I’ll admit it: I’m a recovering food snob. I used to think that with food you get what you pay for. I’d agonize over not being able to afford organic produce and go out of my way to a myriad of health stores to find the latest supplements. The worst part was my self-righteous attitude as I filled my basket with Trader Joe’s organic, cane-sweetened, sea salt dusted, no gmo peanut-butter filled pretzels. No offense to Trader Joe’s – which I still love and would frequent if it weren’t a 30-minute drive away (carbon footprint, people!) – but a peanut-butter filled pretzel is junk food no matter how many fancy labels you slap on it. Are you a food snob? You might want to start rethinking that position.
My shift in attitude started last year when the largest study ever done on produce showed no marked benefit in organic fruits and veggies over their chemically-gestated kin. I edged further away from my previous hard-line stance when I discovered that the same company that owns the health-food mecca Trader Joe’s also owns the cheap-food fest Aldi. Same food, different labels, 80% cheaper.
But today took the whole-wheat pastry flour cake with two headlines:
1. Debunking the agave myth. I have long had sweetener shame. Nowhere does my cheapness come into as much conflict with my healthy desires as when it comes to sugar. The plain-jane granulated stuff is cheap and you can get it anywhere. So why would I want that, right? No, every foodie touts the wonders of honey (raw, natch) or maple syrup (real, grade A – nothing that comes in a squeeze bottle with a stereotypical 19th century black woman molded on top) or succanat, brown rice syrup, turbinado, stevia and, the current love for healthy sweet tooths (teeth?): agave syrup. It comes from a cactus! It’s low on the glycemic index! It’s realllly expensive! It has food snob written all over it.
Now don’t get me wrong – all of those sweeteners are awesome and I have enjoyed sweets with all of the above in them – but they are essentially all permutations of glucose and sucrose and fructose in varying amounts. And the one that is most harmful to your health is fructose. As in the great-perpetuator-of-childhood-obesity high fructose corn syrup. I’ll cut to the surprise ending: Agave syrup is almost 90% fructose making it one the most processed sweetener out of the bunch, even worse than HFCS. High levels of fructose are linked to all kinds of nasty diseases like diabetes and the sci-fi-sounding “fatty liver disease.”
The point isn’t to get everyone worked up about different sugars – if you want something sweet, use the one you like – but rather to show what happens when a food that is cunningly marketed as a “health food” is anything but.
2. The Great Grocery Smackdown. This hilarious article from The Atlantic, patron saint of snobs of all varieties, takes a group of self-professed foodies and sits them down in front of produce. In one corner: the holy grail of health Whole Foods. And in the other: the sultan of sprawl Wal-Mart. The difference between shoppers in Whole Foods and in Wal-Mart could be seen as representative of the greatest cultural divide in our country. Which makes it even more entertaining that the Wal-Mart produce was the clear victor. A win for rednecks everywhere? I prefer to see it as a win for price conscious consumers.
So if organic produce doesn’t provide measurable health benefits, all grocery stores regardless of their price point are owned by the same handful of international conglomerates, pricey health foods may just be pricey marketing and produce from Wal-Mart tastes better than Whole Foods, does that mean it doesn’t matter what you eat? None of this is permission to go on the deep-fried Twinkie diet. But it does mean that on our next grocery trip we should think more about whether we are purchasing food or an image.
What kinds of foods are you snobby about? Are you afraid of cheap food? Anyone else surprised by these findings?
not at all surprised, some people will always find something to make themselves feel superior.
My only belief now is that we should buy from local farmers as much as possible.
I've been wondering when the tide would turn on agave nectar.
I didn't understand how people thought it was so much better than sugar or HCFS after getting a bottle for myself and reading the label. Didn't people realize they were substituting HCFS for High Fructose Cactus Syrup?
Just goes to show we still have to read labels…and ignore the hype!
I buy locally as much as possible (which isn't very feasible, unless I go back to eating beef). Though, luckily I am close-ish to BC, so I don't feel bad about eating their trucked in produce.
I also buy organic, but I do so because the place I shop is family-owned, and they take the time to check out all their suppliers and make sure they're being as sustainable as possible. For example, their organic milk comes in glass bottles that you return and are then washed and reused.
