I recently spoke to an IT Professor who is exploring The Price Of Convenience. We had a nice chat. And I'm not all that interested in IT really, but it did get me thinking - yeah, what is the price of convenience?
It's not a new thought, I've had it before as have others, but I'd forgotten how terribly interesting the subject is and subsequently remembered a terrific article which I rejoiced in refinding by Tim Dowling in The Guardian about three years ago. It's a reaction to a Heinz press release stating it was going to produce instant baked beans on toast... A world gone mad.
And just when you thought that food preparation and consumption - the actions and processes that once bonded a family in the kitchen, the very heart of the home - couldn't get any further from the traditional cooker, here's something you'll find really hard to swallow....
Thank you to MyAmazingFact Blog for this little find.
Says the blogster: "Yes, this push-pop made of "Macaroni & Cheese in Chili Sauce With Beef" is very real, part of a "convenience meets nausea" movement to provide your favorite foods on the go in a microwaveable, cardboard tube. Scrambled eggs are also available. Here's a tip for all you potential consumers: if you want macaroni and cheese so badly that you're willing to eat it in a push pop, you have an illness and need to reach out to a professional."
Couldn't put it better myself. And I fear for a society that has progressed so much that it has overshot the teeter point, the tip of excellence, and is now gathering momentum as it races down the other side of the mountain of evolution. The most basic social customs are being erradicated for unecessary convenience - grabbing our misguided media-fed desire for the 'instant' and squeezing as many consumer pennies out of it as possible. But it's not just our disposable income that's at stake. It's our very social structure, reponsible for community, altruism, teamwork, love and happiness. You think I'm being sensationalist about the push 'n' eat style of nutrition - you bet I am. It will threaten our very humanity!
When we can eat all day long, snack just because we can, gorge in transit, drive through, express order and unwrap prewraps in between mealtimes - where's the joy in the family meal? (Burp, I've already eaten thanks, I think I'll watch telly...). Where's the table for talk - the appetite for filling minds and bellies, the gratitude? When we can no longer tear bread together, what will be left?
For the sake of the future, stop convenience foods.
To be continued...
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