{"id":269,"date":"2020-11-04T12:57:58","date_gmt":"2020-11-04T12:57:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cookingenie.com\/content\/?p=269"},"modified":"2020-11-04T12:57:58","modified_gmt":"2020-11-04T12:57:58","slug":"food-inc-corporations-cooking-for-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.cookingenie.com\/content\/blog\/food-inc-corporations-cooking-for-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Food Inc.: Corporations Cooking for Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few years ago, an infographic went viral that showed how most of the world\u2019s food brands are owned by<\/span><\/span>\u00a0just<\/span><\/span> a handful of corporations.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"food<\/p>\n

Image Source: visualcapitalist<\/a><\/h6>\n

Around the same time that this infographic started circulating, a\u00a0<\/span>study<\/span><\/a>\u00a0found that nearly 60% of the calories in the modern American diet come from processed foods.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>How did we get here<\/span>\u00a0with our food<\/span>?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/span>In the early years of our country<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>home cooked meals<\/span>\u00a0&\u00a0<\/span>fresh cooked meals<\/span><\/a>\u00a0w<\/span>ere<\/span>\u00a0the way<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0to eat<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>We\u00a0<\/span>plucked\u00a0<\/span>our\u00a0<\/span>own chickens, grew\u00a0<\/span>our\u00a0<\/span>own vegetables, made\u00a0<\/span>our\u00a0<\/span>own bread.\u00a0<\/span>We ate whole foods made from scratch.\u00a0<\/span>There were innovations\u2014a company called Van Camp sold canned beans to the Union Army during the Civil War, Clarence Birdseye introduced frozen foods in the 1920s\u2014but for the most part,\u00a0<\/span>we<\/span> knew where your food came from or at least knew the local farmer or butcher who provided our ingredients.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>It was post World War II that\u00a0<\/span>our food supply\u00a0<\/span>really started to change.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Food manufacturers who had secured government contracts during the war saw their profits plummet<\/span>. To make up for lost wartime revenue, they\u00a0<\/span>started\u00a0<\/span>introducing<\/span>\u00a0new\u00a0<\/span>food\u00a0<\/span>innovations<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>designed to<\/span>\u00a0appeal to\u00a0<\/span>housewives\u2019 demand for convenience, like\u00a0<\/span>Minute Maid concentrated orange juice, Duncan Hines cake mixes, and Minute Rice<\/span>.<\/span>1<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(Also Read<\/strong> – Made to Cook: The Cooking Hypothesis<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The way Americans shopped<\/span>\u00a0for food<\/span>\u00a0was changing, too<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Turn-of-the-century housewives bought their food from the freestanding grocer, butcher, and dry goods stores. They\u2019d hand their shopping list to the store clerk, and the clerk would pick all the items for them. <\/span>The first self-service grocery store, Piggly Wiggly, opened in Memphis in 1916<\/span>, and this new store model\u2014where consumers roamed through the store picking out their own items from the shelf\u2014quickly caught on.\u00a0<\/span>According to the\u00a0<\/span>National Women\u2019s History Museum<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>between 1948 and 1958, the number of supermarkets in the United States doubled to over 2,500<\/span> and for the first time, it was cheaper to buy processed food than fresh.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Suddenly there w<\/span>ere<\/span>\u00a0lots of money to be made in<\/span>\u00a0packaged<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>convenience\u00a0<\/span>food<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0and the mergers and acquisitions began.\u00a0<\/span>Large companies started gobbling up smaller brands<\/span>, and\u00a0<\/span>the steady\u00a0<\/span>consolidation of the industry\u00a0<\/span>continue<\/span>s to grow<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0In the last 20 years, there have been 9,007 mergers and acquisitions in the\u00a0<\/span>food, beverage, and grocery space, according to The Food Institute<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Industry watchdog\u00a0<\/span>Food & Water Watch<\/span><\/a>\u00a0says\u00a0<\/span>that all this consolidation <\/span>means that these companies have an outsized influence on the food choices, diets, and working conditions of people around the world \u2014 not to mention the impact they have on the environment.\u00a0<\/span>Reduced<\/span>\u00a0competition\u00a0<\/span>gives these corporations control of the market price that farmers get for their crops and livestock. It\u2019s led to the\u00a0<\/span>decrease<\/span>\u00a0of family farms and the growth of factory farms, ecologically damaging farming practices, and more and more unhealthy processed foods on grocery stor<\/span>e<\/span>\u00a0shelves.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(Also Read<\/strong> – Avoid wasting food: save $1600 per year<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Amidst all this, what can we do to eat healthy? We love eating out and that will always remain an enjoyable experience<\/span>.<\/span> But the sure shot way to eat healthily is to have more home cooked\u00a0<\/span>meals.\u00a0<\/span>Meal prepping can also be an effective strategy. But if\u00a0<\/span>modern life gets in the way of fresh cooked meals or meal prepping, consider businesses like CookinGenie.\u00a0<\/span>CookinGenie can send a Genie\u00a0<\/span>(culinary experts ranging from classically trained chefs to specialized home cooks)\u00a0<\/span>to your house to make home-cooked<\/span>\u00a0meal<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0for you and your family.\u00a0<\/span>Click\u00a0<\/span>here<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to<\/span>\u00a0view our menus and<\/span>\u00a0book your Genie today<\/span>\u00a0& enjoy\u00a0<\/span>fresh cooking<\/span>\u00a0from wholesome ingredients.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few years ago, an infographic went viral that showed how most of the world\u2019s food brands are owned by\u00a0just a handful of corporations.\u00a0 Image Source: visualcapitalist Around the same time that this infographic started circulating, a\u00a0study\u00a0found that nearly 60% of the calories in the modern American diet come from processed foods.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0How did we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10,19,20,21,22],"class_list":["post-269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-cookingenie","tag-cooking","tag-corporation-cooking","tag-fresh-cooked-food","tag-fresh-cooking"],"yoast_head":"\nFood Inc.: Corporations Cooking for Us - CookinGenie<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Companies have an outsized influence on the food choices, diets, and working conditions of people around the world. 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