was all doom and gloom, the final chapter of Fat land comes up with a few suggestions as to how we can avoid having to visit Mr. Big. What all the statistics, politics and science boil down to is what your Mama always told you “be sensible”. Remember, you become what you eat.
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