Plus, it is admittedly the easiest grocery store for me to reach via public transit + walking, since I don't have a car. And I've made friends with the owner, and he saves me skim milk if I call in the morning (which is great, since they only get like 8 1L bottles a day). Plus, they don't really sell sweets and super processed foods (like Yves Veggie stuff), so I have to go out of my way to get candy (not like that stops me)
My only food snob trait comes with buying unprocessed. I like to buy things that are as unprocessed as possible and cook them myself. It's much more time-consuming, but I really feel it tastes much better, and I'm assuming it's better for you (*fingers-crossed), otherwise I'm wasting valuable study time on making my own vegetable stock, or cooking hulled oats.
I am very happy that Wal-Mart is offering good quality produce. There's always discussion about how processed food is cheaper than produce, but if Wal-Mart is involved, perhaps more people will be able to afford food that is good for you, and it will be better for our collective health in the long run.
I hate that food is now political. There are so many factors to consider, including the latest study about some vegetable being a 'danger' food and my phobia about being judged by what's in my cart. Personally, grocery shopping is sort of indecision hell.
Not a food snob here. I do my best to stay away from overly processed foods but sometimes, the convenience wins out. I try stay away from white flour etc but since The Boy has a ton of white rice and flour in the pantry, I'm using it up until we run out. I try buy local as much as I can but sometimes prices wins out.
I know, it sounds like a ton of excuses but as long as I can be as healthy as possible in the circumstances, I do what I can.
Definitely a food snob of sorts here:
I have never understood why the argument that organic food has no measurable benefits for humans was the clincher in this argument. I always thought that buying organic was about the impact it had on the environment and the eco-system. I never bought it because it was better for me (although I hoped it might be). I bought it because it was better for the communities in which its grown.
We don't have 'high-end' organic supermarkets here. Just small local shops and organic stalls at the fresh market. I'm not sure how the two compare.
Probably if I had a house full of kids and lived in a city where you have to drive (I can walk everywhere here) I might go for whatever was the cheapest most practical option. My snobbyness only goes so far.
why do I love this so?
I was lectured AT relentlessly by well meaning friends and strangers about the agave.
and I probably need to be MORE of a food snob Im sure.
I plan to corner WorkoutMommy as we lollop together for over two hours (!) and get her to regale me with every last detail of Food Inc.
It's a start right?
I try to buy local first (CSA, Farmer's market, etc), then organic and if possible from Mom & Pop type stores (not chains). This is partially because of health but mostly because I think that organic practices are better for the environment and we like to 'vote with our dollars'. That said, not all organics are the same. For milk, cream & yogurt, we look for the brand that buys from small farmers, not ones that have huge feedlots (as we say at home, happy milk cause it comes from happy cows). For beef, if we cannot get local then we go for grass fed (not grass finished) – again, we try to only eat happy animals (that sounds really bad).
That said, I will drive thru for a McD burger and never pass judgment on others eating habits (unless all they eat is processed junk) so I do not really consider myself a food 'snob'. I have my way of eating for my reasons, you can have yours.
Husband and I refer to ourselves as food snobs, but that is more about us being picky eaters than it is about price or organic-ness. For example – I don't use any artificial sweeteners because they taste, well, artificial. I do buy organic fair trade granulated cane sugar because I like the way it tastes (and I like the fair trade aspect). That tends to be what our grocery shopping purchases come down to – how does it taste? We want our food to taste good and be reasonably healthy at the same time.
I love this post! I just came across it from amerrylife.com's blogroll. i am TOTALLY a recovering food snob myself. I used to actually refuse to go shopping with my mom back in the day because she shopped at WalMart and I was too embarrased to be seen with her…vowing that when I lived on my own, everything, EVERYTHING I ate would be vegetarian and organic. Well…I've been on my own for a few years now and affording organic is just bloody expensive sometimes. Oh…and I eat meat now. hehe.
great post! im a new blog fan!
I don't feel like I'm a food snob, but I definately try to buy oranic produce. It's not because of the nutritional benefits over conventional, but because it hasn't been bathing in so many pesticides and chemicals during it's lifetime.
