This past week I stumbled up on an article on the New York Times written by Jim Windolf, titled ‘Why Everything Is Bad for You.’ The author discusses how freaked out America (and even the whole world) is in regards to food. It feels like everyday there’s a new article about the danger of a specific food, especially ones that are popular or essential to our diets. The author points out the ridiculousness of how much emphasis Americans put on the negative things in their diets. But in my opinion, maybe we should.

Windolf talks about how he just wants to eat his bologna, American cheese, Wonder Bread, and margarine, but those darn American writers keep complaining about how much bad stuff is in our food, especially processed food. And they are right; our food is terrible for us. It’s not just a psychological problem; those darn American writers are definitely correct. We have a right to complain; Windolf insinuates that it is our problem and we are worrying too much, but something is definitely wrong with our food.

There are so many articles about what’s wrong with our food, which Windolf links, but nothing is happening to fix our food. It’s very expensive to eat food that isn’t all processed, sugary, fatty foods. Windolf also brings up the environmental impact of our foods (e.g. a single almond might use over a gallon of water to produce), which makes the selection available in our grocery stores even smaller. Last year I watched a documentary called Food Inc, which exposed the many problems of the food industry, particularly its treatment of animals. I never buy from Purdue or Tyson now. It’s almost impossible to eat food that is good for not only a human but the earth, too.

The question I ask Windolf and the food companies that run the American government is this: why do you want ME to stop complaining? This isn’t a psychological problem (for the most part), this is a problem with how America produces our food. There are ups and downs of the government controlling our economy and the food industry, but big business is currently controlling our government. One of the facts of Food Inc stood out to me: In the 1970s, the top five beef packers controlled about 25% of the market. Now, the top four control more than 80%.

The facts are there, but people like Windolf and the food industry are just acting like we’re complaining. We have a right to complain, but why aren’t they doing anything?