When people claim we are a secular society, I always laugh, because I don’t really know how else to respond. Christian attitudes and worldviews are very much wrapped up in Western thought, and they’re impossible to evade, whether you’re talking about ‘atoning’ for a mistake or exclaiming ‘oh my G-d’ when something shocking happens. Christianity […]
Tag: food policing
Healthism and Food
One of the most commonly expressed forms of healthism comes up at the table, where people feel absolutely free to comment on what other people are eating, with additional suggestions on what they should or should not be eating. Whether it’s legislators attempting to pass soda bans or people at dinner who feel like it’s […]
Calories: Units of Energy. So Stop Calling Them ‘Empty.’
The phrase ’empty calories’ has always irked me, and it seems to be cropping up everywhere around me lately, like people got a memo that I didn’t see mandating its use at least four times a day. It’s a meaningless phrase that has become fraught with meaning, used as an indictment of some types of […]
Food Systems: Not Globally Universal!
Among many vegetarians and vegans of my acquaintance, the idea that animal products are inherently inefficient is broadly accepted. In fact, some people I know have specifically chosen that diet because they have concerns about food chain inefficiency, and on the surface, the argument is compelling. It costs much more to raise the grain to […]
In Shocking News, Not All Ingredients Are Available To Everyone!
We were making dinner, a Thai curry. We’d gone to Harvest to pick up an assortment of vegetables and we were peacefully chopping things in the kitchen and making sure the rice was under control and listening to music and generally having a good time, until I opened the door of the fridge and pulled […]
I’ll Mind My Plate If You Mind Yours
When I was perhaps 11 or 12, a friend of my father’s came to visit. My father had just made a big batch of spaghetti sauce, so he served spaghetti and sauce for dinner. I remember being alive with tingling anticipation; my father makes really good spaghetti sauce, and it was always one of my […]
Food and Moral Weight
Michelle, aka the Fat Nutritionist, is an awesome lady. I think you already know that because I am always talking about how awesome she is, but just in case you don’t, she is awesome, and you should be reading her. I’m not just fond of her because she’s a fellow fatty, or because she has […]
Food: The Problem Isn’t Information Deficit
At FWD recently, I highlighted this label I found attached to a bunch of asparagus: I pointed out that it felt to me like an example of food policing in action; you must eat five a day! Health professionals recommend it! Some commenters responded to say “well, maybe some people don’t know about five a […]
Before You Criticize the Food Choices of Others…
I normally really, really, really hate disability simulations. But I can’t think of a way to make this point more clear, and I think that there are cases in which disability simulations can actually be very helpful for people who are having trouble grasping some key concepts. Food policing is an area in which all […]