>Corporate capitalism is an engine of mass obesity in its richer
>areas. The bottom line requires fatter butts. It's one of the last
>frontiers of unexhausted "growth opportunities."
But the upper classes aren't fat. This gives new meaning to accumulation!
>IMHO, Pollan does a major disservice by diverting attention from
>such basic realities. Changing ag policy would do little or nothing
>to slow the food marketing juggernaut.
I don't have the stats in front of me, but I'm certain the relative price of food and its share of consumption expenditures has been falling for a very long time. So Pollan's "cheap food" explanation would have to contend with that.
I have a grudge against him. About 13 years ago, he rejected a piece of mine that Harper's had commissioned because it had "too many ideas" in it (that's a direct quote, not a paraphrase). From reading this piece and some of his others I see that an excess of ideas never troubles him. In this piece he had just one idea, which was several short of a good analysis.
Doug