NPR

OPINION: Why Ditching Processed Foods Won't Be Easy — The Barriers To Cooking From Scratch

Though a new study shows that eating unprocessed food is healthier, home-cooked meals require resources that food experts take for granted, such as money and time, the authors of a new book argue.
New research confirms what we've been hearing for years: Cooking from scratch and eating "real food" is healthier than consuming the highly processed foods that make up the majority of calories in the American diet. The problem is that knowing this doesn't make it any more doable for the average family.

This opinion piece is written by sociologists Sarah Bowen of North Carolina State University, Sinikka Elliott of the University of British Columbia and Joslyn Brenton of Ithaca College. They are the co-authors of Pressure Cooker: Why Home Cooking Won't Solve Our Problems and What We Can Do About It.

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants," Michael Pollan, one of America's most influential food writers,more than a decade ago. This pithy advice is perhaps the clearest distillation of a food philosophy that is so intuitive that it has become ubiquitous. To fix the problems in the food system, we need to consume whole, fresh foods grown on a farm rather

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from NPR

NPR12 min read
Chevron Owns This City's News Site. Many Stories Aren't Told
Chevron operates a major refinery in Richmond, Calif. It also owns the city's dominant news site, putting its own spin on events, and runs similar sites in Texas and Ecuador.
NPR2 min read
A Bus Plunges Off A Bridge In South Africa, Killing 45 People
An 8-year-old child is only survivor. The passengers were headed to an Easter festival before the bus plunged off a bridge on a mountain pass and burst into flames.
NPR3 min readIntelligence (AI) & Semantics
The White House Issued New Rules On How Government Can Use AI. Here's What They Do
The memo outlines how government agencies can implement artificial intelligence and requires that agencies have a chief AI officer.

Related