The Standard American Diet 2

This is part 3 of my research on global food movements, entitled
GLOBALIZATION: It's what's for dinner.
(Please note: This week's photo may be disturbing, yet for some, it is dinner.)

A SAD STORY:
The Standard American Diet and Farming

The rise of the global fast food empire has not only changed dietary patterns and increased health risk, it has also led to fundamental changes in the farming industry. What came first - the new technologies or the demand for cheap standardized quality-controlled food - is hard to say, but the two were wed in the fast food industry, which has transformed global food production over the past 50 years.

In his book, Schlosser describes the "advances" in potato production, as well as the beef and poultry industries during the initial rise of the fast food giants. Though more efficient and cost effective, the changes resulted in major abuses, which continue to impact people and the environment. Prompted by the needs of these growing corporations, large farms have now replaced small farms; the harvest of a single product has replaced a variety of rotated crops; pesticides and synthetic fertilizers are now required necessities; antibiotics and growth hormones in meat are standard practices; assembly line meat-packing abuses, slaughter house wastewater "lagoons," meat contamination, food borne pathogens, chemicals, preservatives and additives in processed foods, genetically modified crops (GMO), intense competition, multinational corporations - all are the realities of contemporary food production due in large part to profit on the side of the producer and increased demand on the side of the consumer.

"Agricide" is how Michael W. Fox describes the quiet holocaust taking place worldwide in the animal kingdom and in the environment as human beings, often as unknowing perpetrators, participate in the inhumane treatment of animals by purchasing certain foods, which lead to the production of deadly environmental pollution. [8] It is the dietary demand for a Western diet of meat, represented in fast food, which has changed farming practices worldwide and is having a negative impact on the environment.

According to Vital Signs 2007-2008 by The Worldwatch Institute, an independent research organization, meat production increased 2.5% to an estimated 276 million tons in 2006, with an expected rise in 2007 to 285 million tons. [9] The increase in meat production has been on a steady rise since studies began in 1961, with the current surge coming from Asia. It is estimated that in the developing world, people eat about 32 kilograms of meat per year, compared with almost 85 kilograms per person in the industrial world. With the ever-expanding advance of the fast food industry, this figure is expected to continue its rise as dietary preferences shift worldwide as is currently occurring in Asia. "The developing nations are copying us," writes John Robbins. "They associate meat eating with economic status of the developed nations, and continue to strive to emulate it." [10]

Though worldwide livestock production is up, livestock is "the single largest anthropogenic user of land," as meat production accounts for 70 percent of all agricultural land and 30 percent of the land surface of the planet. [11] In addition, they are responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which is higher than the share contributed by cars and sport utility vehicles. Of GHG, livestock account for 37% of methane, which has more than 20 times the global warming capacity of carbon dioxide, and 65% of nitrous oxide, which comes from the "lagoons" of manure at slaughterhouses. Schlosser explains these lagoons as such, "Each steer deposits about fifty pounds of manure every day. Unlike human waste, this manure is not sent to a treatment plant. It is dumped into pits, huge pools of excrement. . . . The amount of waste left . . . is staggering." [12]

With GHG rising through animal farming and poisonous chemical fertilizers being injected into the soil for crop production, the globalization of the American diet really is an agricide, but food movements across the world are taking notice and taking action.

Next week:
Global Food Movements making a difference

[8] Michael W. Fox, Eating with Conscience: The Bioethics of Food (Troutdale, OR: New Sage Press, 1997), 11.
[9] Danielle Nierenberg, "Meat Output and Consumption Grow," in Vital Signs 2007-2008: The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future, ed. Linda Starke (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2007), 24.
[10] John Robbins, Diet For A New America, (Tiburon: H.J. Kramer Book and New World Library, 1987), 351.
[11] Nierenberg, 24.
[12] Schlosser, 150.

The Standard American Diet

This is part 2 of my research on global food movements, entitled
GLOBALIZATION: It's what's for dinner.

