The creator of the Lunchables brand of processed foods won’t feed them to his own children because “we eat healthy”.
If there is anything that makes me sad, it’s the large number of students who have lunchboxes filled with items that qualify as chemistry experiments…not food.
The hugely popular Lunchables are perhaps the best-known example of the modern lab lunch.
They are truly an example of the industrialized food system gone horribly awry and a populace completely out of touch with how to nourish its children.
Highly processed, enticingly packaged creations target young children specifically. The nutrient-poor Lunchable comes in numerous combinations to suit any young, impressionable palate.
Examples of the dozens of different meal combo varieties include crackers, pizzas, small hot dogs, small burgers, nachos, subs, and pseudo-healthy wraps.
Manufacturers choose cheap meats that are frequently cut, filled, and extended with hormone-disrupting soy protein.
Further, they disguise this GMO frankenfood under a variety of confusing aliases.
Lunchables also can include an assortment of drinks and desserts. The beverage is commonly a GMO high fructose corn syrup laden Capri Sun or Tropical Punch flavored Kool-Aid mix with bottled water.
Desserts would be jello or pudding or a candy alternative, like Reese’s cups or Butterfingers.
I’ve often wondered how corporate executives who come up with these products live with themselves.
Now, thanks to author Michael Moss, author of the eye-opening book Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, now we know.
These people are in complete denial.
They truly believe they are doing the public a favor by providing cheap, convenience foods “fortified” with synthetic vitamins.
“We Eat Healthy”
Bob Drane, Lunchables inventor, whose own upper-middle-class children don’t eat what Daddy created for “other” children, had this to say:
I wish that the nutritional profile of the thing could have been better, but I don’t view the entire project as anything but a positive contribution to people’s lives.
Drane’s own daughter confessed: “We eat healthy (sic).”
Industry executives disgusted with this elitist, hypocritical approach to business are, unfortunately, not as common as those with their heads in the sand.
The lone example provided by Moss in his book is Jeffrey Dunn, a rapidly rising executive for Coca-Cola who rose almost to the top of the ladder. While working for Coke, he said he achieved peace of mind by simply not allowing himself to think about what he actually sold.
He changed his mind abruptly on a business trip to Brazil in 2001. Dunn’s marching orders from Coca-Cola were simple. Find the best way to push Coke on poor Brazilian kids living in the ghettos.
After that eye-opening trip, Dunn tried for 4 years to change Coke from the inside. Unsuccessful, he left the company, unable to stand the relentless marketing to the poor and Coke addicted a moment longer.
As consumers, we really should not be surprised by the behavior of the majority of Big Food executives.
After all, the job of marketing is to sell “lots of stuff and make lots of money”. This is the bottom line according to Sergio Zyman, marketing head of Coca-Cola during the 1990s.
It is up to us as parents to choose not to pack lab lunches for our children. We say “no” most effectively by withholding our food dollars.
A growing number of consumers buying their food consciously will, over time, force companies to consider the moral consequences of their products.
For some easy ideas to wean off Lunchables, here are some ideas on how to pack a healthy school lunch.
References
(1) Our Broken Food System
(2) Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us
That stuff is garbage. Shame on the creator for not striving to feed children higher quality food. Thank goodness plenty of other food companies do strive to do the right thing for our children.
Well, I hope my future child can get ‘status’ & ‘coolness’ from the largely home grown/made organic &/or biodynamic lunches I’ll be sending them to school with. I will love them too much to feed them that dna damaging crap.
Anyone know the name of the book written by the former Coke exec?
I would agree,a bit hypocritical. Kinda like Monsanto employees don’t eat anything they produce, and all of the rich people don’t eat any of the crap that we have to eat……
Go figure!
not surprized. i always had the impression that kids liked lunchables for the status of it. there are not a lot of things kids have that give them status/have a cool factor.
I LOVED those as a kid. I was always so excited when I would get to choose them for my field trips. Now, no thanks.
imagine that
The comment about his children reminds me about finding out that the Monsanto employees eat organic non-GMO in their corporate headquarters in DC.
This post jumped out at me because I just posted a healthy lunchbox item! It’s horrifying to see what people are buying for their children and what Big Ag and Big Food are selling to the children!