I'm always really suprised when people buy organic for the nutritional boost, because I've never really been led to believe that it was all that much better that way. I thought that more people bought it to avoid all of the chemicals. Of course, it's not totally free of those either, it's just a little better off.
Anyways, that's my two cents 🙂
I agree 100% with the agave smackdown. And I love that you base your argument about organic produce on a human-behavior, Walmart vs. WF study AND a biochemistry paper . . . but, I disagree with your conclusion. That paper was the result of a 'review' of fifty years of nutrition research, and the conclusion should've been stated thus: 'we've yet to even ask this question in a way that it can be successfully answered using current research tools.' They performed data mining & statistics on half a centuries worth of often misguided research – it's a trendy thing to do, and I think the results are bull if they're delivered w/o good analysis.
The real question in not how organic helps us — that's too hard, we lack the tools — but how industrial food production harms us – mostly with pesticides and secondary impacts of those chemicals.
I hate upscale food-marketing, but I hate corporate dominance of food production & distribution just as much. It is a conundrum – I shop at both WF and Walmart, depending on wether or not I'm in my RV!
I think we should be aware of all forms of marketing – the myth that organic is mystically better, and the idea that profit-driven corporations supplying standard supermarket fare are doing a good job taking care of people, animals and the environment.
As a chemist I must point out % fructose does not directly = % processed…and "natural sweetner" is a chemist's catchword for all sorts of things (yes…scientists can be evil! ) 🙂
I do agree – agave syrup is just another form of…well…sugar.
In my mind, you want less sugar, particularly processed sugar…period and try and keep all nutrition from more natural sources. I'm not diabetic. I don't need to worry about my glycemic index.
I just try and buy local healthy food. I only do organic if it's something like a lemon that I'm zesting and cooking…otherwise the supercomplicated process of just washing my veggies really well does the trick. Organic is more about the environment, really.
I'm a foodie in that if I think something tastes better I'll get it…that's about it 🙂
I am not a food snob…jut try to buy the least processed I can. and try to shop at the local stores as often as my wallet allows.
I gave up the artificial sweetners a few years ago when I realized 1 tsp was only 15 calories…FIFTEEN. i guess all those years sugar=evil so I tried to use the fake stuff thinking i was saving so many calories. geeze. oatmeal tastes so much better when it is…well…all natural!
maybe i'll become a food snob when i'm out in the working world (or whenever someone else wants to pick up the bill) but i look for the *cheapest* food. within reason of course. i buy nothing organic, buy bread off the day-old rack and apples from the "damaged" (ie one small bruise) cart.
that's not to say when i have a bit extra cash i won't spring for something more "extravagant" but price tends to trump everything else
I'm VERY snobby about lettuce and bread not in terms of whether or not they're organic, but in terms of kind and type. I REFUSE to eat iceberg lettuce. I won't do it. I hope I'm never in a situation where eating iceberg lettuce will save me from starvation but I will probably wind up dead. I'm slightly less snobby about bread, but I really prefer the spouted grain/whole wheat/multi-grain over white and I LOVE sandwiches made from really good French and Italian breads. Mmmm….
The only cheap food I'm afraid of is those generic vanilla sandwich cookies. They taste like a trailer park. Ugh.
I love this post because I have no TJ's or Whole Foods nearby, so I have to rely on WalMart (as much as I hate to).
I think it depends who you ask. Compared to some family who eat steak-ums, I’m a food snob. I like to buy local foods, try to pick organic fruits, and generally eat healthy. But I try not to make any comments or turn up my nose to them. That’s because I have friends who are real food snobs—and they make me feel like a loser for ever eating at a chain restaurant. The problem with food snobbery isn’t what you buy for yourself. (It’s your money, do with it what you will.) The problem is when you make other people feel like idiots for eating Cabot cheddar instead of Whole Foods’ $10-a-brick one.
This makes me feel better about buying groceries at Walmart. It is lacking in bulk foods, and the produce is often inferior to that bought at another chain or something I can buy at the farmer's market, but I pick what looks best, not from a shopping list. I would gladly drive 30 minutes to Trader Joe's to stock up on things like affordable almond butter, which is not available here in FL.
