What's the Story of Your Food?

From Fighting the Food Giants by Paul Stitt:

"The ones most devastated by the growth of the processed food industry are the populations of the underdeveloped nations. In their insatiable lust for sales, the food monsters are competing for overseas markets. They are pouring millions into Third World advertising campaigns, trying to convince the poor Brazilian farmer that "He Deserves a Break Today," and the starving child of Ghana that "Things Go Better with a Coke."

...The food giants are certainly racking up a lot of victories in the Third World.
Two noted food researchers, Frances Moore Lappe and Joseph Collins, have visited the tiny, rotting stores in the rural areas of poor countries and have found chewing gum sold by the stick, Ritz crackers sold one-by-one, and two-packs of Twinkies split up so the awful things can be sold separately.

This demand for this poison has been generated by food conglomerate advertising which is doing a great job of teaching people in poor lands "that their traditional diets of beans, corn, millet and rice are worthless as compared to what Americans eat." To the food conglomerates, poor people turning from native, whole foods to processed junk means profit; to the people themselves it means death."

We didn't always eat this way, you know. How did processed food become the trademark of all "civilized" societies?

And the most unhealthy societies.

What's the story of your food? Go ask your kids. Why ask your kids? Because someone is paying big money to make sure they eat the same way that you do. And someone is making big money too. In a study of commercials aimed specifically at toddlers and preschoolers, and aired on Nickelodeon, Disney, and PBS, kids viewed 130 food-related commercials during a morning TV watching slot. Of these 130 commercials, more than half were specifically targeted towards kids, and 50 of them were for fast food, and 18 for sweetened cereals.

The study also found that 82% of the advertising on PBS, and 36% of the advertising on the Disney Channel was sponsored by fast-food chains.

Ask yourself: who is making money through the food that I'm buying for myself and my family? Do they really have my best interests in mind?

The answers might shock you.