Welcome to Snacky Bits and your March roundup of nutrition in the news. Thanks to the Discord fam who shared some of these links. (And if you’re not in the Discord yet, come join us here).
Marks and Spencer released a new range of 'clean cereals' with some products containing as little as 1 ingredient. Each product in the range contains 6 ingredients or less and also includes a four-pack of white sourdough bread rolls with 5 ingredients. The cereals play directly into the fears of the middle-class worried well who are opting to eschew ultra-processed food BECAUSE THEY CAN AFFORD TO CARE ABOUT THIS SHIT. M&S 1-ingredient cornflakes are literally double the price per 100g than Kellogg's. But get this right, the M&S cereals aren't fortified with key nutrients like iron that can be low in the population. If you have a selective eater on your hands and thought that these look like a 'healthier' option, then think again. I've said it before, I'll say it again: there are lots of things killing us - THE CEREAL IS NOT IT.
But anyway, congratu-fucking-lations Chris. I hope you're happy now.
Tacit mother blaming? Euthenics undertones? Scapegoating the food industry while the state is systematically dismantling any remnants of a safety net? Projecting the author's own shit with food? It's all here. Honestly, well done Bee. It's quite a feat to be so unaware of how you're shaping societal evaluations of foodwork along classed and gendered lines. Bra-fucking-vo.
Thank Sweet Baby Jesus for Chloe Laws writing a thoughtful take on vile ‘Chubby Filter AI’ and ‘Skinny Filter AI’ trends that are creating a wave of body shaming on social platforms. Predictably, the 'skinny' filter is being used as 'motivation' and 'encouragement' to keep committing to the project of thinness. Whilst the 'chubby' filter is being used as a 'cautionary tale'. Online commentators have been understandably distressed at the brazen anti-fatness of the chubby filter and subsequent body shaming. But in defense, The Thins have cried 'skinny shaming is real too'. Except the thing is, the former dehumanises an entire group of people. And the latter is, shitty, yes. But claiming it's on the same level as structural violence is false equivalency. All stuff most readers will know, but just nice to see something that isn't riddled with anti-fatness for a change.
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