Interesting link Oak on femnivores.

For me personally, I was never totally comfortable with the slow food movement and alot of the food trends. But I recognize for some people they need the structure of a "diet/food consumption" plan, to make some changes towards a healthier eating style.

We can extoll about the virtues of slow food movement, organic food choices, etc. : if it works and you can afford it, great. This would have never sat well with people who are poor, who have several children to feed (tell that to my parents for 6 children).

I would have never wished on my mother any slow food cooking methods nor organic food only. Yet, we hardly ate any processed food, alot of it was cooked from scratch and they didn't bother figuring out organic.. they just needed to save money and some time. (but not to the point of buying tv dinners which is way more expensive for a big family). They knew about pesticides, etc. But they don't gravitate towards organic...not now. They can't afford it. If something is local and cheap, they will buy it.

They like grocery stores with lots of fresh choice of veggies, fruits and meat. I know, I used to accompany my mother on grocery shopping to help her pull the grocery buggy home.. (we didn't have a car until I was 14 yrs.).

It IS a serious committment for parents to prepare healthy meals. Even as a teen , I heard my parents discuss food choices and preparation methods. We helped our mother by pointing out food price deals of the week when we read the local newspaper. But it was all done voluntarily on our part and very casually. My mother though saddled unhappily at times with a big family, was serious about feeding her family with the (centuries old) techniques and dishes that she and DAd knew were healthy for us.

There is balance that parents and ourselves must work towards: committment vs. dogma of our food eating choices. But for certain, parents lay a powerful, highly influential foundation for their children...both the good and the bad.