Chapter 4
The Economics of What We Eat
While experts constantly tell us that better food choices could lead to longer, healthier lives, what we eat is never purely a matter of personal desire. Our food preferences are shaped by the world around us - by supply, cost, and marketing narratives.
The biggest change in global diets since the 1960s isn't sugar but refined vegetable oil - particularly soybean oil, which has increased by a staggering 320 percent. Unlike sugar, which we consciously seek out and enjoy, oils slip into our food supply almost invisibly through processed foods, baked goods, and fried items. Soybean oil has become the seventh-most-eaten food globally despite its naturally poor taste - its dominance stems not from consumer preference but from economic forces that made it significantly cheaper than alternatives.
Modern processed foods exemplify how refined oils have transformed global eating habits. These changes resulted from dramatic increases in foreign direct investment (FDI) in developing countries' food systems. From 1990-2000, FDI into developing nations grew sixfold to $1.4 trillion, with most food investment going into ultra-processed items. Companies like Nestle and PepsiCo established factories globally, with some soft drink companies targeting that no person should ever be more than 100 meters from their products.
Carlos Monteiro's NOVA classification system helps understand this shift, categorizing foods into four groups by processing level. Group 1 contains whole foods like fruits and vegetables; Group 2 includes culinary ingredients like butter and salt; Group 3 encompasses simply processed foods like cheese; and Group 4 comprises ultra-processed foods - manufactured confections designed to be "edible, palatable and habit-forming." These ultra-processed foods now dominate global diets, with studies linking them to increased cancer risks and other health problems.
As societies grow more affluent, we paradoxically pay less attention to staple foods while obsessing over luxury items. Industrial sliced bread - high in salt, sugar, and chemical additives - has replaced traditional bread made simply from flour, water, salt, and yeast. Though grain consumption has actually increased globally, much comes from ultra-processed sources. As economists note, bread is an "inferior good" - valued less as people become richer. Once central to our lives (19th century British farmworkers spent twice as much on bread as rent), bread is now so devalued that 32% of loaves purchased in the UK are thrown away.
Never in history have humans spent such a low percentage of income on food - both blessing and curse. Engel's law, named after German statistician Ernst Engel, states that as income rises, the percentage spent on food drops, even if absolute spending increases. The poorest countries spend over half their consumer income on food, while wealthy nations spend far less: Japan and Belgium 14.2%, Australia 10.2%, UK 8.4%, and US just 6.4%.
Many households squeeze food budgets when finances tighten, sacrificing quality for savings. "I economize on food because it's the one thing in the budget that I can spend less on without impacting the family," explains one parent of three. While housing, utilities, and other necessities remain fixed costs, food becomes the flexible item.
As incomes rise, our food preferences shift dramatically toward meat, especially chicken. Despite the glories of vegetarian cuisines like India's, economic prosperity consistently trumps spiritual or cultural food traditions. Studies show each $1,000 increase in annual income correlates with 2.6 additional pounds of meat consumption per person in Asian countries. Globally, chicken has become the world's second most consumed meat after pork, with production more than doubling through industrialization since the 1970s.
When it comes to choosing healthy foods, the economic deck is stacked against low-income consumers. Over thirty years, healthy food prices have risen faster than junk food prices. From 1980-2011, fresh produce became twice as expensive relative to sugary beverages in America. In the UK, fruit and vegetable prices rose 7% while junk food fell 15% (1997-2009). Government policies remain misaligned with health advice - subsidizing sugar and corn rather than vegetables. A mere 5% vegetable subsidy could increase consumption among low-income consumers by over 3%.
Chapter 5
When Time Becomes the Scarcest Resource
A 1969 study of Japanese men in America revealed a striking insight: those who maintained traditional cultural practices, including eating rhythms, had five times lower heart disease rates than those who adopted American habits - regardless of diet. This finding highlighted how eating patterns, not just food choices, impact health.
Modern life has dramatically altered our eating rhythms. While 1920s German workers had guaranteed 75-90 minute synchronized lunch breaks, today's workers increasingly skip meals or eat at their desks. Time-use studies show stark contrasts: Mediterranean countries maintain distinct meal times, while Northern European nations show continuous eating throughout the day, with no communal patterns.
The transformation is evident in workplace cultures. Hospital staff dining rooms with proper lunch breaks have given way to vending machines and rushed snacks during twelve-hour shifts. Night workers face particular challenges, eating when their bodies expect to fast.
Our relationship with food waste has shifted from fearing wasted food to fearing wasted time. Rich nations now waste food primarily at the consumer level, while time-pressed households opt for convenience over whole ingredients. Since the 1970s, American women have added eleven more paid work hours weekly while retaining domestic duties, making convenience foods an economic necessity rather than a choice.
