Opinion: The biggest challenge to forcing change in America’s diet: making it taste good
Cost isn’t the only barrier to a healthy diet. Taste is, too, writes Marc Siegel — and efforts to improve what America eats have to keep that in mind.
Back when I was a kid, two of my two favorite food items were Coca-Cola and soft ice cream. I spent hot summer evenings standing on long lines at the local Carvel, waiting for my coveted cola float. It took me many years to kick my addiction to soft ice cream and to transition my craving for soda to sparkling water, which delivered the bubbles my palate was expecting without the sugar and food coloring.
This addiction took a long time to develop and an even longer time to overcome, which is one of the reasons I am so sympathetic to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s announcement that the $113 billion Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits should not be used to purchase candy and soda. There is also the Healthy SNAP Act, reintroduced by Republicans to Congress in advance of Kennedy taking the reins at HHS, which would exclude soft drinks, candy, ice cream, and prepared desserts from being purchased by SNAP benefits. Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, Tennessee, and Utah have followed suit by introducing bills asking the federal government to bar junk food items from SNAP.
