Clean Eating as a food movement?

[Academicat]

Clean eating describes the way I (do my best to) eat, though I never used that phrase to describe it before. You might be a clean-eater, too, and not even realize it: In a nutshell, it's eating simple meals made of real, fresh ingredients,  and avoiding overly processed foods, refined sugars, and grains that aren't whole. Veggies are emphasized, though "clean" meats and whole grains are fair game, too.

 

I cook this way because of two influences in my life: My mom, a farm-raised from-scratch cook who keeps a garden and cans for winter, (though she uses refined sugars and white flours), my high school best friend's mom, who did the from-scratch thing, but only cooked with whole grains and natural sugars (honey, maple syrup, apple sauce - that kind of thing). I acknowledge that I am lucky to have had good food influences in my life, but I am really surprised that we've become so far removed from this kind of cooking that it's become a movement.

 

I'm part a friend's clean eating FB group, and a lot of the conversations there have surprised me. The folks in the group, many in their 30s and well-educated, are learning that pumpkin pie spice is actually just made up of a combo of spices you already have in your pantry, and they're sharing recipes for things like oatmeal, turkey pita pockets with spinach, granola, and peanut butter on a whole wheat english muffin. It's cool what they're doing, and I'm happy to be part of it (and pick up a few new recipes along the way). I'm surprised at what a huge deal we're making of a "clean eating" lifestyle, which is really just basic home economics, but a little more thoughtful.

 

As unpleasant as the realities of processed food are, it did have its place in history in freeing women from domestic kitchen tasks and allowing them the free time to pursue education, careers, and civic engagement. The push to celebrate better living through food chemistry took off somewhere around mid-century, so I wonder how long it took home cooks to start rebelling and how radical, "clean eating" chefs from previous generations appeared to their processed-food embracing peers. Were they considered silly for being chained to the stove rather than making a TV dinner and getting on with it? Wasteful for spending more money on fresh ingredients than the cheaper, processed equivalent? (Was the processed equivalent actually cheaper in the middle of the last century?)

 

I haven't found a way to voice this to the group politely (and I don't see the point because what they're doing is good), so I'm bringing it here. Do you all cook? Do you consider yourself part of a movement because you cook, or is it just a thing you do?

These are the things I think about when I should be reading for next week's class. I'm really interested to hear what you all think.

Edited September 28, 2014 by Academicat

[smg]

I'm a clean eater by default.  I live and work on an organic farm. 

 

I'm skeptical that processed foods freed anyone from anything. 

 

I cook cause I need to eat.  I also like cooking some of the time.  I hope this doesnt make me part of a movement that would be f'ing stupid. 

[spectastic]

there's a documentary about that, called "fed up" or something like that. it talks about what the food corporations are doing to get consumers "addicted" to sugar and making recipes that are targeting the reward centers in our brain that were developed by evolution for the early humans to find the natural sugar in berries and fruits, instead of the bags of potato chips and honey bbq ribs in the frozen section, or the scoops of sugar people put into their coffee.

 

I guess I'm one of those clean eaters, because I try to cook healthy stuff (not gonna get involved politically though). But it's pretty much impossible to find unprocessed stuff unless you go to the farmer's market. I buy packaged meat and frozen vegetables all the time, and they're not so bad.

 

I also try to stay away from too many restaurants, because a lot of them put the bad stuff in their food for it to taste good, and make their business thrive.

 

but with grad school schedules, I can't imagine people on here would be able to find the time to cook all the time.

[rising_star]

I ate fairly "clean" in grad school, if only because I didn't eat out a lot. I did eat frozen dinners from time to time, so that wouldn't be clean. But a lot of my cooking was done in the slow cooker (or crock pot) so that I could make 3-4 meals at a time, rather than having to cook every day. Even now that I'm out of grad school, I still do most of my cooking once a week on Sundays. I'll make a quiche or frittata to portion out for breakfast each morning and eat that along with greek yogurt and berries or oatmeal. Then, lunches are usually soup I make a big pot of for the week. And dinner is something else, maybe soup and salad,, or maybe something else if I decide to cook a third thing for the week. By doing all the cooking on Saturday and Sunday, I've got food throughout the week with minimal effort. And, if you plan better than I do, you could make extra and freeze some portions of soup or whatever and then just take those out when you need a quick meal. I'm trying to move more in that direction but it's difficult for whatever reason.

 

At any rate, I don't consider myself to be part of a movement. I do what I do because I don't like eating out unless it's certain things and because I want to save money.