Snacking has become dominant globally. Americans now get one-third of their calories from snacks, while China saw a dramatic surge in snacking after 2004. For low-income families, snack foods often serve as crucial economic and behavioral management tools. The industry has responded with "healthy snacks," though many contain more sugar than conventional treats.
The rise in solo living has further transformed eating patterns. Many professionals eat every meal at their desks, creating a disconnect between real eating experiences and idealized media portrayals. This gap has spawned phenomena like mukbang videos and viral cooking content. Even during shared meals, many remain distracted by phones and social media.
Ironically, while we claim to lack time for proper meals, research shows that shared meals and cooking for others actually make us feel richer in time, suggesting our perceived time scarcity might be partially self-imposed.
Chapter 6
The Changeable Eater: Trends and Consequences
Our eating habits have become remarkably changeable in recent years. This extreme trendiness represents the latest stage in our evolving relationship with food - from being limited by local ingredients, to eating what our mothers served, to now being able to eat whatever we can afford to buy - "a freedom that is both heady and unsettling."
The speed at which new foods enter our diets has accelerated dramatically. In 2006, David Kamp noted how salsa had overtaken ketchup as America's most popular condiment - a remarkable shift considering that in 1984, some people still asked "What's salsa?" But 2006 now seems like ancient history in food trend terms, as Instagram (created in 2010) has vastly accelerated the global spread of food trends. While it took decades for ingredients like arugula and extra-virgin olive oil to become mainstream, today a chef's bright idea can spread worldwide in days.
Social media has such influence that many restaurants now design their menus, lighting, and tableware specifically for "instagrammability." This has resurrected once-shunned foods like eggs (#eggs ranks eighth among Instagram food hashtags) and introduced photogenic innovations like "cloud eggs." This online food sharing has democratized cooking knowledge and connected people across continents through glimpses of different food cultures. However, Instagram prioritizes appearance over taste, promoting colorful but bland foods over delicious but visually unimpressive dishes.
The most successful food trends offer something novel while still feeling familiar - "new but not really," as Lynn Dornblaser of Mintel market research puts it. This explains why skyr, essentially "Greek yogurt dressed up in a Nordic woolly jumper," took off so rapidly. Chobani's founder Hamdi Ulukaya brilliantly transformed Greek yogurt for the American market by emphasizing its high protein content, keeping the recognizable "Greek" label despite his Turkish heritage, and blending it with familiar American flavors like blueberry.
While quinoa was barely known in America in the 1950s (mentioned just once in the New York Times, which complained the seeds tasted "something like soap"), by 2018 it had become a global health food staple with over 300 mentions in the Times. Between 1961 and 2014, quinoa production in Peru increased fivefold to 114,300 tons.
But this trend has had profound consequences in the Andes, where quinoa originated. In Bolivia, as prices skyrocketed 600% between 2000-2008, locals could no longer afford their traditional staple. While global quinoa consumption tripled, Bolivian consumption fell by more than a third as locals switched to cheaper, less nutritious foods like instant wheat noodles. The environmental impact has been equally significant. Traditional sustainable farming methods have given way to mechanized production, soil degradation has increased, and llamas (whose manure fertilized the soil) have been displaced to make room for larger quinoa fields - all to satisfy Western appetites for healthy, vegan quinoa salads.
Food fraud expert Professor Chris Elliott observes that trendy foods create perfect conditions for fraud. With coconut water projected to grow 26.7% annually through 2020, Thailand's 2016 harvest failure created ideal fraud conditions: insatiable demand, disrupted supply chains, and slow-growing source plants (coconut palms take ten years to mature).
Food trends widen socioeconomic gaps. Lynn Dornblaser of Mintel notes that low-income consumers "are never at the leading end of a trend. Ever" because they can't risk wasting money on foods their families might reject. Many hyped "superfoods" simply have the largest marketing budgets. Marion Nestle has exposed how food industries pay scientists and bloggers to promote specific foods. The superfood obsession distracts from fundamental dietary truths: no trendy ingredient equals the value of daily vegetables, fruits and wholesome foods.
Chapter 7
Dinner Without Duty: The Freedom and Cost of Convenience
Modern dining out has evolved from luxury to everyday activity, with Americans now spending half their food budget on meals outside home. This shift reflects a broader cultural change valuing experiences over possessions.
This revolution freed people from traditional food duties. Until the 1950s, restaurant dining remained largely exclusive to the wealthy - a 1960 Dutch survey showed 84% of people "rarely or never" ate out, viewing restaurants as too formal and expensive.
