What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat

by Aubrey Gordon

Farm Bill, whose 2018 renewal ran at over 1,200 pages, subsidized the production of foods that ran directly counter to the PHS recommendations.7 First passed in 1933, the Farm Bill aimed to standardize and steady food prices during and after the Great Depression by offering financial rewards in the form of subsidies to farmers who grew so-called “commodity crops.” Today, those commodity crops include wheat, corn, rice, and soybeans—top ingredients in higher-calorie, lower-nutrient, shelf-stable foods like sugary beverages, chips, and candy bars. Notably, fresh fruits and vegetables are not considered commodity crops, nor are lean proteins, ensuring that healthier foods will remain at a higher price point, reserving the privilege of health for those with the income to support it. While the Farm Bill ostensibly aims to serve consumer interests, the federal government’s left hand aggressively deprioritizes the public health interests promoted by its right. Instead, regardless of its initial intent, the Farm Bill functionally lines the pockets of companies like Frito Lay, Coca-Cola, and other corporate food purveyors. The majority of those same corporations rely on low-wage labor, which means that often their workers are also their consumers. As it happens, over the last fifty years, Americans’ food intake has continued to drift further from the PHS’s nutrition recommendations. While we eat slightly more vegetables and fruit than we used to, we still fall dramatically short of...