[juilletmercredi]

I have never quite figured out what people mean when they say "processed."  What does that mean?  A process is basically doing something.  Are frozen vegetables processed?  Are carrots with the tops cut off processed?  Is white bread considered processed?  Is milk fortified with vitamin D or orange juice fortified with calcium processed?  (Probably yes to all of those.)  And when I say processed I don't mean are they literally processed, because they all are (and probably every single piece of food that enters your mouth is, regardless of whether you grew it yourself or not) but "processed" in the sort-of disdainful way people use the word now.

 

One website says that processed foods are "anything in a box, bag, can, or package."  Does that mean my spaghetti sauce is processed?  My bag of apples?  My box of pasta?  Am I supposed to make pasta from scratch and cut it in one of those pasta machines?  I don't have time or patience for that.  Am I supposed to make sauce from scratch?  I do sometimes, but I use tomatoes from a can.  Does that mean that my food's not clean?  I often buy frozen vegetables because it's just me and the fresh ones go bad before I can use them up, but I don't want to go to the grocery store every day.  As for fresh meat...how am I supposed to get that?  I'm supposing that the packages of ground beef and chicken I pick up at the supermarket don't count.  Am I supposed to find a butcher?  I live in a small college town.  (Actually, it's kind of in a rural area, so maybe if I drove 20-30 minutes outside of town I would find a butcher.)

 

Like pumpkin pie spice.  I make pumpkin pie from scratch (including the crust).  If I have pumpkin pie spice in my cabinet (which I usually do) I use it.  If I don't, I use the constituent ingredients, which I usually also have in my cabinet because I like to cook.  Is there a significant difference in the health of my food using nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, et al. separately and using the pumpkin pie spice?  It doesn't taste different, unless I choose to use more of X spice.  It is literally the same thing, except that I added them separately rather than in a little canister together.  Why does that matter?  (Also, most people I know actually do not have the spices already in their pantry.  They might have the cinnamon and nutmeg, but only some have ginger, and almost nobody I know has allspice in their cabinet besides me.  You can omit the allspice, though.)

 

I mean, there's a big gulf between what's conceived of as modern-day "clean eating" and microwaving a TV dinner.

 

I cook because I really like to make tasty meals; because cooking is (usually) healthier than eating out; and because cooking is also cheaper than eating out all of the time.  But cooking doesn't mean that you're following a clean eating movement, because I use a lot of processed foods when I cook (see all of the above).

[spectastic]

anything that's been prepared and packaged is considered processed, even basic ingredients like flour. you can't avoid process food. but it's easy to distinguish good processed food like freshly packaged meat, frozen veg, milk, vs other stuff like frozen pizza, quick microwaveable meals, where you don't control the ingredients

 

hey.. basically, just stick around the fresh produce and meat sections, and stay the hell out of the isles in the grocery store. ok??

[smg]

anything that's been prepared and packaged is considered processed, even basic ingredients like flour. you can't avoid process food. but it's easy to distinguish good processed food like freshly packaged meat, frozen veg, milk, vs other stuff like frozen pizza, quick microwaveable meals, where you don't control the ingredients

 

hey.. basically, just stick around the fresh produce and meat sections, and stay the hell out of the isles in the grocery store. ok??

 

Most of the produce and meat are suspect IMO.  Most of us don't want to know what meat eats. 

[Vene]

Most of the produce and meat are suspect IMO.  Most of us don't want to know what meat eats. 

It eats soy and corn. That's why so much of both are grown in the midwestern US.

[maelia8]

I'm a lifelong vegetarian, and I really live off grains and beans from the bulk bin, vegetables from the produce section, and organic, local, cage-free eggs and yogurt. I rarely buy packaged crackers or premixed anything, and since I buy in small amounts, I don't need to get frozen stuff (although I do rarely get something frozen if it's out of season, like peas). Of course, that being said, I also have a small "emergency stash" of canned/instant soups in case I get sick and really can't cook, so I'm definitely willing to compromise, and I won't pretend that I've never bought a bought a bag of kettle chips when I was really craving a bit of premade flavor. I think of clean eating as an important thing to aspire to, but hey, sometime you need a little bit of wiggle room.

[spectastic]

according to this http://authoritynutrition.com/grass-fed-vs-grain-fed-beef/

 

the advantage of grass fed beef over grain fed is that they have more omega3 fatty acids, and vitamins. but I think these can easily be supplemented by other foods, so I'd still rather get grain fed beef at half (or less) the cost of grass fed stuff.