Three key factors democratized dining: rising global incomes, affordable immigrant-run restaurants, and evolving palates. By 1980, only 26% of Dutch people rarely dined out, while British restaurant spending tripled between 1959 and 1995. Immigrant restaurateurs, like Woon Wing Yip in 1962 Britain, introduced accessible international cuisines, expanding from one Chinese restaurant in 1914 to 4,000 by 1970.
However, this convenience brought challenges. Studies show people now derive less joy from dining out as it becomes routine. Restaurant meals typically contain more calories and fewer nutrients than home-cooked food - just one weekly restaurant meal can lead to 2.2 pounds of annual weight gain. While Chinese restaurants embrace vegetables as central dishes, many Western establishments treat them as mere obligations.
Food delivery apps have further transformed dining. By 2017, Deliveroo reached a $2 billion valuation, operating in 150 cities with 30,000 riders, making restaurant-quality meals accessible at home. Similarly, supermarkets revolutionized food shopping from a social activity to an anonymous experience, beginning with America's Piggly Wiggly in 1916 and expanding with King Kullen in 1930.
While supermarkets offer perceived freedom from social judgment, they influence purchasing patterns through strategic design and marketing. Studies show supermarket shoppers buy more ultra-processed foods than traditional market customers. Modern stores stock up to 50,000 items, compared to King Kullen's original 200.
In wealthy cities, stark inequalities persist - while some order diverse cuisines via apps, others rely on food banks. Recipients must accept donated items, highlighting how modern urban hunger manifests through limited choice rather than mere scarcity. Food banks, while helpful, address symptoms rather than root causes of poverty and food insecurity.
Chapter 8
Finding Balance in a World of Extremes
Just as Crayola crayons expanded from 8 colors in 1903 to 152 today, our food options have multiplied to overwhelming levels. Modern supermarkets stock nearly 40,000 items - a staggering increase from the 200 items in the first supermarket of 1930. This paradox of choice often makes us less happy, not more, as we exhaust ourselves rejecting thousands of options before finding what we want.
Increasingly, people are seeking ways to limit this overwhelming abundance. No-frills grocery stores like Aldi, Lidl, and Trader Joe's have gained popularity by offering fewer options (1,400-4,000 items). Meanwhile, restrictive diets have surged, with restaurant caterers reporting that special dietary requests have risen from a handful to nearly half of all diners. Beyond medical conditions like food allergies, many people now create personal food rules - avoiding wheat, dairy, or carbs - to navigate modern abundance.
Modern vegetarianism has transformed from a fringe movement into a mainstream phenomenon. While vegetarians in the 1990s resigned themselves to dried nut roasts and limited restaurant options, today's plant-based cuisine has become an object of culinary desire. The number of American vegetarians doubled between 1994 and 2011 to seven million, with a third now identifying as vegan. In the UK, veganism increased 350% since 2006.
Chef Alex Rushmer explains that vegetable-centric cooking addresses multiple concerns about modern food systems - from inefficiency and cost to health implications. For many, including the author, eating less meat provides a pragmatic path through overwhelming food choices, allowing focus on seasonality and flavor without complete restriction. This "flexitarian" approach balances ethical concerns with practicality.
Meanwhile, meat substitutes have evolved dramatically. The Impossible Burger bleeds beetroot juice and mimics beef's texture using coconut fat and potato protein. Vegan butcher shops now offer plant-based alternatives to everything from charcuterie to shawarma. Yet this polarization between strict veganism and carnivory risks losing the middle ground - like Kerala's traditional dishes that use small amounts of seafood to flavor vegetable-focused meals.
Mainstream healthcare has been surprisingly blind to diet's role in health, leaving people to experiment with eliminating foods like dairy and gluten when experiencing unexplained symptoms. Wellness experts encouraged these restrictions, with figures like Amelia Freer suggesting cutting out dairy "just to be safe" despite admitting there's no proof it causes ailments. This pseudoscience has led millions to fear basic nourishing foods. Gluten, like fat in the 1980s, is now viewed by some as a pollutant, with a third of Americans avoiding it despite only about 1% having celiac disease.
Clean eating established itself as a mainstream challenge rather than fringe diet. Though many gurus have tried to rebrand as the movement faced backlash, its influence remains in "wellness bowls," "guilt-free" snacks, and a moralistic tone that undermines everyday eating pleasure. For vulnerable people, these seductive food rules can contribute to eating disorders, particularly "orthorexia" - an obsession with eating only "pure" foods that leads to increasingly restrictive diets.
