Job Discussion Forums

[MotherF]

I brought my breadmachine from the US, I've been using it 1 to 5 times a week since 1999 with no problems. (When the department has parties I usually make 3 loaves of bread to take.)
I picked up a second one at a bazar once. The guy lowered the price to 100 pesos because I was the only person who ever even knew what it was.
I saw another one in a local pawn shop--it's probably still there if anyone wants it.
I've seen new ones in Fabricas de Francia--but yeah, I think it was 3000 pesos!!

[BadBeagleBad]

[Prof.Gringo]

The main culprit for the huge problems faced by both the USA and Mexico has little to do with the traditional diets, cuisine or way of life in either country.

Changes in eating habits in the last 50 years or so are a direct result of the breakdown of the family unit, loss of the single wage earner-2 parent household and a sense that everything must be done sooner rather than later as well as the loss of hands-on jobs where people actually worked for their wages.

First of all, when most women became housewives and that word didn't carry a sour meaning thanks to feminists, there was plenty of time to prepare nutritional, healthy traditional cuisine. Kinda hard to do the same when mom wears a suit and works 40+ hours a week or there is only 1 parent in the household.

Introduction of microwaves and frozen pre-cooked meals/food did of course introduce a new way to eat (more so in the US than in Mexico) but even in Mexico, I read an article a number of years ago about the rise in popularity of ramen noodles in a cup and how much damage that cheap, salty, processed "snack" was doing to the health of esp. young Mexicans.

Nowadays, most folks seem to work in an office, in the service industry, behind a desk somewhere. No more walking 5 or more miles each day in the course of your job (hence the rise of gyms to replace what we used to do naturally through work) or breaking a sweat. Prepacked, processed meals and the combo of TV, internet and vid games insures that most people exercise less, eat more (of the wrong stuff) and have more stress.

Also, many of the diet choices that people make are more economical than health driven. Go to a fast-food joint and compare the cost between a salad and a hamburger... Salad with a drink runs easily $5 or more, but a few burgers on the value menu and a high fructose beverage costs about $3 bucks. If you aren't making much $ in the first place, it's a no brainer...

Fruits & Veggies don't fill you up, they aren't as tasty (hmmmmmmm Brussel sprouts versus a bacon cheeseburger), spoil quickly and don't provide the energy of meat/carbs. So poor folks, who often suffer from a lack of nutritional education reach for the cheapest, tastiest, quickest food they can find.

Poor people don't worry about their health in 30 years from now... they worry about tonight's dinner, next weeks groceries and paying the rent/bills somehow. In the poorest states in the US, they also have the worse health and highest rates of heart disease/attack, diabetes, stroke etc... Now imagine how much worse things are in Mexico with 50% of the people in poverty with an average of maybe an 8th grade education.

http://articles.latimes.com/2005/oct/21/business/fi-ramennation21

[Phil_K]

A pretty good summing up of the situation, Prof, thanks for a thoughtful article.

I'd add another observation.

It is a myth that poverty means unhealthy eating. Given the 4 necessary basic elements required in a healthy diet, there are many nutritious meals that can be made with basic, fresh and cheap raw materials. It's just a matter of education.

[Prof.Gringo]

[MotherF]

[Phil_K]

[Guy Courchesne]

[MotherF]

[disraeli123]

Diabetes is no stranger to me. I just came down with Type 2 and I'm controling it with diet right now. My family has a history of diabetes going way back on both sides of the family. The fresh veggies and other ingredients are perfect for people like me, but Mother F. is right people need to be educated on the subject.

Insulin is what kept my mother and father alive for many years. My grandmother was one of the first people in the U.S. to use insulin by shot in the 1920's.

[canada_1986]

I think a lot of it has come from a drive to save money. One thing I've really noticed at Walmart and other supermarkets, at least in Mexico City, is the amount of American cheese available - far more than in most supermarkets in Canada. There's also the disgusting Mexican interpretation of deli meat (available from the Salchichonerias) - I won't even touch it. It's basically sliced hot dog meat. But it's cheap.

By the way, if you think that's bad, in Mexico you can also buy canned wieners.

"Good" pizza is almost impossible to find in Mexico. The only good pizza I've had is from Domino's. There is also a pizza place on Balderas Avenue, just south of Ju�rez Avenue, that has pizza that is not too far different from North American pizza. However it still leaves something to be desired.

Overall I find the traditional Mexican diet to be healthier than the North American diet. I have lost at least 15 pounds over the past five months, eating mostly Mexican food.

[Guy Courchesne]

[Isla Guapa]

A new hole-in-the-wall pizza place just opened around the corner from my building. When I saw that each table had a container on it filled with condiments including ketchup, I knew that I would never ever eat there.

[disraeli123]

My diabetes is as I said above being controled with diet, but I have to be careful. As far as deli meat goes Mexico doesn't have proper deli unless your talking about ham and that is the only proper deli that I have found so far.

Please do not get me started on Pizza in Mexico. Mexicans do not understand Pizza anyone who puts ketchup or anything except some oregano on a Pizza should be arrested for poisoning people. For some reason people love the taste of condiments here more than they love the taste of real Pizza. Of course I would also arrest anyone who eats or makes so called Hawian pizza please. My friends back in the Italian North End in Boston, Ma. would GAG

But traditional Mexican food is much more healthy than food from the U.S. that is so processed you could died from all the chemicals.

[Isla Guapa]

For some reason, Mexicans love to put pineapple chunks on all sorts of food and then call it "hawaiiana". Yuck!