THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE
By George Medina, Intercontinental Licensing
...No! Not that one! Not the famous one HOW DID WE GET TO THIS STATE? ies and drudgery - reducers, mom became the
of World War II. No – a quiet one. A HOW DID THE CALORIES OVER- second breadwinner and the family dinner had
peaceful one – but just as deadly! WHELM US? to be provided quickly and lunch sandwiches
Yes, faithful reader, look around in Ameri- Salman Rushdie, in an editorial in a 2002 New for junior and dad became a problem for over-
ca and what do you see in the land of the York Times issue, criticizes “American Patrio- stressed, short of time, mom. The American
free? You see what? You see fat! Unsight- tism, Obesity, Emotionality, Self-Centeredness food production expansion created over-com-
ly fat! – These are the crucial issues! We may not petition. To fight over-supplies, farmers and agri-
agree with him on all this – but maybe he’s not business put on the brakes, the brakes created
Just stand on the street corner in any city of all wrong either. shortages, shortages raised prices, the see-saw
the USA – or walk in any of the thousands of of the market in an age of plenty created farm-
shopping malls – it’s everywhere! We have be- LET’S GO BACK IN TIME: Until World War ing discontent.
come “the Nation of the Fat”. Look at the sepia II, we might have called the USA an agricul- SOMETHING HAD TO BE DONE!
colored photos of your grandparents, with their tural country. During the Dust Bowl years, the Enter President Nixon and his Secretary of Agri-
guests at their wedding celebration and then American farmer barely kept from losing his culture, Earl Butz. They realized that by relieving
look at junior’s class photo that’s hanging on the farm to “the bank” that had financed his seed. the domestic uncertainties, and sales of excess
wall in glowing color. No - it’s not your kid of Many of us were hungry. Read John Steinbeck’s food via export, the USA could become the
course - but so many of his or her classmates! novels! In the cities the Depression brought the “bread basket of the world” and they changed
There he goes again, George the Alarmist! Didn’t song: “Yes, we have no Bananas”, although in the government policies to foster more and more
he write about smoking a few columns ago and 1930’s a banana cost only 2 cents. Our grandpas production. The years, 1971 to 1974 changed
about Global Warming? What’s the matter with worked hard to keep their jobs and grandpa ex- agriculture forever. Butz brought down tariff
him?! Can’t he ever leave well enough alone, pected grandma to pay attention to the kids and barriers around the world by negotiation and
politely? have some kind of home cooked meal ready for by 1973- 1974, he personally made the nation’s
I challenge you. Read on!! him when he came home. Mom might have had largest ever grain sale to a Soviet Union suffer-
Just in the very short last few years the media credit at the local butcher or grocer until next ing from a bad harvest and planned economy
and our government discovered the obesity cri- pay day. Very few people were fat under such breakdown.
sis conditions. There was no refrigerator to store By 1980, Butz had presented the American con-
THE STATISTICS OF THE GIRTH food in, only a small ice-box. What was bought sumer the greatest and richest food supplies any
• 65% of American adults are overweight daily was consumed and not stored. nation had ever enjoyed in recorded history. Cheap
• 30% are obese abundance and tasty calories were there for
• According to the American Obesity Asso- THE CHANGE IN FARMING AND THE everyone and agribusiness was making money
ciation and the Centers for Disease Control and RISE OF A FOOD INDUSTRY as well. Everybody was happy, and most voted
Prevention: In actual figures rather than The 1940s brought the war and farmers rose to Republican in gratitude. It was time to eat – and
percentages, under 27 million Americans the challenge of feeding war ravaged England as enjoy – and eat more!
are overweight: 60 million Americans are well as its own large army. Automobile plants
obese: 9 million Americans are severely turned to making war planes and many moms CALORIES
obese: 12% of us were obese in 1991, and turned into “Rosie the Riveter” replacing the What is a calorie? Just so you know – it is the
by year 2000 the figure almost doubled to men drafted into the army. amount of energy that’s needed to raise the
21%. With the war over, and some growth of scien- temperature of a litre of water by one degree.
How did all this happen so quickly, quietly and tific farming and the growth of pesticides, there Basically every calorie you take in has to be
unnoticed? also came consolidation of family farms into eliminated by energy you use up. Whatever you
As I look down at my personal belly that joined larger holdings and saw the start of “agribusi- don’t burn will appear somewhere in your body,
me some years ago when I reached the age of ness”. Factory-like production of foodstuffs and probably your belly, your thighs or your hips.
80, I must compromise between being a sophis- livestock developed and became the rule and Let’s return to the grandparents again: With-
ticated gourmet and the horrifying facts which overabundance of food conquered memories out a snow blower, they had to shovel the snow.
I did not know and really only learned in the of scarcity and hunger. Post-war expansion of Without a lawnmower they had to cut the grass.
last few years. Yes, I compromised but at least I roads, transportation and housing became a Junior walked to school maybe a half mile. Today
was lucky to have grown into adulthood in the self-fulfilling dream of homes, shopping centers children take school buses. Shopping is done by
Garden of Eden of Innocence at another time and suburbia was born and grew and grew. The car because the malls are too far. Production
before the food industry became powerful. To- age of convenience and luxuries had begun and labor done by manual exertion in a factory has
day’s generations have it much harder to protect American production genius provided widely been replaced by the information technology
themselves and their kids and families. advertised new cars, television sets, cameras, and the Internet that even removes the need to
If you have not started your personal battle crop dusters, modern heating, air conditioners expand energy by pounding typewriter keys and
yet – I hope this column will serve as a call to and automatic dishwashers and washing ma- sits you down for many hours in front of your
arms! chines. To purchase all these wonderful good- computer – I think you see what I mean…
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