When it's a "blueberry crunchlet!"
I like to think I'm a pretty savvy and skeptical shopper. Even so, I have to admit, I always assumed there were blueberries in there. Shows what happens when you don't read the fine print, I guess, and it happens to the best of us.
It turns out that most things you buy at the grocery store which ostensibly contain blueberries, do not actually contain blueberries. For example Frosted Mini Wheats Blueberry Muffin cereal does not contain blueberries but "blueberry crunchlets" which are "defined as a mix of sugars, soybean oil, red #40 and blue #2."
This makes sense, though. It's not like you can freeze-dry blueberries and put them in pre-packaged cereal. OH WAIT YOU TOTALLY CAN DO THAT.
These blueberry crunchlets highlight another problem with pre-packaged mass-market consumer food: what experts call the "hyper-real" nature of artificial foods. Compared to an actual freeze-dried blueberry, I bet a blueberry crunchlet is sweeter and has a more vibrant colors. And that becomes our standard: sweetness and vibrant colors.
Who's the loser in this? We are, because it's also a bunch of artificial nonsense that contributes nothing to your health, and may actually be harmful. And because every time someone eats a blueberry crunchlet, they become more inclined to eat something like a blueberry crunchlet - made and marketed and copyrighted by Kelloggs - than a real blueberry.
Blueberry crunchlets no doubt represent the pinnacle of food science. It's just a pity that all that effort was put into the service of what Michael Pollan calls "edible food-like substances."
An entire generation of kids is being raised on things like blueberry crunchlets. To say nothing of being cajoled into eating some kind of fiber by the addition of frosting, and whatever constitutes the "muffin" part of "blueberry muffin flavor cereal."
Blueberries, of course, are really good for you. You can buy a bag of frozen unsweetened blueberries for about $6 a pound in my part of the world. Doled out a handful at a time atop cereal or yogurt or oatmeal, that $6 will last you a while - and give you a great boost of nutrients, antioxidants, fiber, and vitamins. The same is true in slightly lesser terms for dried blueberries, and for products like Craisins.
I read recently that Walmart is piously pledging to reduce the cost of their fresh produce, in order to help America eat better. Well let me tell you something, the produce at Walmart is already pretty darned cheap. I don't think anyone is balking at the price of apples.
The problem with Walmart produce - and I say this as someone who has shopped a Walmart grocery section within the last two weeks - is that it's poor quality, and too little variety. No doubt the situation isn't helped by it being January at the moment, the year's worst month for produce. But man, those heads of lettuce looked sad. They only cost 99 cents, but they looked poor. The same went for the oranges (on sale for 38 cents apiece).
The sad truth is, you can barely give away produce in this country. Instead, we turn to blueberry crunchlets.
I like to think I'm a pretty savvy and skeptical shopper. Even so, I have to admit, I always assumed there were blueberries in there. Shows what happens when you don't read the fine print, I guess, and it happens to the best of us.
It turns out that most things you buy at the grocery store which ostensibly contain blueberries, do not actually contain blueberries. For example Frosted Mini Wheats Blueberry Muffin cereal does not contain blueberries but "blueberry crunchlets" which are "defined as a mix of sugars, soybean oil, red #40 and blue #2."
This makes sense, though. It's not like you can freeze-dry blueberries and put them in pre-packaged cereal. OH WAIT YOU TOTALLY CAN DO THAT.
These blueberry crunchlets highlight another problem with pre-packaged mass-market consumer food: what experts call the "hyper-real" nature of artificial foods. Compared to an actual freeze-dried blueberry, I bet a blueberry crunchlet is sweeter and has a more vibrant colors. And that becomes our standard: sweetness and vibrant colors.
Who's the loser in this? We are, because it's also a bunch of artificial nonsense that contributes nothing to your health, and may actually be harmful. And because every time someone eats a blueberry crunchlet, they become more inclined to eat something like a blueberry crunchlet - made and marketed and copyrighted by Kelloggs - than a real blueberry.
Blueberry crunchlets no doubt represent the pinnacle of food science. It's just a pity that all that effort was put into the service of what Michael Pollan calls "edible food-like substances."
An entire generation of kids is being raised on things like blueberry crunchlets. To say nothing of being cajoled into eating some kind of fiber by the addition of frosting, and whatever constitutes the "muffin" part of "blueberry muffin flavor cereal."
Blueberries, of course, are really good for you. You can buy a bag of frozen unsweetened blueberries for about $6 a pound in my part of the world. Doled out a handful at a time atop cereal or yogurt or oatmeal, that $6 will last you a while - and give you a great boost of nutrients, antioxidants, fiber, and vitamins. The same is true in slightly lesser terms for dried blueberries, and for products like Craisins.
I read recently that Walmart is piously pledging to reduce the cost of their fresh produce, in order to help America eat better. Well let me tell you something, the produce at Walmart is already pretty darned cheap. I don't think anyone is balking at the price of apples.
The problem with Walmart produce - and I say this as someone who has shopped a Walmart grocery section within the last two weeks - is that it's poor quality, and too little variety. No doubt the situation isn't helped by it being January at the moment, the year's worst month for produce. But man, those heads of lettuce looked sad. They only cost 99 cents, but they looked poor. The same went for the oranges (on sale for 38 cents apiece).
The sad truth is, you can barely give away produce in this country. Instead, we turn to blueberry crunchlets.
Photo credit: Flickr/Wally Hartshorn