Today I was leafing through the local adverts from a supermarket - it's getting close to Christmas and I would expect it to be full of items people might think they need for these holiday dinners...such as the veg, some kind of meat, flour and fixings for desserts and so forth.
However I was quite surprised at how far away the marketing has come from reality and perhaps how far away I am now from the rubbish they are expecting people to buy and eat (and I have an Honours degree in Food Marketing, so I studied this stuff). The thing that got me going was that there was not one single raw ingredient advertised in over 10 pages of pictures and prices.
Each and every single item was of something prepared, either cooked or ready to put in the oven and cook. So, it seems you are expected to purchase your 'holiday' meals ready to pop in the oven (or microwave?) and just press a button.
Then presto - it's like some sort of magic - you have a ready made already assembled Christmas dinner - all you have to do is fork this into your mouth.
This is not the kind of magic I am interested in at all. Who wants someone else's energy (hung over employee unhappy with wages, co-workers, self and life) spread all over their food? It's more then enough to deal with our own stuff, but at least that's familiar to us!
Oh, but my rant continues! You are not only expected to buy and eat this prepared food (it's cheap), the ingredients are already selected for you. You can have carrots, potatoes, parsnips or 2 other vegetables combinations. With tiny bits of parsley as a garnish.
What happened to the other 90 vegetables in the kingdom? Where are the real herbs? Does everything have to be slathered in butter? Not to mention cooked and then packed in plastic trays (were they cooked in plastic too?).
Probably tastes like garbage bags....
I mean why would they even bother with the plastic trays of 'food' - why not condense it down further and just put each dinner into pill form and we can all pop those. So convenient - we wouldn't even have to taste anything...
However I was quite surprised at how far away the marketing has come from reality and perhaps how far away I am now from the rubbish they are expecting people to buy and eat (and I have an Honours degree in Food Marketing, so I studied this stuff). The thing that got me going was that there was not one single raw ingredient advertised in over 10 pages of pictures and prices.
Each and every single item was of something prepared, either cooked or ready to put in the oven and cook. So, it seems you are expected to purchase your 'holiday' meals ready to pop in the oven (or microwave?) and just press a button.
Then presto - it's like some sort of magic - you have a ready made already assembled Christmas dinner - all you have to do is fork this into your mouth.
This is not the kind of magic I am interested in at all. Who wants someone else's energy (hung over employee unhappy with wages, co-workers, self and life) spread all over their food? It's more then enough to deal with our own stuff, but at least that's familiar to us!
Oh, but my rant continues! You are not only expected to buy and eat this prepared food (it's cheap), the ingredients are already selected for you. You can have carrots, potatoes, parsnips or 2 other vegetables combinations. With tiny bits of parsley as a garnish.
What happened to the other 90 vegetables in the kingdom? Where are the real herbs? Does everything have to be slathered in butter? Not to mention cooked and then packed in plastic trays (were they cooked in plastic too?).
Probably tastes like garbage bags....
I mean why would they even bother with the plastic trays of 'food' - why not condense it down further and just put each dinner into pill form and we can all pop those. So convenient - we wouldn't even have to taste anything...
Indeed, it seems as if they are busy creating their own reality...with the consumer in mind.
Do yourself a favour this year - find some different vegetables at a Farmers market (organic if you can) look for celeriac, purple carrots, rare varieties of apples, heaps of fresh herbs - and then look up recipes online or make up your own.
Have some fun with your food - but whatever you do, handle and prepare it yourself. Don't let anyone dictate to you what your meals should consist of by cooking them for you....don't let anyone change who you are.
April
Do yourself a favour this year - find some different vegetables at a Farmers market (organic if you can) look for celeriac, purple carrots, rare varieties of apples, heaps of fresh herbs - and then look up recipes online or make up your own.
Have some fun with your food - but whatever you do, handle and prepare it yourself. Don't let anyone dictate to you what your meals should consist of by cooking them for you....don't let anyone change who you are.
April
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| Now, we need to get our green branches and it will take shape... table centre piece |
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