justiceofkalr's review
4.0
Updating this review since I finished this book on the Kindle instead of Audio. This is a really good book without the narration to bug me. Which is weird because I usually like Scott Brick's narration.
Okay, the book itself is probably better than a two star book, but the audiobook on the other hand...
This narrator needed to chill out. He spoke every single thing in a super dramatic voice like he was doing one of those late night expose's about the shady side of the internet. He could be talking about the fact that the weather was sunny on the day when he went to interview so and so and he said it in such an over the top dramatic and ominous voice. It made it hard to pay attention when he actually was talking about something dramatic, like the incredibly high percentage of sugar in breakfast cereals. I couldn't take it anymore and won't be finishing this audiobook.
Okay, the book itself is probably better than a two star book, but the audiobook on the other hand...
This narrator needed to chill out. He spoke every single thing in a super dramatic voice like he was doing one of those late night expose's about the shady side of the internet. He could be talking about the fact that the weather was sunny on the day when he went to interview so and so and he said it in such an over the top dramatic and ominous voice. It made it hard to pay attention when he actually was talking about something dramatic, like the incredibly high percentage of sugar in breakfast cereals. I couldn't take it anymore and won't be finishing this audiobook.
yatosuz's review against another edition
4.0
It should come as no surprise to anyone that processed food is bad for you. Profit at the expense of health is also no surprise. It was nice to see that there are some in the food industry that genuinely want to improve their products, but faced with consumers that wants convenience that doesn't taste like crap, and want it "cheap," coupled with investors that want to make money... improving the products is a hard battle to fight. It's telling that so many of the scientists and executives that work(ed) in the industry won't consume the products they created/pushed.
mollywithcurls's review against another edition
3.0
Maybe it's because I have saturated myself with books about food giants, but I didn't find anything new or particularly fascinating about the content in this book.
glitterbomb47's review against another edition
3.0
I read the entire sugar section, part of the fat, and almost none of the salt. I think sugar is a big problem. Not so much fat. Haven't decided about salt yet. It did make me want to start making just about everything from scratch!
nglofile's review against another edition
4.0
An ideal combination of balanced, credible journalism and narrative pacing. It has changed the way I view products, food marketing, and my own choices -- all without over-senationalizing or shaming. This strikingly readable book is a perspective changer, and it is one that has potential for great impact.
audiobook note: Scott Brick works his usual magic of clarity, assurance, and intonation. He voices as one with authority but also mild incredulity -- the ideal proxy for the listener who can be simultaneously more informed and slightly appalled.
audiobook note: Scott Brick works his usual magic of clarity, assurance, and intonation. He voices as one with authority but also mild incredulity -- the ideal proxy for the listener who can be simultaneously more informed and slightly appalled.
attyintx's review against another edition
5.0
Should be required reading for anyone shopping at the grocery store!
cdlindwall's review against another edition
3.0
Long story short: a well-researched book about an important topic, although overall a bit dull.
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Salt, Sugar, Fat goes behind-the-scenes to confirm what many of us probably already knew: the giants of our processed food industry are into some dark, shady shit. It also confirms something else most of us already knew: virtually everything we buy in the middle aisles of our grocery store is terrible for you.
This book delves into the history, marketing techniques, and scientific breakthroughs behind processed food, which is increasingly chock-full of our three favorite ingredients — salt, sugar, and fat. It also correlates these food industry shifts with the meteoric rise in preventable, obesity-related disease.
The vast majority of modern processed foods have been stripped of nutrients and re-engineered in a high-tech laboratory to be as delicious and low-cost as possible. And, because of the obscene quantities of salt, sugar, and fat that have been added, they're almost all contributing to bad health. Food scientists have also added back in chemicals, compounds, and break-through versions of the foods we know best (ex: high-fructose corn syrup as a sugar alternative made from cheap, subsidized corn). The biggest food producers (Kraft, General Foods, Nestlé) have entirely re-structured the way our country eats, and not for the better. Most prized? Convenience, taste, and low-cost. Tossed aside? Nutrition and the delayed costs of health care.
Perhaps most infuriating, Moss describes the way the federal government has not only been complicit in creating our backwards food system, but has taken an active role in creating it. Legislators will continue to be in the pockets of billion-dollar industries, and that's something everyone should get fired up about.
Moss' interviews with top food execs are rare in their candor. The food industry, ranging from dairy producers to the innovators behind Lunchables, are often incredibly tight-lipped and secretive. These are billion-dollar PR machines, where every statement to the public is calibrated and in-line with a larger branding goal. To have a former top executive at Coke sit down and say he feels bad about marketing his product to poor areas of South America is a big, big deal.
In fact, I think one of the biggest, implicit questions Moss is really asking is: Are there moral implications to creating an incredibly unhealthy product that is nearly impossible to avoid for vulnerable demographics and then making an obscene amount of money by marketing the shit out of it?
Of course, I'm not vilifying the people who work as cogs in the food industry's machine, who need well-paying jobs like the rest of us, but rather the CEOs who have explicitly decided to choose this route instead of a brighter one. Why would that be your choice? (Some would say it was never really their "choice," because it's what sells.) Why not innovate to create something that both succeeds in the marketplace and is a force for good? Do you want the premature deaths of millions of Americans to be your legacy?