I have noticed that the newer trendy grocery stores charge what I consider outrageous prices for the same stuff which can be found in the older ones. Whenever I can, I just buy from local farmers, and guess what? Theirs is the least expensive of all, go figure.
LOVED this article–thanks for the info!
I am a full time college kid with no job so you better believe I shop at Wal-Mart Supercenter!!!! :] I don't care what people think, I like to eat healthy so I buy a loooooot of produce and anywhere else its just TOO expensive.
I still eat processed foods like no other but I figure I am 21, in college and I work out all the time. My weight and moods are stable and any potential health risks that will come from my Splenda habit, will come when they do. Not going to waste my life worrying about them now because it just isn't practical. :]
I always thought agave was simply a vegan substitute for honey.
Shows how much I know!
I also read recently that Whole Foods imports much of their produce from…China?!?!?! Not exactly local!
We don't have a Wal-Mart nearby, and even if it were closer, it doesn't stock produce. But Costco does, and I am ALL over that!
And, yes, I shake my head at the "I-bought-this-chocolate-lava-cake-from-Whole-Foods-so-it's-healthy" mentality. Eat it 'cause it's yummy and you want a treat, not 'cause it's faux-healthy!
(On that note, Whole Foods does make great take-n-bake pizza!)
I will readily admit to doing all my grocery shopping at a Super Walmart for years. Until we moved to an area with no Super Walmarts. My current grocery store is more expensive but the quality of the food is horrible. Walmart may be evil, but at least my food was fresh and I had MORE variety than at my expensive grocery store.
I would shop at the local farmer's market (that is, in the summer) but I hate that all the good stuff is gone by the time I can drag myself over there.
My gym is literally next door to Trader Joe's and I hardly ever go in there. Although, I admit, I've never been in an Aldi.
I will readily admit to doing all my grocery shopping at a Super Walmart for years. Until we moved to an area with no Super Walmarts. My current grocery store is more expensive but the quality of the food is horrible. Walmart may be evil, but at least my food was fresh and I had MORE variety than at my expensive grocery store.
I would shop at the local farmer's market (that is, in the summer) but I hate that all the good stuff is gone by the time I can drag myself over there.
My gym is literally next door to Trader Joe's and I hardly ever go in there. Although, I admit, I've never been in an Aldi.
I will readily admit to doing all my grocery shopping at a Super Walmart for years. Until we moved to an area with no Super Walmarts. My current grocery store is more expensive but the quality of the food is horrible. Walmart may be evil, but at least my food was fresh and I had MORE variety than at my expensive grocery store.
I would shop at the local farmer's market (that is, in the summer) but I hate that all the good stuff is gone by the time I can drag myself over there.
My gym is literally next door to Trader Joe's and I hardly ever go in there. Although, I admit, I've never been in an Aldi.
Heck NO, I am not afraid of cheap!!
I have bought some veggies from Whole Foods in the past (it is just to expensive as a regular thing) & to tell you the truth, they were not as good as my local store or TJ's. In fact, 2 of the 3 things I bought were rotten!
Just had to say thank you for justifying my cheap pesticide food purchases, that I am not infesting my young children with cancer, reinforcing my conviction that processed sugar is bad whether it's generic or milled in an exotic place from a plant other than cane, that all sugars and oils have the same amount of calories no matter from what member of the plant kingdom they were in infancy. That not driving farther or paying more or not making Chinese workers unemployed is just fine, like I've always thought it was. And that produce from my organic backyard garden still tastes the same!
LOVE this article! I was talking with my mom the other day about this. She says that healthy food (ie produce) is just too expensive for the average family to afford so they are forced to buy cheap (ie processed) foods. What i say is buy whatever kind of produce you can, no matter where it's from it's a heck of a lot better for you than the processed crap!
I'm not a foodie, but i don't like processed food. I particularly shake my head at anything that has hydrogenated oils, i'll literally scream and drop it like it's on fire. HFCS comes next but to a lesser degree because i just love gummy candy, mmmmm sour patch kids, hahaha, (only one at a time though, and i savor every last sugar crystal!)
Heck, i buy my produce at the 99 cents store! Yup, they started selling produce at the 99 cents store. 2 eggplants for $1!!! You can't beat that, at Vons it's like $2 a pound or something. I've been able to lose 40lbs shopping at the 99 cents store and i'm convinced i never would have been able to do it without it.
