Guess which country has the most ultra processed food as a share of household purchases?

MayBee70

Strangely enough I saw a similar chart showing sugar consumption and England’s consumption is quite low compared to many countries. ( I think it was England and not the UK but I could be wrong) which quite surprised me.

We're not allowed by Government diktat so children have to consume aspartame instead which is far worse.

Didn't people ever give their chilren fish fingers, beans, tinned tuna, sardines on toast, welsh rarebit and things of that kind then ???

MissAdventure

Didn't people ever give their chilren fish fingers, beans, tinned tuna, sardines on toast, welsh rarebit and things of that kind then ???

You’ve just described my usual diet there…

MissAdventure

Didn't people ever give their chilren fish fingers, beans, tinned tuna, sardines on toast, welsh rarebit and things of that kind then ???

Yes of course we all did MissA and tinned spaghetti, Frosties angel delight and the crème de la crème Vesta Curry

Can we have a link to the paper please?

I've seen it referenced in a Soil Association paper but can't see a link.

Thank you.

Allira

^still contains ingredients our grandmothers would not recognise as food^

My Grandma, born in the 1870s, would not recognise an advocado, mango, garlic, rice as an accompaniment rather than a pudding, plus many ingredients we take for granted now.

Your grandmother may well never have seen advocado, mango or garlic, but I am sure she would recognise them as food, not chemicals or soap or washing soda. I eat a lot of food now that I would not have recognised as a child.

By the way Michael Pollan is an eminent American food writer who first alerted the world to the debasement of modern food and the dangers to human health. I did not expect his name to be recognised, but wherever possible I give sources for quotes.

The addition of aspartame to drinks when sugar was removed means that most soft drinks arenow sweeter than they were before the sugar tax.

This is known as an unintended consequence. At the time the government said that removing sugar would make drinks less sweet and people would gradually become accustomed to food that was less sweet

Another unintended consequence was to drastically reduce the range of soft drinks available to people who can taste sweeteners in food - and do not like them, or who get headaches if they consume too much aspartame and too much can be very little.

I do not particularly enjoy alcoholic drinks and used to drink soft drinks when out or at social occasions. I am now reduced to drinking water or alcohol, and even fizzy water gets boring after the second glass.

No such thing as Vesta anything when I was a child. Just about everything except baked beans was cooked from scratch. My mother would hardly ever even buy biscuits. Not that there was much in the way of UPFs then.

A Vesta Paella was my occasional treat for myself as a student, when marginally less skint than usual.

MissAdventure

Didn't people ever give their chilren fish fingers, beans, tinned tuna, sardines on toast, welsh rarebit and things of that kind then ???

Nothing UPF about tinned tuna, sardines, the makings of welsh rarebit or a decent slice of baker's bread. Beans and fish fingers are marginal

But no one is suggesting our food should be UPF free, just that we should eat less.

I always found that cooking from scratch was less hassle than eating ready meals, where several were needed to feed a family of four and most taste horrible until extra ingredients and flavour are added to them - and you still need to cook the vegetables, whether fresh or frozen.

Ah, yes.
I've never known anyone to feed their family separate ready meals for each member.

That would be mad, as well as expensive.

Dinahmo please could you tell me where uou found the Amazing Maps info?

I've googled them but can't see the info you've posted about in the opening post.
Thank you.

MissAdventure

Didn't people ever give their chilren fish fingers, beans, tinned tuna, sardines on toast, welsh rarebit and things of that kind then ???

Perish the thought! Only organic home grown quinoa and milk from home reared goats, in between weaving their clothes from the goat hair!

All out in their S'Westers.. fishing in a stormy sea...

"Morning Pat, fish fingers for lunch, is it?"

What point is the OP making?
That we’re all unhealthy and fat, if we live in the UK?
But not if we live in France?
Just asking.

I want to know the methods used for info gathering...
Please come back Dinahmo

I expect the point is that we do eat ultra processed food, despite what we say, petal53.

These are the the figures for Europe, if you include the USA you'll find they top the charts by a long way.

Allira

^still contains ingredients our grandmothers would not recognise as food^

My Grandma, born in the 1870s, would not recognise an advocado, mango, garlic, rice as an accompaniment rather than a pudding, plus many ingredients we take for granted now.

Just as a matter of interest, my grandma would have recognised all of those except possibly garlic. She was born and brought up in the West Indies. Avocado was known as 'poor man's butter' (it grows everywhere on very big trees), mangoes are common and rice was a staple.

In fact, given the size of the Empire and the huge variety of foods experienced by British settlers, soldiers and administrators I suspect that many of our grandparents would have been more familiar with foods like that than we give them credit for. They just couldn't buy them in the UK.

"Dinahmo

The UK is the highest at 50.7%......"

Maybe, but fortunately Wes Streeting is rolling out weight reducing injections on the NHS for all fatties so they can get back to work.

Grandmabatty

You need Mediterranean weather for a Mediterranean diet, I suppose. Where I live-scotland - it's too blooming cold and dreich for a truly, plant based, healthy diet. Porridge, unless it's the prepackaged sort and warming stews and casseroles are the order of the day. I suppose there's fish, but it needs to be served with chips 😂
I am being a tad light hearted

I lived in Spain for many years. Whilst El Pais and other Spanish newspapers frequently ran self congratulatory articles on how healthy the Spanish diet was, full of fruit and vegetables, my own observation was that what Spaniards really tucked into were vast slabs of pork floating in seas of lard. Quite doable in Scotland, I think!

orly

"Dinahmo

The UK is the highest at 50.7%......"

Maybe, but fortunately Wes Streeting is rolling out weight reducing injections on the NHS for all fatties so they can get back to work.

What are they rolling out for fat pensioners, do you know?

M0nica

Its the people in front, and behind me in the queue for the person operated checkout.

I’m so sorry you were stuck behind my OH! Don’t let him in the supermarket very often and he went wild - scotch pies, pork pies, salami, marzipan bites. He thought he was being good by buying walnuts. He won’t be allowed out again.

Perhaps there is more of this sort of food actually available in the UK? Mostly we get fresh stuff because that is what there is mostly. Not because we are particularly health conscious, just because it’s there. Unless you go to Costco of course.

MissAdventure

I wonder who is buying all this ultra processed food, seeing as it's not any of us, or anybody we associate with.

Mmmm, good point.

You only have to look around to see that this article is true. Most of our generation cook from scratch. I do even though it bores me to tears. Fruit and veg is cheap, often free in places, so there is no excuse not to eat it. But many of today's generation don't bother to cook like that and don't know how to in spite of the wealth of information that is available. Too busy on their phones.