I’m sure a lot of you saw this story today on the Yahoo homepage, but I felt it necessary to exploit if further here.
Essentially, Sally Davies, an artist and photographer in New York, purchased a Happy Meal in April and laid it neatly on a plate in her kitchen. Short of moving it to and from a shelf each week to take its photo, the food went untouched for six months. SIX MONTHS. Her weekly photos can be seen here.
As you can see from this final shot, the food looks just as it did the day it was purchased, minus the greasy top layer. The photographer reported that the food stopped smelling altogether after a day and became rock hard within a week. It was as if the food became incased in its own ingredients – a wax piece, a mummified meal.
Granted, this could all be staged and false, but if you’ve seen Supersize Me or read any Michael Pollan books, then this story is tempting to believe. Good gracious, can this even be called food?
Hear me: I’m not saying it makes you (or you) a bad parent if you buy your child a Happy Meal. I get it – cheap, easy food that you don’t have to shove down their throats. I’ve spent countless dinners with unhappy children unwilling to eat the food I’ve prepared for them. Been there, cried over that! But seriously – if this burger won’t grow even one hair of fungus after six months in the open air, what in the world is IN that thing?
Stories like this further my cause for the boys to know what real food is and enjoy eating it. They may snub their noses at vegetables now and be leery of unfamiliar foods, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop serving them healthy, balanced meals every possible day. For if I give in now, then I believe all is lost. And hopefully one day, if the stars in the sky align and shine upon me for a brief moment, they will each grow to love at least ONE vegetable and I can stop hiding butternut squash in the macaroni and cheese.