Final Source Statement

I am interested in the parallels between the principles and practices of the American industrial food system and the embodiment of those principles and practices in the average American consumer. I am interested in both the way the food industry influences our lifestyles and consequently, how the food industry is a product of that lifestyle.

The American industrial food system is built on a basic principle of efficiency: produce the most food, at the fastest rate, by means of the cheapest labor, to net the greatest profit. This is achieved in a mechanized system of predictable, consistent, and uniform mass-production. In order to make the most profit, the system must be controlled from beginning to end - from seed to store shelf. Our food is chemically reengineered in labs, sprayed with pesticides in the fields and fed hormones in their pens. We have replaced the health benefits. The natural nutrients and growing processes are supplemented with chemicals and an assembly line. Our meats, fruits, vegetables and grains, are processed and engineered to grow bigger, to grow faster, to look brighter, to yield more flesh, and to taste “better,” (higher in fat, salt, and sugar). They are produced to be the most sellable and to have the longest shelf-life possible. Bigger is better. More is better. Faster is better. The problem with this industrial food system is that it replaces surface for substance. It is a quick fix. It jeopardizes quality and character for speed and profit.

The average American contributes to this system as both a consumer, one who purchases the food and pumps money back into the system, and also by literally consuming the food, ingesting it into our own internal system and therefore, maintaining the Western diet and subsequent health problems. The consumer is content with supplementing well developed vitamins and nutrients with chemicals, nuance with consistency, individual character with slick surfaces, We would rather fill our bodies with pharmaceuticals than fruits, vegetables and exercise. We like this mass-produced system because we want cheap, predictable, abundant, quick and instantly gratifying solutions. The average American consumer is content with this system. They are easily satisfied by it and are in fact drawn to it. We want the quick fix.