Are Americans Scared of Their Food?

Published on Friday, July 20, 2007, by Tea / Edit Post

It was a series of articles about sushi that got Maki—the Japanese-born blogger who grew up partially in the United States, now lives in Switzerland, and is the force behind Just Hungry—to start musing over the state of American food fears. Her conclusion: Americans are afraid of their food.

[D]on’t we all know that many Americans are simply scared of their food? If it’s not parasites in raw fish, it’s something else—trans fats, cholesterol, fat, carbs, alcohol, ‘germs’ in general, chemical anything. I’ve been through various food scares in the past in other countries (such as near-hysteria levels over e coli on raw vegetables in Japan some years ago) but to me, when it comes to an almost constant fear of the harm that food can do to ones body Americans are really up there.

Certainly America experiences food trends like nowhere else—the idea of giving up carbs would be laughable elsewhere. Asia is not going to give up its rice, Italy its pasta, or France its bread and pastries. But these are all cultures more in tune with their traditional diets, and healthier because of it.

What do you think? Are we scared, lost, or just far too susceptible to food trends?

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  • Fear is our bread and butter, not only with food. And by now, I think we are addicted to this hightened state of being, that even the smallest stimuli, makes us react and move from one state to the other. But I don´t´think this is new. I remember decades ago: sugar is good, is bad, fat is good, egg is good no, it is bad. For being one of the countries in the world with more education and access...+READ

    Fear is our bread and butter, not only with food. And by now, I think we are addicted to this hightened state of being, that even the smallest stimuli, makes us react and move from one state to the other. But I don´t´think this is new. I remember decades ago: sugar is good, is bad, fat is good, egg is good no, it is bad. For being one of the countries in the world with more education and access to information, it sure seems like we are also the most gullible. Where did personal criteria go?-COLLAPSE

  • I think, at the risk of American bashing (I live in Canada but I'm also an American, in my defense), the US has lately adopted a culture that seems to have found a sturdy footing in sensationalism and, subsequently, fear - not just in regards to food but with respect to many facets of day-to-day living. Many of the Americans I speak with try to ignore it, but the media is so histrionic in its...+READ

    I think, at the risk of American bashing (I live in Canada but I'm also an American, in my defense), the US has lately adopted a culture that seems to have found a sturdy footing in sensationalism and, subsequently, fear - not just in regards to food but with respect to many facets of day-to-day living. Many of the Americans I speak with try to ignore it, but the media is so histrionic in its reporting of various issues that are unlikely to ever significantly affect most people that it's virtually impossible to be entirely immune to it.

    As for food trends, Canadians have been quite susceptible, too, especially to the whole "low carb" diet. I think that this *does* work for some people, but not for others, depending on physiology: for example, there have been a few times in my life when my weight has crept up a few pounds more than it should, and I've reduced by cutting way back on fats and making carbohydrates the mainstay of my diet. I've seen many people lose weight on the low carb craze... some of them manage to keep it off, and others ricochet back to their former selves.

    My opinion is that these "food trends" are either symptomatic of our desire to see quick results in our lives with minimal effort (as in specialty diets) or the results of food paranoia. Ignoring the hysteria and focusing on common sense and moderation seems to be the healthiest approach, even if it is not always easy.-COLLAPSE

  • I've noticed this a lot with meat. There are a lot of people I know who just can't deal with meat anymore. They'll eat it, but they can't prepare it and don't want to touch it (unless it's frozen). It's a really bizarre phenomenon. I can only think it's somehow caused by our dependence on prepared foods.