I’m in the middle of reading Salt Sugar Fat, a book by Michael Moss that reveals how manufacturers of processed foods develop and market the products they sell. It’s shocking to read about the effort that goes into creating foods that will be enticing on multiple sensory levels. One of marketers’ goals, Moss explains, is to turn people into what they call “heavy users” of their product, whether it’s a drink like Coke or Pepsi or a snack like Cheetos or Lay’s potato chips. The reason? It’s cheaper for marketers to get heavy users to buy more of a product than it is to try and find many more occasional users.
In this interview posted on The Atlantic's website, Moss describes in detail the allure of the potato chip: the intial flavor burst of salt you taste, the “mouthfeel” of the fat, the sweetness that gets released when you bite it, the crunch, the meltiness in your mouth. Just reading his description makes you want to eat some chips. The experience is seductive, and it’s scientifically designed to draw you in and keep you eating without registering how much you consume.
As you read Salt Sugar Fat, you get a sense of what you, the individual eater, are up against when you want to enjoy food but eat healthfully and moderately. A huge industry is devoted to tempting you into eating processed foods -- not just to eat them, but to eat a lot of them, and to eat them mindlessly. Reading about it makes me not only more mindful about trying to fight this manipulation, but also more forgiving of myself and others when the fight is difficult.
No comments:
Post a Comment