Gastronomical Gimmicks

Many people aim to eat healthily and take pride in a bonus nutrient they can sneak into a snack or smoothie. Vitamins are an old trophy for the health eater. Calcium supplements are newer additions to people’s diets. Today, there is an obsession with novel additions to people’s eating habits. Most of these “wholesome” and “beneficial” ingredients were unheard-of ten years ago.
True, the study of biochemistry and vitamins and minerals has greatly advanced in the last decade. However, it seems like every tomato farmer and soy bean agriculturalist knows more about what’s good for consumers’ livers and digestive tracts than veteran doctors.
This morning’s cereal boxes advertised more iron and calcium and zinc and aluminum and tin and lithium and nickel, vitamins and everything good. Of course, it didn’t advertise its 9g of highly-processed sugar. One can picture a mother feeling very accomplished when she feeds her toddler a “nutritious” breakfast, feeding him so that he can grow big and strong. "Strong" is a doubtful outcome of that meal, but "big"—horizontally, that is—is quite likely.
About five years ago Heinz Ketchup® changed its whole look to accommodate a new label advertising the “powerful antioxidant lycopene.” Many consumers who had never before heard of such a nutrient wondered why no doctor had ever told them that they would eventually rust were it not for a daily dose of ketchup.
More recently the whole grains campaign took flight. A sudden awareness of being cheated out of baked products for thousands of years maddened consumers and brought them to demand the complete grain and not just some rip-off portion of it.
Newest, however, is soymilk’s benefits. In today’s age of rampant vegan lifestyles, the popularity of non-dairy alternative to cows’ milk has soared. Soymilk can taste good, whether one believes it or not. But the best part of soymilk is undoubtedly its isoflavenoids. Microsoft Word spellchecker doesn’t even recognize the word. Most consumers of soymilk presumably have no idea what the aforementioned “nutrients” are or what their function is. However, the drinker of such a product is entitled to feel quite self-righteous for taking such good care of his or her body.
The fish market has also recently experienced a boost after the invention—discovery, that is—of omega-3 fish oils. One must figure that if something bears a name which is the combination of a Greek letter and a number, connected by a dash, it must pose invaluable health benefits to the body. Perhaps it does, but one must suspect that the greater benefits go to the fishermen who recently suffered the mercury-in-the-tuna scandal.
Instead of mowing lawns and shoveling walks, the entrepreneur should just discover a new food item with health benefits. And if the benefit is unknown, or doesn’t actually exist, he or she can follow in the footsteps of every other nutritionist and claim that it helps the heart.
Perhaps these substances really do help one’s physique and health. Nevertheless, more nourishing than the alleged benefits of all these dietary enhancements is the release of endorphins prompted by the consumer upon discovering that yet another healthy ingredient has been found in chocolate or schmaltz herring.