http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kelly-maclean/surviving-whole-foods_b_3895583.html
For this weeks lead blog post, I thought I would change things up a little, and not write about a video clip. I will therefore be talking about a funny article on the store ‘Wholefoods”, that I once read in a magazine. Food has always been of an importance in my life; especially since I play sport I am always hungry! However, recent trends, and a growth in the health sector of the food industry, intrigued me and I soon became hooked on the latest ‘superfood’ that is supposedly meant to make you ‘healthy’. Wholefoods is supposedly the biggest health food retailer, and luckily for me one opened up around the corner from my house. Sadly however, this led to a huge hole in my wallet, but as long as it makes me healthy that’s ok, right? This is a common conception and I’ve heard many of my friends refer to the store by saying, “Whole foods, whole pay-check.”
I found this article very funny, as it is an exaggerated
depiction of a classic trip to Wholefoods. I think you will only find this
remotely humorous if you can relate to this sort of experience. It made me
realise that no matter how stupid a certain fad diet is, nonetheless we are
willing to pay a lot of money to buy these expensive health foods even though
we have no idea what the foods are actually doing to us. All it takes is a
so-called ‘expert’ to tell you that a certain tea will make your skin glow and
a large price tag on the packet. Regardless of the fact that it tastes like
“rotten tea” and costs $20, us naïve humans will still buy and drink it. I also
found the way MacLean compared Wholefoods to Vegas extremely amusing because
when I went to Wholefoods with my friend we were walking up and down the isles
completely overwhelmed with all the different options of organic granola and
dried fruit. We left the store an hour and $200 later (but just as healthy as
when we came in) with smiles on our faces, but our bank accounts were crying.
Nowadays many people believe that they have certain
intolerance but really this is just a fashion and a resemblance of your wealth.
Like the article says “have you ever heard of a cleaner with celiac disease?” The
answer is no, because only the well off can afford to believe they have a
certain intolerance that makes them feel special. I found the extremities of
some of the beliefs about health foods humorous. The fact that they call normal
bread “poison” is ridiculous, when people have been eating it for hundreds of
years and been absolutely fine is. This article picks up on how ignorant we are,
in the fact that we are willing buy anything that is sold to us as “good for
you” without knowing any of the true facts. I think that if I had to put the
reason I laughed down to one of the theories it would be relief theory. I
laughed because I was glad I could relate that person in the exact situation.
Just to show that comedy is never far away from ANY topic, South Park just recently took some swipes at Whole Foods, along with the other pretentious aspects of culture that go along with it.
ReplyDeleteOther than the choice of celiac disease--which is actually a real and very deadly illness, not an affectation like its milder counterpart "gluten intolerance," which is what the author no doubt really means--the article is quite hilarious and on target. I wonder why, though, we still spend the money, even if we don't really believe in the promises? Why did you?
Zizek likes to quote a joke and extend the lesson: the joke goes something like, a man goes to a doctor believing he's a piece of grain and that chickens are trying to eat him. After a while, he's cured, but still reels in terror from chickens. When the doctor asks him why, since he now knows he's not a grain, he says--sure, I know I'm not a grain, but does the chicken? Zizek sees this joke as an apt description of a wide variety of phenomenon in which people engage in things even though they aren't sure they believe in them, and Whole Foods may be the best example yet.