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Why Twinkies are so cheap
A new video from CALPIRG explains how agricultural subsidies make unhealthy processed edible products much cheaper than real, organic food.
Wed, Jul 20 2011 at 10:47 PM
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UNHEALTHY SHADE OF GREEN: Do green Twinkies look edible to you? (Photo: bunchofpants/Flickr)
Longtime readers know I have a slight obsession with Twinkies — not with eating them, but with grossing myself out about what's in them. To me, Twinkies symbolize the worst of American food culture — which is full of cheap, overprocessed, synthetic edible food-like substances that are strongly linked to obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
Well, apparently, CALPIRG — a nonprofit that tackles environmental and other progressive issues — feels the same way about Twinkies. The nonprofit's put together a video explaining just why Twinkies are so cheap. How could a super-processed, heavily branded, overpackaged product made with dozens of ingredients be cheaper than a carrot that can simply be pulled out of the ground?
The short answer is farm subsidies. Unfortunately, those two words that often make people's eyes glaze over — which is why CALPIRG's put together this short video to give you the skinny:
Watch it to find out why high fructose corn syrup is in so many products in supermarket aisles — and why it's so much tougher to eat well on a budget than to eat horrendously.
Want a world where carrots can compete with Twinkies on price? CALPIRG lets you easily send a letter to your senators asking to end the subsidies that make unhealthy food dirt cheap. Environmental Working Group has a Farm Subsidies Database that lets you see at a glance where all this subsidy money is going — as well as a written primer on farm subsidies if you'd like more of the nitty gritty details after watching the CALPIRG video.
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I agree, eating healthy can be affordable if you buy in season, buy basics like potatoes, carrots, celery, broccoli, (sooo many veggies are super cheap) eggs, rice, flour, pasta noodles and buying meat only on sale. the thing is, you have to prepare your food....and thats the part folks aint interested in doing anymore, so if you aint interested in preparing food for scratch or near scratch then be prepared to pay more for your food. also, twinkies rock!!
Eliminate subsidies means ruins USA economy? It's just the opposite!
if you actually knew anything about farming and agriculture you would realize why people in cities do not get fresh carrots. unless those are grown near them by local farmers its not possible to get this produce. yes farm subsidies are outdated and lopsided but you don't need to make the cheap unhealthy foods more expensive, you need to make the healthy food cheaper and more accessible. don't try to ruin our economy maybe try to strengthen it first just get yourself informed