Food in American Culture

Food in American Culture

Food is a huge part in the american culture, with that being said there are positive and negative effects that come along with that. First of all, A negative effect of food in american culture is unhealthy foods, this problem is growing and leading to obesity. Obesity is a growing issue that affects many adult and child lives; in fact, a whopping 35% of adult americans are obese, and 18% of children are as well. This says alot about the food in our culture, the unhealthy foods out number the healthy ones and are causing huge problems. Also, believe it or not, most healthy foods are more expensive than unhealthy foods. For example, a bag of apples is more expensive than a bag of cheap chips or candy. According to Huffpost healthy living, "To eat more healthy foods it would cost you an average of $550 more a year which narrows down to $1.50 more a day just to eat healthy foods." With this being true, low income families struggle to put healthy foods on the table and the unhealthy foods they are forced to purchase are leading to adult or child obesity. On the other hand, food in America also has a positive vibes and effects on families, such as a meal bringing a family together. An example of this is a holiday called Thanksgiving, on this holiday a huge meal is prepared in honor of what we are grateful for. When eating the meal, most families gather around the table and share past memories and catch up with one another over this meal. Finally, a huge part of american food culture is the convenience and variety. What I mean by this is, there is a huge grocery store every few miles down the street in some cities and a fast food place every few blocks where you can order food or buy food whenever you'd like. The variety in grocery stores is huge, I could walk in and buy many various fruits or vegetables for example, even when they are not in season which shows how much of a selection there actually is. These are just some  main reasons why American culture has always focused on food, and will continue focusing as time goes on.