October 29, 2014
This random library pick jumped out at me because of its cover: candies of all colors of the rainbow, like wax bottles and citrus fruit-shaped gummies, arranged around the colorful title. Candy. Kawash is right when she observes that almost everyone likes candy. At work, we placate or reward the kids with candy; a coworker keeps the school staff's candy jar filled with fun-sized chocolates. I don't eat as much of it as I used to, but I do love those mini Twix bars. I also got myself a bag of my favorite candy, cherry sours, from a local candy shop this past weekend. I work out five or six days a week and I've dropped 20 pounds in the last few months, so I don't stress about a little candy.
It took me a little while to get into this book, but overall I found it fascinating, and in line with my views on food. Kawash must have done a lot of research (the references section is a big chunk of the book itself), as she not only discusses the history of mass-produced candy in the U.S. and changing attitudes toward candy, but also the history of food processing, and how this is a huge reflection on the changes in our culture in the last century. We are, after all, what we eat.
Essentially, the candy industry, and mass produced foods in general, have a history of manipulating the public through advertisement, appealing to whatever the concerns of the day are. Mainly, this involved (and still involves) promoting certain products as "healthy" that clearly aren't. The promotion of candy as "good food" was found to be bogus, and the author points out that candy has pretty much dropped that charade...while other products (cereals, energy drinks, gummy snacks, frozen meal products) have picked it up. Not that it's anything new, or unique to the candy industry: Luckystrike cigarettes did it, and other early processed foods as well, claiming health benefits that weren't true. Today, claims can be made for processed foods because of chemical manipulation, and while what's going into your body isn't natural, it "technically" meets standards.
Kawash points out instances of processed corn products being used in food and edible products since around the time of the world wars, but doesn't get into much detail on the fact that it's due to the overproduction of corn (and soy) that have already been chemically altered. Good Lord. This book, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, both leave me feeling pretty certain about where all this cancer is coming from. It's not from candy, and while much of it is from cigarettes, it definitely has more to do with the unnatural foods that we eat. But I've gotten into this topic before; I've tried to be better about eating natural foods, and I do okay, but it's easier to put together a salad from a Hy-Vee bag and grab an Amy's vegetarian burrito (processed shit, I know, I know), than to cook a whole meal. But overall, I think I do an okay job with watching what I eat, but not counting calories...and not shying away from pastry and candy as treats.
Okay, so I read something the other day that did make me feel concerned about candy. An article read that something like 70% of the beans or whatever that are used to make major-brand chocolate come from slave plantations in Western Africa; the website foodispower.org has more information on this, and other food products that get supplies through such human rights violations. Kawash only once mentions that sugar and chocolate have a connection to slavery, and the implication was that this was a thing of the past. Clearly, this is not so.
I was most interested in the historical views on diet and nutrition. John and Will Kellogg were mentioned a couple of times; I knew Kawash's references because of a silly episode of Drunk History, in which the Wilson brothers, Luke and Owen, played the bickering brothers as they ran their sanitarium and John invented Corn Flakes or whatever. As Kawash explained Kellogg's theories on diet and health, it actually made a lot of sense to me. Besides the celibacy stuff; sex is part of a balanced life too, of course.
This book wasn't entirely what I expected, but I did get what I expected out of a quality non-fiction read. This book was on a display shelf at the library, and was probably a librarian's recommendation. I'm going to start paying more attention to those. I'm also going to try to be more mindful about the foods I eat. I have made great strides to improve my overall health recently, but continuing to cut back on processed foods is my next goal. And maybe, just maybe, I'll eventually quit smoking.
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