A SAD STORY:
The growing problem of
the Standard American Diet

It may be a generalization to say that it all started with a hamburger, but the globalization of the Standard American Diet is represented today by one. The hamburger is now a worldwide fast food phenomenon, with McDonald's as the proverbial "king," operating over 31,000 restaurants in 119 countries, serving nearly 47 million customers each day, and employing more than 1.5 million people. [3] For many around the planet, as in Hong Kong today, eating at McDonald's is "an ordinary, everyday experience" as the chain creates a transnational culture, becoming a pop icon and local institution by blending into the landscape and adapting to the culture. [4]

This glocalizing of the American diet is evidence of expanding globalization in many cultures. Books like Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser and Don't Eat this Book by Morgan Spurlock tell the story of the fast food movement, but also the shifts that have occurred in food preferences, which have resulted in an increase in health risk factors and shifts in farming practices. The tale these books tell is really a SAD one.

Schlosser writes, "The obesity epidemic that began in the United States during the late 1970s is now spreading to the rest of the world, with fast food as one of its vectors." [5] As the number of fast food restaurants in Great Britain roughly doubled, he goes on tell, so did the obesity rate among adults. Unlike the Brits who eat more fast food than other Western Europeans and who have the highest obesity rates, Italy and Spain have the lowest rate, while consuming far less fast food fare. In Japan, overweight people, once a rarity, are now common as the traditional healthy diet of rice, vegetables, and soy products is being replaced by an increase in red meat, a Western diet, and American fast food with its "Bi-gu Ma-ku."

Schlosser notes that, "The relationship between a nation's fast food consumption and its rate of obesity has not been definitely established through any long term, epidemiological study. The growing popularity of fast food is just one of many cultural changes that have been brought about by globalization. Nevertheless, it seems wherever America's fast food chains go, waistlines start expanding."

And it's not just waistlines that are expanding. The risks of a heart attack, cancer, diabetes, and other degenerative diseases also rise as Campbell and Campbell reveal in The China Study, the most comprehensive international study of nutrition ever conducted. [6] The study, which began in 1983, found that the greatest single influence on the growth of degenerative diseases was the amount of animal fat and animal protein eaten – the more you eat, the greater your risk. A recent 2008 study of 16,000 participants in 52 countries confirmed again that a western diet of fried food, salty snacks, meat and eggs (what would be classified as a typical fast food meal) accounts for 30 percent of heart attack risk across the world. The study noted that "the same relationships that are observed in Western countries exist in different regions of the world." [7]

Next week:
The Standard American Diet and the farming industry

[3] McDonald's Canada, "FAQs," http://www.mcdonalds.ca/en/aboutus/faq.aspx (accessed December 15, 2008).
[4] James L. Watson, "McDonald's in Hong Kong," in The Globalization Reader, 3rd ed., ed. Frank J. Lechner and John Boli (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2008), 129.
[5] Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001), 242.
[6] T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell II, The China Study, 1st Benbella paperback ed. (Dallas: Benbella Books, 2006).
[7] "'Western' Diet Increases Heart Attack Risk Globally," ScienceDaily (October 22, 2008), http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081020171337.htm (accessed October 31, 2008).

On the road

I spent the week after Christmas in Los Angeles. To get there, I traveled from Nor Cal to So Cal and back with family along Highway 5. Heading south, I caught a ride with my parents, and a week later returned with my sister, nephew, and nieces as they headed north for a wedding. (My brother-in-law would fly up and meet the family 2 days later.)

This was my first Highway 5 road trip since choosing a vegan diet. While I knew my options would be few, I didn't know how challenging it would be to eat a healthy vegan meal at a "fast food" restaurant. After reading Eric Schlosser's book, Fast Food Nation, I definitely would not choose such an eating establishment if traveling alone. However, with my parents driving one way, and with kids in tow on the return, "fast" was the priority for lunch "food" options for these trips. (Whether "fast food" is really "food" needs to be the subject of its own blog entry, but I digress.)

My parents have their routine stops when they drive south to see the grandkids. This trip was no exception. Our south-bound lunch destination offered 3 fast food options: (1) Pizza Hut, (2) Burger King, and (3) Taco Bell.

Based solely on the posted menus in this mini-counter travel center, I assessed my options. For vegans, Pizza Hut has ZERO choices as all the posted items are pizza, and pizza has cheese. Though most of the salads at Burger King have meat, there are three items for vegans = a side garden salad, a veggie burger, and French fries (though fast food fries for me have no health value as they destroy a perfectly good potato).

