Ever Wondered Where Junk Food Came From?
The story of junk food emerged in tandem with these developments. It was created by the converging technologies of industrialization and mass food processing. In fact, the term ‘junk food’ itself first appeared in the middle of the 20th century, when we started specifically using this term to describe hyper-processed, calorie-rich, nutrient-poor foods high in sugars, fats, and salt. The mere idea that people might feast on less nutritious foods is as old as history itself. But prior to mass production and marketing, the purveyors of this ‘filth’ as Benjamin described it existed on the fringes of civilization, far from the busy hubbub of urban life.
Snack foods — foods first engineered by manufacturers to augment the preexisting habit of chewing sugar — were crucial to the diversification of junk food in the early decades of the 20th century. Frito-Lay, Nabisco, and other companies exploited the technologies of the era to develop potato chips, candy bars, and full-blown packages of cookies designed to ‘grab on the go’ and appease the palates of Americans who gave up meals in favor of snacks.
In the decades following the Second World War, the scale of junk food consumption dramatically increased owing to changes in how we live, how we advertise, and how food is supplied to the public. The ever-growing presence of television advertising and fast-food restaurants facilitated and accelerated junk food consumption, rendering it almost normative. Indeed, junk food has long been a defining feature of modern food culture; and as we see its ongoing commodification in this age of corporate supersizing and expanded food distribution, its increasingly problematic place in the food culture also is cause for great concern for public health and nutrition.