The modern protein bar represents our conflicted relationship with food. Despite their name suggesting something hearty and savory, protein bars are paradoxically sweet treats - often containing more carbohydrates than protein, with much coming from sugars like glucose syrup or honey. When a bar developer was asked why consumers buy so many bars, he candidly replied: "A lot of people now have disordered eating" - cutting out various ingredients while seeking convenient nutrition.
A strange new phenomenon has emerged where a sizeable minority now sees not eating as superior to eating itself. Rob Rhinehart, creator of the meal-replacement drink Soylent, proudly announced in 2013: "I haven't eaten a bite of food in thirty days, and it's changed my life." In Silicon Valley, "biohacking" through extended fasting has become popular. Geoffrey Woo, who led over a hundred people in a seven-day fast, claims the ketones generated by fasting provide "super-fuel for the brain" and mental clarity after initial hunger subsides.
Julian Hearn, co-founder of the meal replacement Huel, despises cucumbers as symbols of inefficiency - grown in Spanish hothouses, transported in refrigerated trains, yet providing "basically water and only 3 percent nutrients." Meal replacements like Huel and Soylent represent a profound shift in our relationship with food - valuing nutrients over pleasure. These products, consumed by millions worldwide (predominantly men), promise "all the proteins, carbs, and fats you need" while eliminating the "burden" of food preparation.
As James Boswell wrote, "My definition of man is a cooking animal." Now we're testing what happens when meals are removed from the equation - not from poverty or famine, but because we feel food itself has failed us.
Chapter 9
Reclaiming Our Food Future
Our eating habits have changed dramatically - we snack more, eat out more, yet often enjoy food less. We consume monotonous foods without pleasure and fast foods that make us sick. We obsess about "clean" eating while gulping protein shakes. But understanding these changes requires examining how cooking has shifted from obligation to option.
Despite headlines claiming "Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking," the story is more complex. Eddie Yoon's research showed that between 2002 and 2017, Americans who "loved" cooking dropped from 15% to 10%, while those who "hated" it decreased from 50% to 45%. Most significantly, those with mixed feelings who cook occasionally grew from 35% to 45%.
This growth in "dabbler cooks" represents a potential cooking revival. Many learn from screens rather than relatives - like the Manchester restaurant owner who mastered perfect Thai sticky rice through YouTube videos. Contrary to Michael Pollan's claim that TV transformed cooking "from something you do into something you watch," food media has inspired many to cook.
Over the past decade, sales of raw ingredients have increased while packaged foods have declined. From 2013-2015, packaged food sales in America dropped by over 1% annually - representing millions of consumers changing their eating habits. Men's cooking participation has grown significantly - from 29% of American men cooking regularly in 1965 to 42% by 2008, with their time in the kitchen increasing from 37 to 45 minutes.
Patrick Drake, UK head of HelloFresh, believes cooking has potential to be more popular than ever. In screen-dominated lives, cooking offers a chance "to create something with your hands and get praise for it." The meal kit market exploded from nothing to $5 billion in just five years in the US, with forecasts reaching $36 billion by 2026. These kits solve common cooking obstacles - like Drake's frustrating $45 Vietnamese pho attempt that left him with unused ingredients.
Contrary to the snobbish view that "the poor don't cook," Kathleen Kerridge's experience reveals the reality of cooking on a tight budget. She feeds six people on $50 weekly, stretching ingredients to create 21 meals - what would barely buy 1.5 HelloFresh family meals. Though her children love vegetables, she must ration them because greens don't fill them up like pasta or bread. In her ideal world, she'd make daily smoothies and buy organic produce, but reality means dinner is whatever's affordable with "some green beans from the freezer."
Nigerian food writer Yemisi Aribisala defends cooking as "a room of power and illumination" despite the lack of recognition female cooks receive compared to male chefs. Modern households are remaking cooking rules, with same-sex couples in America creating new patterns of who cooks and cleans, potentially leading to renewed respect for cooking when it's not automatically assigned by gender.
Today's cooks are finding fresh approaches to traditional meals through time-saving devices: pressure cookers in Brazil, the cult-favorite Instant Pot in America, Britain and India, and the Bimby (Thermomix) in Italy, owned by an astonishing one in thirty Italians despite its thousand-euro price tag. These tools help preserve cooking traditions without requiring hours of labor.
The world has largely achieved the fairytale ending of "And they never went hungry again," reaching a dream by historical standards. Yet this success story is incomplete. Over 800 million people still go hungry, including millions of children who will be permanently stunted. The mid-twentieth century's agricultural system prioritized yield above all else - Norman Borlaug's Green Revolution with its high-yield wheat varieties reportedly "saved a billion lives." Plant breeders focused on "how much food could you get out of an acre" rather than quality or sustainability.