Since my parents decided on Taco Bell, I decided that 2 bean burritos would work for me for this fast food lunch. The total: $1.98 - not bad! Unfortunately, I forgot to request "no cheese" on the burritos -- so much for eating vegan that meal! But fortunately, Taco Bell's beans do not contain lard (the polite way of saying "pig's fat"). Thus, along with an apple I brought in the car, it was a fairly healthy lunch.

Heading home with my sister and her kids, the options for lunch were: (1) McDonald's, (2) Wendy's, and (3) Subway. (It's all about the kid meal deals!)

For a vegetarian, McDonald's has yogurt parfait as an option, but for a vegan, the options are fries and a side salad. All other salads have meat, like at Burger King. Wendy's menu options are the same - fries and a side salad. I decided that Subway would be the best option.

At Subway, there is only one non-meat option - the "Veggie Delite". Because I was not in a bread mood, I decided for a wrap, and requested from the "sandwich artist", all the veggies, but no cheese, mayo, oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper, please. The total: $5.17 for lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, olives, and pickles in a tortilla. I was flabbergasted. Even now, I still feel like I got the raw end of that meal deal! I ended up munching on nuts I had in the car to balance the meal with protein, but I still felt hungry.

The $1.98 Taco Bell lunch filled me up and was definitely the better "fast food" meal on this road trip. The $5.17 Subway Veggie Delight wrap was a disappointment. I probably would have done better spending $5 at the Food Mart at the gas station! But that is for another trip, and another blog entry.


END NOTE:
As I reflect on this experience and research for future reference the ingredients and nutrition facts of the menu items from the fast food restaurants I mention above, I realize that knowing what I need and being prepared are key as a vegan in the "fast food" world.

My $1.98 Taco Bell lunch of 2 bean burritos may have been cheap, but it cost me 650 calories, 14 g of fat, for the 23 g of protein. No wonder it filled me up! Next time, I probably should order 1 bean burrito without cheese, and a side garden salad from one of the other establishments.

My expensive Veggie Delite wrap from Subway had 330 calories, 8 g of fat, but only 9 g of protein (8 of which were in the wrap!). Not enough protein for my health needs. If they added some hummus however, we'd be talking!

For vegan-me, the best one stop fast food meal is now going to be Burger King and the BK Veggie Burger, ordered without mayo and cheese. It has 340 calories, 8 g of fat, and 17 g of protein. And if I don't have an apple in the car to add more "health" to the meal, I can always add some strawberry applesauce (80 calories, 0 fat and 0 protein) and I would be good to go.

Another reason

"Another reason to cut down on eating beef!" This was the reaction of a friend as we came across this scene at Sunol Regional Wilderness.

A group of us went camping this weekend, and while hiking along the Canyon View and McCorkle trails, we saw this mother and her baby calf having brunch while herds of cattle freely roamed and grazed on the hillsides.

Strolling carefully so to avoid the cows and cow patties on the trail, we had opportunity to reflect and talk about our meat consumption, other vegans my friends know, my reasons for consuming a plant-based diet, and some facts I am learning about the meat industry.

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, a single dairy cow produces about 120 pounds of wet manure per day, which is equivalent to the waste produced by 20–40 people. That means California’s 1.4 million dairy cows produce as much waste as 28–56 million people!

"Unlike human waste," Eric Schlosser writes in Fast Food Nation, "the manure is not sent to a treatment plant. It is dumped into pits, huge pools of excrement that the industry calls 'lagoons.' The amount of waste left by the cattle that pass through Weld County (the home of ConAgra, the nation's biggest meatpacking complex) is staggering." (p. 150)

While CO2 gets most of the press for being the cause of global warming, according to EarthSave, many other greenhouse gases trap heat far more powerfully than CO2, with methane from cows and their manure responsible for nearly as much global warming as all other non-CO2 greenhouse gases put together.

Methane is 21 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2, and the number one source of methane worldwide is animal agriculture. The United Nations agrees reporting in 2006 that cattle-rearing generates more global warming greenhouse gases than transportation.

In the last 50 years, beef consumption world-wide has dramatically increased, and is today one leading cause of global warming. Thus, one less steak consumed will eventually lead to one less cow raised and killed, and ultimately less methane released into the air helping to save the changing climate of our little planet called earth.

EarthSave concludes: "arguably the best way to reduce global warming in our lifetimes is to reduce or eliminate our consumption of animal products." To which, I agree.

"And besides that," my friend replied, "cows are cute!"