I
was twelve years old the first time I stepped inside a restaurant.
The waitress asked if I wanted “soup or salad,” but I heard “super
salad” and said yes. She repeated the question twice more; each
time I responded affirmatively. Once he stopped laughing, my neigh-
bor, who had invited me there, translated.
Five years later, the first all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant opened two
towns away. For a set price, one could chow down on deep-fried battered
chicken, cuts of roast beef, heavy creamed soups, and decadent deserts.
From eating out, I was learning that proper nutrition was something
people preached but not necessarily practiced.
Two decades later, while working for USDA, I was invited to
Washington, DC, to learn more about the origin and execution of food
and agriculture policies. Joining me were two dozen other professionals
whose backgrounds spanned industry, government, and academia. One
was Laura Sims, at that time dean at the University of Maryland and
former administrator of the Human Nutrition Information Service
(HNIS) in USDA.Chapter 9 The Perfect Formula
People in this country eat what is set before them, asking no questions for economy’s sake
provided it suits their taste. We are a generation of sugar and fat eaters. The one-
sidedness of our dietary is a result of the one-sidedness of our agricultural production.
— W. O. Atwater, 89 Kevin D. Walker, The Grand Food Bargain: And the Mindless Drive for More,
DOI 10.5822/ 978-1-61091-948-7_9, © 2019 Kevin D. Walker.