Healthy snacks...hmmmm, where do I begin? Celery sticks are the first thing that come to mind, but who wants to break into a sweat while washing and chopping all of those stalks? Ditto for carrots...all that peeling and cutting...I definitely don't have the time in my already jam-packed schedule to mess with kitchen prep, that's for sure.
Sure, pre-packaged, individual serving sized fruits and vegetables have been available in the grocery store for many years now - purportedly to get the general population to make more wholesome dietary choices -- but there's something inherently more desirable about reaching for snack packs of potato chips and cheese puffs. Crispy, satisfying, salty and savory - hey, and most of them just so happen to be vegetable in origin, too!
When it comes right down to it, deep fried veggie-derived junk food wins hands down over its fresh counterparts any day. Errr, think again. No matter how hard we try, we can't trick our bodies into processing junk food calories in the same way that healthy food calories are welcomed into our systems.
Taste wise, we are hardwired into gobbling up highly processed edibles because, let's face it, the chemical science behind the industry makes us weak at the knees. Beyond what happens in our mouths and brains is what happens at the cash register.
The perennially budget-friendly cost of the empty calorie items we indulge in makes us automatically reach for the Pop-Tarts over the organic peppers on a regular basis. So...let's see...we've got a predictable formula going on. Cheap + tasty + junk food = yes, please.
If healthy foods were suddenly cheaper, would we be as likely to welcome them into our lives? What if they were packaged just like the edible junk that we've grown so fond of?
Chinese designer Daizi Zheng is gambling on the predictability of our consumer culture with her aptly named Stereotype project. Instead of forcing the idea of healthy eating down our throats, she is demonstrating through her packaging overhaul that fighting our nature is not nearly as constructive as going with the flow.
Since we instinctually gravitate toward unhealthy food and dietary choices, she thinks that we would be more willing to consume wholesome options if they were packaged in the same way that our beloved junk is.
No one's saying that this is an eco-friendly way to overhaul our diet - in fact, it's horrific when you consider the type of absolutely extraneous materials that are typically used - such as blister packs and cellophane/cardboard combos - to serve up gum and other assorted snacks.
Nevertheless, she presents an intriguing proposal which bears examination - would healthy food wrapped in sheep's clothing seduce us into taking the plunge on a regular basis?
What are your thoughts?
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