[Igotnothin]

All right I've got peanut butter, a whole wheat english muffin, and a butter knife. Where do I go from here?

[spectastic]

put it in a blender and shape it into the shape of poop with the fork and prank your roommate

[Roll Right]

I think the concept of "clean food" is a mechanism of class domination. Not much of a movement if its reinforcing social structures which existed long before the concept of "clean food" was cooked up.

[smg]

I think the concept of "clean food" is a mechanism of class domination. Not much of a movement if its reinforcing social structures which existed long before the concept of "clean food" was cooked up.

Class domination seems like a stretch.  I think it's more likely a combination of nostalgia for an imaginary past of pure food and the endless churning out of affective feel good commodities that is endemic to post-fordism. 

[smg]

It eats soy and corn. That's why so much of both are grown in the midwestern US.

Soy, corn and most likely pharmaceuticals for animals raised in a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) aka a factory farm. 

[Roll Right]

Class domination seems like a stretch. I think it's more likely a combination of nostalgia for an imaginary past of pure food and the endless churning out of affective feel good commodities that is endemic to post-fordism.

Bourdieu's Distinction lays out a pretty clear framework for understanding this concept as a mechanism of class domination.

[smg]

Bourdieu's Distinction lays out a pretty clear framework for understanding this concept as a mechanism of class domination.

 

Taste is instrumental in the social reproduction of capital.  I can work with that.  "Class domination" however conjurers up images of the bourgeoisie force feeding prols home cooked meals or the local Stalinoid cell hawking the Worker's Vanguard on a street corner. 

[GreenePony]

DH and I "accidentally" eat "clean" for the most part. I have a sensitive GI so I need to control what ingredients go into our food, and I enjoy the process of cooking and baking. So why buy the prepackaged stuff when I spend time away from mindlessly watching TV or surfing pinterest? We also have fantastic farmer's markets here (kohlrabi, three types of kale, a dozen varieties of apples? I never saw that growing up in a farming community.)

 

I think part of the novelty comes from the fact so many of the 20-somethings grew up with quick meals. Despite my in-laws pretentious tendencies towards food, DH hates tomato soup, grilled cheese, and macaroni and cheese because they did not cook when he was growing up, just served the canned/boxed/"cheese product" versions. There is some novelty for me, in that we're buying things at the market not at stands using the honor system, and we can find fun things like a sweet potato bigger than a football.

[Roll Right]

Taste is instrumental in the social reproduction of capital. I can work with that. "Class domination" however conjurers up images of the bourgeoisie force feeding prols home cooked meals or the local Stalinoid cell hawking the Worker's Vanguard on a street corner.

I think class domination is largely structural and much less direct than those examples, although I think you were having a bit of fun with that.

In terms of taste being instrumental to the social reproduction of capital... Sure, but capital also determines taste, or ones access to capital determines taste, anyway. That's one of Bourdieu's points- that there is not a "dependent" or "independent" variable in the production and reproduction of social life and class groups.

It would be interesting to continue this chat in another thread so we don't hijack this thread!

[smg]

I think class domination is largely structural and much less direct than those examples, although I think you were having a bit of fun with that.

In terms of taste being instrumental to the social reproduction of capital... Sure, but capital also determines taste, or ones access to capital determines taste, anyway. That's one of Bourdieu's points- that there is not a "dependent" or "independent" variable in the production and reproduction of social life and class groups.

It would be interesting to continue this chat in another thread so we don't hijack this thread!

 

Lets do that.  I was having fun. 

[stepbystep]

A very interesting question indeed. I cook, I do not use processed food, I mainly use organic food ( in summer, all our veggies are from the garden), and I am an activist against GMO food. But I have to confess that sometimes ( may be once a month) i have these cravings for junk and ready to eat food.

[TakeruK]

I also cook most of our meals but I agree with juilletmercredi, I don't really consider it "clean eating" and I don't know if I'd define "processed food" the same way I see people who do identify as "clean eaters" define "processed food". Also, I don't think "processed foods" are inherently bad--I occasionally eat a microwave dinner or instant ramen noodles. I just avoid making it a regular thing I consume since there are a lot of additives that don't really do anything good for you. 

 

But I'm not sure what "processing" includes. I almost always use canned beans even though they are more expensive because soaking dry beans takes too much time/planning. I use boxed chicken stock for the same reason. I buy yogurt because I don't know how to or want to make it myself. When I think "processed food", I really only think of "processed cheese" (aka. "American cheese" in the US), Cheez whiz, TV dinners, instant ramen noodles, any "just add water" type of food, etc. 

