Fast Food Weeds
Food Chain Radio Show #1244
Michael Olson, Author & Urban Farming Agriculturalist
Fast Food Weeds
Guest: Professor Catherine Keske, Ag Economist at the University of California, Merced & Author, Fast Food is Comforting, But in Low-Income Areas it Crowds Out Fresher Options
Most everyone who has planted a garden knows how quickly weeds can move in and take over the garden. Why, if you take a couple of weeks off for a summer vacation, you’ll likely come home to a weed patch instead of a garden!
Michael Olson Food Chain Radio – Fast Food Weeds – How does fast food displace good food?
The same can be said for how quickly fast food can displace good food in a community’s diet.
Nowhere is the phenomenon more pronounced than in California’s great Central Valley, where much of the nation’s good food is grown, processed and shipped to people around the world.
Many of the people who live and work in California’s wonderful “garden of eaten” do not eat the food they grow, but are much more likely to eat the fast foods provided them by the nation’s fast food chains.
Consider the findings of a recent study of student eating habits at the University of California, Merced: 80% of students select food for its price; 75% select for convenience; 70% for familiarity; and 60% say they select a restaurant because they find it to be comforting.
From this survey it is clear that good foods have been displaced by fast foods. That the weed of fast food has displaced the good food of California’s garden of eaten, leads us to ask:
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