The effects of over production manifests itself as mega portions and over consumption.
Asian cultures have always looked at the North American culture as "big" - extra-large eggs, big cars, mega highways, huge bags of potatoes chips, and of course, big people.
This cultural characteristic of abundance can be seen in over consumption of corn whiskey in 19th century. A nation wide drinking binge, downing pints of the hard liquor at one sitting. The author encourage the parallel between the drinking binge and the current eating binge.
Both cases, they were dealing with turning excess corn into a non-perishable form, and encourages people to have more of it. There is also a play of human psychology here: people will usually finish whatever that's put in front of them (this may be a product of parents teaching their kids to "finished their food", be it spaghetti to vegetable, which the kids may not like; hence kids will grow up to having the urge to finish their plate.). Playing on yet another part of the human culture, gluttony of the seven deadly sin, the (fast) food industry found that increasing food portions gives people more food, and doesn't make the eater look bad by grabbing seconds.
source: Snarklist
The author points out that the ultimate sacrifice for indulging in all this cheap, over abundant process food: our health. Let's look at the statistics: a baby born in 2000 has
a one third chance of developing Type 2 diabetes in his or her lifetime (for an African American
kid, the chances are 2 in 5), thanks to High Density Corn Syrup contained in virtually every sweetened products. Three out of five Americans are considered overweight.
From another perspective, greed, another of the seven deadly sin here is at play as well. People are hungry for more calories per buck; hence the free choice of picking potato chips vs carrots is also at play here.
People continues to eat like this despite all the health warnings; partly because junk food tastes good. It is an instant gratification.
To conclude the chapter, the author places the blame of unhealthy Americans on their agricultural policies: “we subsidize high-fructose corn syrup in this country, but not carrots.” Until we change our policy, “the river of cheap corn will keep flowing.”
source: KG Studios Oakland
However, food source can not be solely be blamed for the American obesity frenzy. The lack of exercises to be blamed as well.
For example, a teacher in Edmonton followed the McDonald's diet made famous by the documentary "Super Size Me", and worked out six times a week. He ended up loosing weight, and a drop in blood pressure.
Article from CBC
We cannot place blame on just food alone; however, this is a good food for thought.
The term "junk food" was coined for a reason, and should take into account of "you are what you eat", then the implications are obivious...
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