Living to Eat

Eating to live seems to be the philosophy of the vast majority of North Americans, as well as increasing numbers of people elsewhere. For me, this is a sad state of affairs because it encourages unhealthy eating habits and deprives people of the benefit that cooking brings. Convenient foods are expensive, unhealthy, less tasty, and environmentally damaging compared to the foods that they are replacing, and they don't save all that much time. Quick, prepared meals cause stress, not only by focusing on saving time rather than enjoying life, but also by making cooking a chore rather than a leisurely activity, as well as removing quality time that can be spent with your family. From my perspective, a lot of people's priorities are messed up. I think many people could become much happier if they put more effort into eating well.

There's a trade-off between eating well and saving a small amount of time. For me, this trade-off falls far to the side of eating well, mostly because I am an elitist much prefer homemade food and have lots of spare time. For my friend Zach, it falls to the side of saving time, because he has less spare time and much different tastes. Obviously, it makes sense for Zach to eat more prepared food and for me to eat more homemade food. So why did I say that people could become happier by cooking more of their own food, when Zach is fine with what he eats? A lot of people don't know that cooking can be simple, quick, and delicious, rather than expensive and unhealthy prepared food. A lot of people think that saving time will make them less stressed, when really they need to reshuffle their priorities. I'm not bothered by the concept of fast food, but I am bothered by ignorance of the consequences of eating fast food.