 

Also, as for GMOs, I don't really know what the big deal against them are. I don't consider them processed either. Humans have always genetically modified produce in order to achieve desired colours, looks, taste, resilience etc. Basically every single banana is genetically modified! I also think GMOs are one solution we should consider in helping feed our growing planet! 

[spectastic]

there are good gmo's and bad ones. an example of a bad gmo is modifying corn DNA to make it secrete a harmful chemical on the surface that kills bugs, saving money on pesticides. Supposedly, this chemical has a halflife short enough such that in the period that it's picked, processed, packaged/shipped and put on the shelves, the levels will be low enough that it's pretty much harmless. But it didn't always quite go according to plan, and it was found in people's food.

 

I'm for good gmo, like researching ways to grow stuff in different climates and low quality soil. Imagine Africa feeding itself instead of fighting all the time over resources. that's a big deal.

 

on the other hand, I think the bigger corporations like Monsanto are more hung up on making/saving money projects than any philanthropist pursuits.

[Crucial BBQ]

I have worked as a cook for a long time.  So yes, I cook at home nearly every day.  

 

Anything relating to diet that has a name, a claim, or movement behind it is a fad.   Why can't people just eat?  Ah yes, I am on the Paleo Atkins diet with a raw food vegan twist. I pretty much just drink water that I harvest from rain clouds myself.  Ironically not only is the whole "clean eating", "real food", "your grandmother's cooking" or what ever you want to call it how the world ate for a really, really, long time it is still the way many around the world eat today, except they just call it eating a meal. 

 

I have never quite figured out what people mean when they say "processed."  What does that mean?  A process is basically doing something.  Are frozen vegetables processed?  Are carrots with the tops cut off processed?  Is white bread considered processed?  Is milk fortified with vitamin D or orange juice fortified with calcium processed?  (Probably yes to all of those.)  And when I say processed I don't mean are they literally processed, because they all are (and probably every single piece of food that enters your mouth is, regardless of whether you grew it yourself or not) but "processed" in the sort-of disdainful way people use the word now.

 

 

Really?  Processed foods are generally food items that have gone through a transformation process (hence the name) where certain properties of the food item are altered either by chemical process or by aggressive milling, mixing, etc.  Sometimes this is done to make things easier (just add water!),  or to make something more appealing (hot dogs).  What ever the reason, processed foods are typically treated with additives and flavor enhancers to extend shelf life and improve taste.  

 

Here is an experiment you can do:  try to limit your sodium intake to as close to zero as you can for one month or two.  You won't completely eliminate sodium from diet, which is good, but you should still try to anyways.  Then go buy a bag of reduced salt chips.  They will taste like the they absolute most saltiest thing you have ever eaten, I guarantee.  

Edited October 9, 2014 by Crucial BBQ

[TakeruK]

there are good gmo's and bad ones. an example of a bad gmo is modifying corn DNA to make it secrete a harmful chemical on the surface that kills bugs, saving money on pesticides. Supposedly, this chemical has a halflife short enough such that in the period that it's picked, processed, packaged/shipped and put on the shelves, the levels will be low enough that it's pretty much harmless. But it didn't always quite go according to plan, and it was found in people's food.

 

I'm for good gmo, like researching ways to grow stuff in different climates and low quality soil. Imagine Africa feeding itself instead of fighting all the time over resources. that's a big deal.

 

on the other hand, I think the bigger corporations like Monsanto are more hung up on making/saving money projects than any philanthropist pursuits.

 

So what you are calling "good GMO" is the type of GMO I am thinking of. What is an example of a bad GMO practice then? I admit I haven't googled this very much but mostly because when I try to look for it, I usually see arguments in the vein as "we shouldn't do it because it's not natural", which isn't really a valid reason. 

 

Really?  Processed foods are generally food items that have gone through a transformation process (hence the name) where certain properties of the food item are altered either by chemical process or by aggressive milling, mixing, etc.  Sometimes this is done to make things easier (just add water!),  or to make something more appealing (hot dogs).  What ever the reason, processed foods are typically treated with additives and flavor enhancers to extend shelf life and improve taste.  

 

This was what I was trying to say about my thoughts on processed foods. That is, I think we should avoid them because they contain additives and extra sodium we don't need and could be bad for us. Or, understand and accept the cost to our health for the sake of taste, convenience, economy, whatever. I personally would think it is silly to avoid processed foods just because they are processed.