Welcome to the continuing diary series "Let's Read a WHEE Book Together!" This week, we're continuing with David Kessler's The End of Overeating, Chapter 19. If you're just discovering this diary series, you will find links to the previous installments at the bottom of this diary. Also, I revisit Chapter 18, and discover the first preliminary study of New York City's menu labeling law.
WHEE (Weight, Health, Eating and Exercise) is a community support diary for Kossacks who are currently or planning to start losing, gaining or maintaining their weight through diet and exercise or fitness. Any supportive comments, suggestions or positive distractions are appreciated. If you are working on your weight or fitness, please -- join us! You can also click the WHEE tag to view all diary posts.
The End of Overeating, by David Kessler, M.D.
Chapter 19: Giving Them What They Like
Like the previous chapter, Chapter 19 is a short chapter. Kessler begins by observing that the food industry designs food based on data about what consumers already like, rather than putting products out at random and hoping people will buy them (thank you, Captain Obvious). Gail Vance Civille, the food industry source who was introduced in Chapter 17, makes another appearance at this point to tell us that, although the mix of sugar, fat, salt, etc in a given food depend to a certain extent on its target market, the food industry is "trying to find the formulation that is going to make the greatest number of people want it."
Following these nutritional banalities, Kessler introduces us to Robert Smith, former VP in charge of R&D for Nabisco. Smith oversaw the marketing of three huge success stories - Oreos, Chips Ahoy!, and Snackwell's. Here, Smith reiterates that a successful engineered food is dependent on a mixture of sensory properties. It's not just the ingredients, either - a successful snack food offers a multisensory experience.
In Chapter 17, Civille explained the crucial roles of fat in engineered foods:
If fat is removed from a product, it won't break down [while chewing - Ed] in the same way. Rather than melting, "You get little tiny globs of stuff suspended in saliva," she said.
...
"If it's meant to melt, it better melt," said Civille.
So how did Nabisco overcome the "saliva-suspended little tiny glob problem" to create the fat-free Snackwell's?
Without fat, the cookie initially seemed harsh and dry. Snackwell's were ready for the big time only after Nabisco discovered that a small amount of the fatty acid diglyceride was an adequate substitute.
It wasn't just taste and texture that kept Kessler coming back for more Snackwell's. Consumers expect a commercial product like Snackwell's to offer a consistent experience. Even the appearance of the snack is important - Smith asked some panels (composed of both consumers and industry professionals) to make drawings of what they thought a cookie should look like.
Contrast is another possible "ingredient" in a successful product. Kessler mentions the contrast of an Oreo cookie -
...it's the unique, bitter taste of the chocolate wafer combined with the sweetness of the cream filling that really gives the product so much appeal.
Near the end of the chapter, Kessler introduces another retired food industry expert - Dwight Riskey, formerly of Frito-Lay. Riskey explains that the technology of salting chips has evolved from the old days of Lay's potato chips. Like Nabisco's cookies, it is crucial that Frito-Lay's chips provide a consistent experience. And also like the cookie industry, a successful chip product is dependent on a combination of tastes, textures, and other properties:
"Mixtures," said Riskey, "are where the magic happens."
Previous chapters from The End of Overeating:
Part 2: The Food Industry
Chapter 18: No Satisfaction (reviewed by Clio2)
Chapter 17: The Era of the Monster Thickburger (reviewed by me)
Chapter 16: That's Entertainment (reviewed by Clio2)
Chapter 15: Cinnabon: A Lesson in Irresistibility (reviewed by me)
Chapter 14: A Visit to Chili's (reviewed by Clio2)
Part 1: Sugar, Fat, and Salt
Chapter 13: Eating Behavior Becomes a Habit (reviewed by me)
(there are links to Chapters 1 through 12 in my Chapter 13 review)
No finesse, please - we're Americans!
Speaking of Chapter 18 -- one of the points I found most interesting in Chapter 18 was that, compared to other cuisines, American food lacks complexity and finesse. Kessler quoted a Japanese food industry executive:
"The food I used to eat in Japan has complex flavor, and I can get satisfaction with less quantity," he said. By contrast, with American food "you have to have a lot to be satiated."
Kessler goes on to say:
Europeans say much the same thing. To more sophisticated palates, our cuisine lacks finesse--"There is no curiosity in it...You are swamped with very strong tastes," one source told me. He called American food "over the top."
Where traditional cuisine is meant to satisfy, American industrial food is meant to stimulate.
I think Kessler has it backwards. He implies that in Japanese and especially European cuisines, the complexity and finesse came first, and led to being satisfied with fewer calories. Considering the development of French haute cuisine, however, I think it was the other way around - that is, that European dining culture developed the realization that urban dwellers did not and should not eat as much as country farmers, and this idea of dining on fewer calories was what created the impulse toward more finesse and complexity, in order to make those smaller meals more satisfying.
Basically, I think, the problem with our American cuisine is that, like some of our fellow citizens, it hasn't finished evolving yet.
Do menu labeling laws work? The first returns are in.
I didn't notice this when it came out earlier this month, and it appears that no one else did either. However, a preliminary study of New York City's menu labeling law has been released.
New York restaurants that are part of restaurant chains with more than 15 locations are required to prominently display calorie counts for their menu items. The theory is that if people realize how many calories are actually in the Quadruple Bypass Cheeseburger, they'll get the Single Burger, hold the cheese and bacon - or pass on the burger and get a salad instead. Myself, I thought it possible that the Comparison Principle of psychology (as discussed by psychologist Robert Cialdini) would lead customers to choose a more caloric menu item than they otherwise would have done - compared to the Quadruple Bypass, the Triple Bypass with Cheese starts to look like a reasonable compromise.
So how is it working out? According to Brian Elbel (assistant professor at the NYU School of Medicine and lead author of the study in Health Affairs), there was no real change seen. In fact, New York City fast food customers actually ate (or at least purchased) about 20 calories MORE per meal after the menu labeling law went into effect. By contrast, diners in Newark, New Jersey (with no menu labeling law) purchased the same number of calories over the period of the study.
This is just a preliminary study - it could be that as people are exposed more to the menu labeling, their behavior will be affected more. But I think it argues against rushing to impose menu labeling on the whole country until we have a better idea of whether it actually works.
Scheduled WHEE diaries:
November 1Sun AM - kismet -- the calorie value of everyday tasks
Sun PM - Chico David RN
November 2
Mon AM - NC Dem- Muscle of the Month-Deltoids
Mon PM - Cusoon
November 3
Tues AM - ???
Tues PM - Clio2 (Kessler, Ch. 20)
November 4
Weds AM - ???
Weds PM - Edward Spurlock - Geek My Fitness: "He's the DJ, I'm the Rider"
November 5
Thrs AM - cdkipp
Thrs PM - ???
November 6
Fri AM - ???
Fri PM - ???
November 7
Sat AM - ???
Sat PM - Edward Spurlock (Kessler, Ch. 21)