An interesting thought came to me after a recent vacation in Taiwan: almost every restaurant and street stall is serving "whole foods"[0] to some extent whereas in the Western world, we've somehow elevated whole foods to a luxury item reserved for "farm-to-table" and high-end dining. From night markets to side street hole-in-the-wall restaurants, more than likely the produce and meats being served were purchased that day from the market.
Visit countries like Taiwan, Viet Nam, Thailand, Japan, Korea and you'll notice that even the foods that have a processed component often tend to be made by hand, on site, and day-of. Buy scallion pancakes from a street vendor? Very likely that the proprietor purchased the scallions from a market in the morning and made the dough that day. Those scallions came from a farm harvested that day or the day before.
I think part of this is due to lack of density in the US and the supply chain challenges of moving fresh produce across the vastness of the US. California being such a massive producer[1] of agricultural products means that we need a very sophisticated logistical network to move those goods and access to those goods is determined by this logistical network. This naturally leads to a consolidation of the food supply chain as we see in the US (Sysco, Conagra, etc.). Yet another part of it is the US car culture that affects our dining culture (again lack of density); we don't have access to markets and even if we do, those markets are probably only open a few days of the week. Part of it is general food culture and perhaps a more western expectation of "uniformity"[2] in food both in appearance and taste that favors processing. And some part of it might be a legacy from WWII and the rapid adoption of processed foods as a form of preservation and efficiency.
Not sure how to fix it, but I thought it was an interesting observation.
[0] I use "whole foods" here because there's a general consensus that processed foods exist on a spectrum: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Spectrum-of-processing-o... and "whole foods" simply refers to being biased towards unprocessed or minimally processed foods.
From what my friends in China tell me this is changing in a big way, mass produced foods are taking over for the labor in even small and unlicensed vendors. They're hitting some sort of economic threshold that we have in the USA where it's just cheaper for every diner to buy frozen from GFS than do it themselves.
It is indeed changing in countries like China for a variety of reasons.
Some of it being the pressure and pace of modern life. Some of it being western foods being perceived as a "luxury" item and status symbol (e.g. Starbucks). Some of it being changes in economics.
Anglo countries tend to be more biased towards wheat as a staple versus rice in the east. Whereas rice can be consumed in a minimally processed state, it's rare to see anyone consume wheat berries; it's almost always processed by striping the germ, grinding, bleaching, and then subsequent enriching. Pastas, pizzas, breads, burger buns, tortillas, flat breads -- all would be considered more on the processed end of the spectrum.
Likewise with cheeses and preserved meats; while still present historically in Asia, it is certainly not consumed at the same volume as in Anglo countries. Likely this has a basis in climate where techniques for processing and preserving food in the northern hemisphere is critical for civilization due to the shorter growing season and more extreme winters whereas the population dense parts of Asia tend to be in warmer climates that support year-round agriculture. (Preservation techniques also tend to differ as we examine cultures going northwards from the equator).
Perhaps the more apropos distinction is "wheat staple culture" versus "rice staple culture" (but that roughly aligns with the Anglo West and Asian East)
Its a systemic disease of greed that is causing larger and larger corporations in modern societies, while we are taught we [west] are a free market, false-capitalism from "wealthy states" is causing this rot across finance, food and healthcare across the globe.
Visit countries like Taiwan, Viet Nam, Thailand, Japan, Korea and you'll notice that even the foods that have a processed component often tend to be made by hand, on site, and day-of. Buy scallion pancakes from a street vendor? Very likely that the proprietor purchased the scallions from a market in the morning and made the dough that day. Those scallions came from a farm harvested that day or the day before.
I think part of this is due to lack of density in the US and the supply chain challenges of moving fresh produce across the vastness of the US. California being such a massive producer[1] of agricultural products means that we need a very sophisticated logistical network to move those goods and access to those goods is determined by this logistical network. This naturally leads to a consolidation of the food supply chain as we see in the US (Sysco, Conagra, etc.). Yet another part of it is the US car culture that affects our dining culture (again lack of density); we don't have access to markets and even if we do, those markets are probably only open a few days of the week. Part of it is general food culture and perhaps a more western expectation of "uniformity"[2] in food both in appearance and taste that favors processing. And some part of it might be a legacy from WWII and the rapid adoption of processed foods as a form of preservation and efficiency.
Not sure how to fix it, but I thought it was an interesting observation.
[0] I use "whole foods" here because there's a general consensus that processed foods exist on a spectrum: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Spectrum-of-processing-o... and "whole foods" simply refers to being biased towards unprocessed or minimally processed foods.
[1] https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/Statistics/PDFs/2022_Ag_Stats_Review...
[2] https://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-the-supermarket-helped-...