This single-minded focus on quantity no longer addresses our current food problems. New diet-related horrors have emerged - two-year-olds having all teeth extracted due to sugary drinks and adults facing limb amputations from diabetes. Our agricultural system continues optimizing for productivity even though most people now face the paradoxical combination of overconsumption and undernourishment.
Chapter 10
Creating Better Food Environments
Despite our diet-related health crisis, government intervention in food remains deeply controversial, with critics crying "nanny state!" when reforms are proposed. Mayor Bloomberg's 2012 attempt to limit sugary drink sizes to sixteen ounces in New York City faced fierce opposition and was eventually repealed, despite never actually banning soda purchases.
Our resistance to food regulation stems partly from our innate dislike of being told what to eat, and partly because modern food policies necessarily focus on limiting consumption rather than ensuring sufficiency. While past governments protected food supplies to ensure enough for everyone, today's challenge is addressing excess.
The solution lies in shifting focus from quantity to quality. For decades, we've been fixated on "calories in, calories out" rather than nutrient density. A truly healthy diet isn't just low in sugar and fast food but high in yogurt, fish, nuts, legumes and vegetables. We need to reject the false dichotomy between "cheap rubbish" and "expensive pure food" and ask: "Why have cheap bad food at all?"
Chile's aggressive food regulations are already showing promising results. Nearly 40% of Chileans now use the black warning labels to guide purchasing decisions. Peru, Israel, and Uruguay have adopted similar warning systems, with Brazil and Canada considering following suit. The Chilean laws have spurred significant industry change - about 20% of food products have been reformulated to reduce sugar and fat to avoid the black labels. Coca-Cola reports 65% of its Chilean drinks are now low or reduced sugar.
Latin America is emerging as a food reform leader. Brazil's nutrition guidelines, considered among the world's best, focus on real food and meals rather than nutrients, celebrating shared eating as "a natural part of social life." Mexico's sugar tax has driven meaningful change despite industry criticism, with purchases of sugary drinks dropping 5.5% in the first year and 9.7% in the second year.
While transforming entire food environments seems daunting, significant change can begin by altering just one micro-environment - a shop, restaurant, or school. Cambridge researcher Theresa Marteau studies how redesigning these spaces can nudge healthier eating without restricting choice. Her team found that simple adjustments like smaller wine glasses can significantly reduce consumption without anyone feeling deprived.
Schools represent particularly influential micro-environments. At Washingborough Academy in England, headteacher Jason O'Rourke has transformed the school day around healthy food relationships. Children tend apple orchards, grow vegetables in classroom gardens, prepare healthy snacks, and learn cooking skills. The school implements TastEd, a sensory food education system where children explore food through their senses rather than lectures on nutrition.
Amsterdam's approach to childhood obesity demonstrates how cities can address complex health issues through comprehensive programs. The Amsterdam Healthy Weight Programme has achieved remarkable success - reducing the percentage of overweight children from 21% to 13% by tackling obesity as a "wicked, complex problem" requiring multiple interventions. Schools have become central to the effort, with 120 "jump-in" schools emphasizing health through policies like banning sugary drinks and celebrating birthdays with vegetable skewers and olives instead of cake.
Despite universal knowledge that vegetables are essential for health, most people don't eat enough of them. In Britain, vegetable consumption plummeted from fourteen ounces daily in 1958 to just four and a half ounces today as the traditional "meat and two veg" meal structure disappeared. The Food Foundation's "Peas Please" initiative aims to increase everyone's vegetable consumption by one portion daily through multiple approaches, including crowdfunding vegetable advertising to counter the massive imbalance in food marketing.
Chef Dan Barber challenged the approach of compensating for vegetables' lack of flavor by asking plant breeder Michael Mazourek a revolutionary question: "If you're such a good breeder, why don't you make a butternut squash taste good?" The Honeynut squash that resulted transformed the American squash market - smaller, denser, and packed with three times the beta-carotene of regular butternut squash. Its thin skin doesn't require peeling, and most importantly, it's so naturally flavorful it needs no added sweeteners.
Barber's company Row 7 has expanded this "democratize flavor" philosophy to other vegetables, developing seeds for naturally sweeter beets without the earthy taste many dislike. His approach doesn't shame people for disliking certain vegetables but instead creates genuinely delicious alternatives that meet eaters halfway - more carrot, less stick.
The broader lesson is that healthy eating must be both appetizing and culturally inclusive. For many communities, "healthy food" feels alienating when presented as "white people food" disconnected from their culinary traditions. Real dietary change requires addressing food quality, affordability and cultural relevance simultaneously.