I am a food snob, but only because I like exotic ingredients that I can't find anywhere but at local health food stores or Whole Foods.
However, when it comes to produce, we buy everything at Costco, and if we lived near a Wal-Mart, I'd go there.
Agave…people hear "raw natural sweetener" and they think it's "healthy". Fructose is not our friend, low glycemic or not. Straight to the belly people, straight to the belly!
Well, I'm a different type of food snob. As in, if it calls for cream, I use real cream. Which might explain um, why this weight is coming off so slow.
But yeah, I'm a full-fat version kind of girl. I'll eat less REAL strawberry shortcake than more of some crappy version of strawberry shortcake (sponge rounds, anyone?)
And, I have a neighbor who is NUTS for agave nectar…mwah haha…I'm so emailing her tonight…
Personally I find that the produce at my nicer supermarkets, is well, nicer.
Our Walmart does not sell produce, but I will get other stuff there and at Target.
I do find that while I am a snob on some of my produce, and I might be turning into a meat snob, I never got into buying the "organic" junk food.
I don't care what fancy label you put on it, anything that is oreo like is not going to be incredibly good for you.
thanks for all the great, updated info! i'm not really a food snob, i do however, question something when it's really cheap, for instance, i don't buy the store brand cereals because i don't think it will taste as good. has anybody ever tried them, how are they?
And I am so freakin pissed about the agave nectar. I had bought the Clean Eating Recharged book and they mentioned it as being a clean food so I bought it. The first time I tasted it, I thought, no freakin way can this be good for you since it tasted like pancake syrup.
Yep I was right on that one.
I've noticed just skimming through the comments that a lot of people are mentioning that they buy organic not because of food quality necessarily, but because organic growing processes are better for the environment. I thought this too for a long time, and it does make sense. However, I recently took an amazing (probably my favorite ever) class at my university called The Geography of Food. I learned so much about our food system during that semester.
One thing that I found out that is really pretty sad is that with the industrialization and the high demand for organic foods now, organic just isn't what it used to be. There are certain things a farmer must do to be able to qualify for a "USDA certified organic" label- and one of those things is be able to afford the whole certification process. Small, local farmers often times cannot afford this label even if their practices are much more sustainable. Big corporations can easily afford this label, and it is in their best interest with the growing demand to offer organic products (one can argue either way about the pluses and minuses of this fact). Being organic now has a lot more to do with not using certain pesticides than with using truly environmental farming practices. The massive scale organic farming done by large corporations is probably not much more beneficial for food quality or the environment than their large scale growth of non-organic produce (ex. Organic Cheerios next to non-organic Cheerios by the same company, the first with a higher pricetag, the same ingredients, the same processing plant, a few different pesticides or farming methods used).
Besides organic labels for produce, there are the labels that have to do with humane treatment of animals. These also come with a price-tag, and are often times misleading. The idea of eggs from "free range" chickens may give us pleasant images of a nice little farm with happy chickens, but the reality may be quite different. If you are concerned about these issues, it may be good to research what the specifications actually are for many of these labels. You may be surprised by what "free range" means technically and how these labels actually play out in real life.
Anyway, I don't really care at all about something being organic at this point- though true, you may be avoiding certain pesticides. I would much rather spend money for local items which may be closer to what the founders of organic had in mind for sustainability and health in the first place. At the very least buying local does reduce one's carbon footprint 🙂
Personally, I use agave nectar but I believe that anything is a bad thing if it's used in excessive amounts. Just like food that's labeled "diet" people might see that it says "natural" and assume they can consume it by the boatload.
While it might be slightly better than regular ol' white sugar, I still practice moderation and only have it when necessary.
I'm not sure if I'm a food snob, but I can be a food hoard … I love my PB Puffins, my Sahale nuts (PB&J!), and my salt chocolate. I've hidden Food Should Taste Good chips from my husband because I know he'll just finish the bag before I get a second serving out of it.
One thing I can't handle is things with mayo. I just don't get some peoples' obsession with it. There is such thing as too much!
