>Instead, we are brainwashed to believe that meat is bad, unlimited
>amounts of pasta are good. I visited America recently, and the utter
>deluge of packaging that proudly proclaims FAT-FREE! is even more
>unbelievable there than in Canada, where it is bad enough.

I have only lived in America for 18 months and, believe me, it was a
gastronomical culture shock for me. At first I was mainly eating out . I
really struggled to find, what I thought , to be real food, like meat and
vegetables.  The old traditional square meal. I figured that the food
offered was merely the response to the pressure of advanced capitalism. A
bean burrito selling for $5 and costing 50c to make, easily beats a steak
costing $5 to make. Throw in the refrigeration for the premises and the
storage time limits for meat compared to beans and there you have it.  Add
to that the risk of litigation for food poisoning and the added risk
inherent in perishable meats and you kill the market.  Factor in,  that to
raise wheat, you sow, spray and harvest, and  to raise a cow, you have
potential birth complications, diseases, herding, winter sheds, slaughtering
, medications, and  feeding . That leaves us with the bean burrito and bad
health. The cycle is then perpetuated and reinforced by advertising.  There
are no black helicopters and conspiracies. There is only the market and the
profit and the consumer. The consumer will one day reach the point where he
will question why he is obese and needs bypass surgery after he reaches
fifty, and he will figure that he is being sold a lie. Until then, things
will remain the same.

Gary