<story><title>The Food of My Youth</title><url>https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/07/09/the-food-of-my-youth/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>joefourier</author><text>Why are stereotypical American &amp;quot;low-income&amp;quot; foods largely processed meats and junk food (e.g. boxed macaroni and cheese, spam, Vienna sausages), instead of staples like rice, oats, beans, lentils, etc. which also keep easily but are far more nutritious, tasty and just as cheap, if not cheaper on a per-calorie basis?&lt;p&gt;This is genuine curiosity, as I grew up in a region where the average income was much lower than the USA, but the food consumed by lower-income individuals was much healthier and fresher. We&amp;#x27;d eat things like red beans and rice, curries, acar (a type of spiced pickle) and often cook meat over wood fires to save money on gas for the oven.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dbatten</author><text>1) Cheap junk food is marketed, whereas cheap staples aren&amp;#x27;t. Basic white&amp;#x2F;brown rice is a commodity. There&amp;#x27;s no differentiation, and ultra-slim margins, so nobody&amp;#x27;s trying to market it to you. Easy Mac on the other hand...&lt;p&gt;2) Taste. To us adults (and mostly upper-middle class adults to boot) on HN, rice and beans may sound more appealing than cheap mac and cheese with mystery meat. Take a poll of 3-year-olds and you may get a different result.&lt;p&gt;3) Ease. Staples like rice and beans are only &lt;i&gt;really&lt;/i&gt; cheap when you&amp;#x27;re buying them in dry form, bulk. This means you need to season them and cook them, which can be a long process. (My wife and I recently tried to save on black beans by cooking ourselves rather than buying canned. The result was good, but by the time you chop onions for seasoning, add other ingredients, monitor the beans, drain and cool the beans, and wash the crock pot, cutting board, knife, various spoons and measuring implements, etc., well, it ends up being a lot of work.) If you&amp;#x27;re a single parent working two jobs to support your kids, 5 minutes of preparation is meaningfully better than even, say, 20 minutes of preparation.</text></comment>
<story><title>The Food of My Youth</title><url>https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/07/09/the-food-of-my-youth/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>joefourier</author><text>Why are stereotypical American &amp;quot;low-income&amp;quot; foods largely processed meats and junk food (e.g. boxed macaroni and cheese, spam, Vienna sausages), instead of staples like rice, oats, beans, lentils, etc. which also keep easily but are far more nutritious, tasty and just as cheap, if not cheaper on a per-calorie basis?&lt;p&gt;This is genuine curiosity, as I grew up in a region where the average income was much lower than the USA, but the food consumed by lower-income individuals was much healthier and fresher. We&amp;#x27;d eat things like red beans and rice, curries, acar (a type of spiced pickle) and often cook meat over wood fires to save money on gas for the oven.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tbomb</author><text>I think the reason is 2 part.&lt;p&gt;Part 1 being often these &amp;quot;junk&amp;quot; processed foods are cheaper to buy for more quantity. eg. a box of macaroni and cheese can feed a family of 4 on $2USD. Possibly mix in a couple hotdogs which on the cheaper end can cost under $5USD for 16. in the end your feeding a family of 4 dinner for under $5.&lt;p&gt;Part 2 being time. Typically in lower income families (I grew up on the low end of the &amp;quot;middle class&amp;quot;) both parents are working. my mother didn&amp;#x27;t have the time or energy to come home from and 8-10 hour work day and then cook for the next 90 minutes. that same box of macaroni and cheese (with hotdogs) can be made in ~30 minutes with little attention to it. and once my sister and I were old enough to help out, it was something we could do for her.&lt;p&gt;Thats my anecdotal and oversimplified answer anyway :)</text></comment>