As for organic shopping, I do tend to purchase a lot of food labeled organic, but usually it fits in the Dirty Dozen. No, I will not buy organic bananas or oranges, but I do have a soft spot for Bob's Red Mill products and Newman's Own.
I think people have to realize that healthy and organic are not the same thing. You can still get a lot of "junk" food that's labeled organic. Just because it says that doesn't mean it's good for you.
K
I have to disagree here Charlotte. You're mentioning a single study. There have been many studies that analyze nutrition content of conventionally grown food versus organic food. Organic food does contain more nutrients than conventional food. There have been many studies that have shown a decline in nutrient content of produce during the last several decades. We are part of the environment. If all of those chemicals running into the water hurt fish and wildlife (clearly proven), do you really believe that it doesn't affect our health? If those chemicals pile up in the cells of children, which has been conclusively proven, what do you think it's doing in your body? It's not food snobbery: it's food responsibility. If you only engage in fitness and a healthy diet to be skinny, by all means cram food grown with petroleum-based fertilizers into your body. If you exercise and eat a balanced diet for health reasons, than organic and local foods are essential.
I am not afraid to buy cheap food- heckno! I have never been a Whole Foods fan and that was only reinforced a few months ago when I swung by to pick up veggies for guests and the baby carrots were rotten. Buh Bye Whole Foods.
I only buy the "dirty dozen" organically if possible…otherwise it's regular old fried twinkies for me. 😉
Love "Carbon Footprint People!" 🙂 heheheh
I've been without 'net access for over a week and have missed my daily fix of the GFE – So this comment is a tad behind – sorry 🙂
You said:
High levels of fructose are linked to all kinds of nasty diseases like diabetes and the sci-fi-sounding "fatty liver disease."
I have recently been diagnosed with this and have been trying to figure out why, I don't drink, I don't eat meat (like you I'm a Vegequarian), and I rarely eat junk food, I exercise (moderately – gotta get back into the weights) and I'm fat (very) and have a fatty liver. Until I read this I was totally confused but it makes sense. Fatty Liver can also cause Insulin Resistance, which is why my weight is not coming off as it should, given my lifestyle and eating habits.
Thank you so much for this, you have no idea how much this has helped. I will be going through everything I eat and drink and avoiding the high fructose corn syrup. I found this site http://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-High-Fructose-Corn-Syrup which I'll be printing out and memorising – did you know that stuff is in bread ?
I realised I didn't answer the Organic v's Non-organic question. I used to try and buy organic, but the quality was generally poor and the price pretty high.
I now get my fruit and vege's home delivered from the farm(s) within 72 hours of being picked. This gives me fresher and better tasting F&V than I can get in Australian Supermarkets, and I'm helping the small farmers, I pay less and the farmer gets paid more, everybody wins !
I always thought that organic was better because they don't use pesticides so reading others comments has been very interesting.
Oh Amber Rose! Good luck with that! Please keep me updated on how it goes!
I am a Walmart/chain grocery store shopper all the way! Heck, we don't even HAVE a whole foods or a trader joes or anything here but if we did, I would probably go sparingly. I am cheap AND not a snob. My pet peeves are: vegetarians who somehow think it's a competition and that I am somehow less of a vegetarian because I eat meat substitutes. I grew up on meat, sometimes I want a BURGER or a taco that isn't just vegetables! Yes, I eat TVP and chik'n patties and Tofurkey. So there!
And my other pet peeve is people who think brown sugar is more healthy than white sugar. I read a recipe online the other day that gave sweetening options (maple syrup, honey, etc.) and said you can use brown sugar or if all you have is white sugar, that will do and gave some BS about your health! Brown sugar IS WHITE SUGAR with molasses added! Heck, maple syrup is just freaking sugar made from a different plant, how is that a better choice?
I'm a pretty major food snob. Most of what I get at my farmers market isn't certified organic, but it's still way tastier and rots quicker than supermarket stuff, even natural foods market stuff.
I eat white sugar, and Splenda in my coffee. I occasionally eat high brow versions of low-end foods, such as humanely raised, grass fed beef hotdogs. I eat organic dairy.
Many an audio stage made i’m sure that you’ll obtain plenty of people who want to tone of voice their own viewpoint as nicely, just period allocated to this.