Response to Stephanie's Post

I don't know why I can't post a comment to Stephanie's blog, so the following is my comment:

I think there is a fundamental difference between food practices in the 30s and today. People were protesting that food was too expensive to buy during the Great Depression, whereas today, some people are upset that food is unhealthy. Why we won't see protests on the scale of the 30s regarding food is that today's food is cheap, and especially during a recession, cheap is good. It is no surprise to the success of dollar menus in every fast food franchise. The food may be unhealthy, but I can afford it. On the other hand, if I want healthy food, I have to pay Whole Foods prices. The percentage of the population that can afford to pay high prices for food is small. Will people protest high prices on certain foods when others are incredibly cheap? There has been outrage about fast food since Supersize Me, Fast Food Nation, and Food Inc., yet we have seen no major changes. Maybe that is some evidence that the old ways of mobilizing people have changed, or evidence that the socialization power of mass media have so thoroughly convinced us that more consumption is better that we don't fight back.