I am fired up about this issue, but this book gets just 3 stars for a few reasons. Most importantly, I thought it was dull. Although it was well-researched, thorough, and about an important problem, I found it more difficult to engage with than other books about similar topics.
But secondarily, I think Moss took too long (i.e. - the epilogue) to remind readers that we choose to participate in this system. Of course, I am excluding people who are in vulnerable situations (poor, uneducated about nutrition, etc.), but many who routinely consume processed foods have an option not to do so. It's not the easier option, obviously, but it's always there. At the end of the day, you can only point your finger at the big-bad food companies for so long before you take responsibility for the things you put in your mouth. And what's great is that once you decide to make smarter, healthier decisions about food, there are plenty of options there waiting for you. The market will make way for our preferences — it wants to provide what you want to buy. As I believe Michael Pollan says, we vote for the food system we want three times a day, with our forks. I'm not here to police food choices of those who have no interest to change, but for those asking for change, you can't also participate in the problem. And I'm not talking about Oreos every once in a while or even Lean Cuisines every night for dinner. The habits that have created billionaire, worldwide food Goliaths are chronic, ubiquitous, and extraordinarily indulgent. So if this book ignites a fire in you, feel empowered that this is one of the few systematic problems you are very much still in control over personally. And even if it took Moss until the epilogue to make this point, I think it's what he ultimately wanted this book to be — a tool to make us more aware and empowered consumers.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Salt, Sugar, Fat goes behind-the-scenes to confirm what many of us probably already knew: the giants of our processed food industry are into some dark, shady shit. It also confirms something else most of us already knew: virtually everything we buy in the middle aisles of our grocery store is terrible for you.
This book delves into the history, marketing techniques, and scientific breakthroughs behind processed food, which is increasingly chock-full of our three favorite ingredients — salt, sugar, and fat. It also correlates these food industry shifts with the meteoric rise in preventable, obesity-related disease.
The vast majority of modern processed foods have been stripped of nutrients and re-engineered in a high-tech laboratory to be as delicious and low-cost as possible. And, because of the obscene quantities of salt, sugar, and fat that have been added, they're almost all contributing to bad health. Food scientists have also added back in chemicals, compounds, and break-through versions of the foods we know best (ex: high-fructose corn syrup as a sugar alternative made from cheap, subsidized corn). The biggest food producers (Kraft, General Foods, Nestlé) have entirely re-structured the way our country eats, and not for the better. Most prized? Convenience, taste, and low-cost. Tossed aside? Nutrition and the delayed costs of health care.
Perhaps most infuriating, Moss describes the way the federal government has not only been complicit in creating our backwards food system, but has taken an active role in creating it. Legislators will continue to be in the pockets of billion-dollar industries, and that's something everyone should get fired up about.
Moss' interviews with top food execs are rare in their candor. The food industry, ranging from dairy producers to the innovators behind Lunchables, are often incredibly tight-lipped and secretive. These are billion-dollar PR machines, where every statement to the public is calibrated and in-line with a larger branding goal. To have a former top executive at Coke sit down and say he feels bad about marketing his product to poor areas of South America is a big, big deal.
In fact, I think one of the biggest, implicit questions Moss is really asking is: Are there moral implications to creating an incredibly unhealthy product that is nearly impossible to avoid for vulnerable demographics and then making an obscene amount of money by marketing the shit out of it?
Of course, I'm not vilifying the people who work as cogs in the food industry's machine, who need well-paying jobs like the rest of us, but rather the CEOs who have explicitly decided to choose this route instead of a brighter one. Why would that be your choice? (Some would say it was never really their "choice," because it's what sells.) Why not innovate to create something that both succeeds in the marketplace and is a force for good? Do you want the premature deaths of millions of Americans to be your legacy?
I am fired up about this issue, but this book gets just 3 stars for a few reasons. Most importantly, I thought it was dull. Although it was well-researched, thorough, and about an important problem, I found it more difficult to engage with than other books about similar topics.
But secondarily, I think Moss took too long (i.e. - the epilogue) to remind readers that we choose to participate in this system. Of course, I am excluding people who are in vulnerable situations (poor, uneducated about nutrition, etc.), but many who routinely consume processed foods have an option not to do so. It's not the easier option, obviously, but it's always there. At the end of the day, you can only point your finger at the big-bad food companies for so long before you take responsibility for the things you put in your mouth. And what's great is that once you decide to make smarter, healthier decisions about food, there are plenty of options there waiting for you. The market will make way for our preferences — it wants to provide what you want to buy. As I believe Michael Pollan says, we vote for the food system we want three times a day, with our forks. I'm not here to police food choices of those who have no interest to change, but for those asking for change, you can't also participate in the problem. And I'm not talking about Oreos every once in a while or even Lean Cuisines every night for dinner. The habits that have created billionaire, worldwide food Goliaths are chronic, ubiquitous, and extraordinarily indulgent. So if this book ignites a fire in you, feel empowered that this is one of the few systematic problems you are very much still in control over personally. And even if it took Moss until the epilogue to make this point, I think it's what he ultimately wanted this book to be — a tool to make us more aware and empowered consumers.
rlk7m's review against another edition
5.0
Understanding the studies and trickery behind the foods in the middle of the grocery store made this an excellent read.
katie01lynn's review against another edition
4.0
This book will stay with me for a long time. Eye opening, for sure.