A Week Without Processed Foods

08/10/2009

A Week Without Processed Foods

Amy Palanjian

This is the second in our "A Week Without Series" where we try to live without something we've come to rely on for a full week. If you missed last week's series, check out Katherine's experience trying to go without plastic.

About two weeks ago, I was in Super Target stocking up on necessities like toilet paper and I wandered, as I normally do, over to the grocery area. My favorite aisle in that section of the store is the one with cereal and granola bars, since I’ve been stocking up on those products at ST ever since I moved to Iowa back in May from NYC. The novelty of being able to buy groceries and not have to carry everything home in my two hands was amazing—and so I’d taken to stocking up on “staples” about once a month.

This meant crackers, cereal, granola bars, soy milk, veggie burgers, bean and rice burritos, chocolate chips, pasta, chewing gum, and bottled tea. But last week, I had a definite “aha” moment. I’d put three boxes of granola bars into my cart and I stopped and thought, “Why, if I consistently make my own granola, am I relying on packaged granola bars?” I knew the answer was that it’s because it’s difficult to make granola bars at home that have a decent consistency and I really like the ones I’d been buying. But I immediately resolved to at least try (you can see how they turned out here), so I put the boxes back on the shelf and went and picked up an extra container of rolled oats.

For me, cooking has always been something that relieves stress and gives me a tangible way to see results. This is why I make dinner most nights after work—I like working with my hands and getting to immediately enjoy my efforts. I’m very committed to sustainable food, but I, like most of us, have come to rely on convenience foods (albeit healthy and often times organic versions) because I think I'm just too busy to make all of my food myself.

But this week, and in light of Micheal Pollan’s recent NYTimes article about how none of us cook anymore, I’ve decided to try to make everything I eat. “Processed” foods have gotten a bad rap over the past few years as we’ve read Ominvore’s Dilemma, watched Fast Food Nation and generally become better acquainted with our local food system. But packaged and processed foods haven’t gone away. If anything there's been a flood of new "healthy" processed foods in our supermarkets. The term is confusing though—isn’t everything we eat processed in some way?

Here’s what the interweb had to say (the first three are responses to Rachel Ray proclaiming not to eat processed foods, the last two are from Micheal Pollan):

“For me it's any food product with ingredients that don't reasonably belong in it (i.e. not an ingredient I would use if making the equivalent from scratch).”

“Unprocessed foods would be items which look as they did in nature: apples, eggs, fruits, fish...”

“I scale it on number of ingredients (preservatives, food colorings) and processes used to get to the end product. Could it be recreated from scratch in my kitchen with supplies from a standard grocer? If not, it's probably incredibly processed.”

“Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.”

“Don’t eat anything incapable of rotting.”

Hmmm, two of my great-grandomothers were alive into the 1990’s, so I’ll go back to a maternal great-great grandmother, which brings me back to Italy, which is a nice place to start thinking about food. And I like the last statement, but man that sounds kind of inconvenient. I mean what about something basic like boxed chicken broth? Pasta? I realize that they will eventually go bad, but I’m sure they’re good for at least a year or two.

So here is what I’m going to try to figure out this week: Are processed foods necessarily a bad thing? Is it possible—mostly from a time standpoint—to really make everything I eat for one week? How can I tell a good processed food (milk? yogurt?) from a bad one (would that be something like Pringles?)? How will this impact my social life? Last week, for example, I ate five meals out during the course of the work week—three lunches and two dinners with coworkers and friends. Do I say no? Bring my own food? Just decide to invite people over rather than going out? Is there such a thing as minimally processed chocolate? Because to be honest, this is the part of the week that I’m most concerned about.

Over the weekend, I decided to prepare as best I could for this week. I baked a loaf of wheat bread (which is tasty though it really didn’t rise like I think it should have) and I made a big grain salad for lunch today and tomorrow. Those, along with my groceries from the farmers market (*Cost: $34; shown at the top) and a local gourmet food shop (Cost: $28.75; shown below), will be the foundation of my diet this week (along with whatever whole foods are in my kitchen already). I’ll also share each meal with you and how long it took to prepare.