One thing we love about Midwestern summers is how the fresh, local produce comes in waves. First come the strawberries, greens, and herbs. Then the blueberries, blackberries, cucumbers, green beans, and summer squash. Before long, tomatoes and sweet corn arrive.
Every few weeks seems to bring something new. The produce tables change. The meals change. Even a routine trip to the farmers market can feel a little different from one visit to the next.
Then there’s the freshness and flavor. Produce grown close to home, picked near peak ripeness, and ideally grown with organic methods simply tastes different. Tomatoes taste more like tomatoes. Strawberries taste sweeter. Even everyday vegetables seem to have a little more character.
And there are more ways than ever to find fresh, local foods. Farmers markets are just one option. Community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs are another, while more large supermarkets carry at least some local, organic produce. Some people choose to grow at least a portion of their own food. Others have neighbors, friends, or family who happily share the surplus from their gardens each summer.
That’s not even getting into the nutritional benefits of this bounty — although “eat your vegetables” is hardly revolutionary advice. We all grow up hearing that these foods are good for us. What gets less attention, though, are the specific ways that they support both oral and whole-body health.
Leafy greens, for instance, are rich in nutrients that matter to the mouth, such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, folate, and vitamin K. They also contain nitrate, which supports an overall healthy oral environment and good bacterial balance in the oral microbiome. While dairy tends to get most of the attention when it comes to calcium, greens such as kale, collards, and bok choy can contribute meaningful amounts as well.
Brightly colored fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, provide vitamin C and a wide range of antioxidants that help support healthy connective tissue, including the gums. Meantime, foods rich in fiber encourage chewing and help stimulate saliva production — one of the mouth’s most important natural defense mechanisms.
Unlike isolated nutrients in a supplement bottle, these whole foods arrive on your table as complete packages. Fiber, vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, protein, and a huge assortment of beneficial plant compounds work together in ways we are still trying to fully understand
Whole foods also tend to be more filling and satisfying. The combination of fiber, water, healthy fats, and protein found in them helps promote satiety — the feeling of fullness that tells you you’ve had enough.
The kinds of food we’re talking about have one more thing in common, too: They’re the opposite of 70% of what fills the average supermarket today, which is to say highly processed products — convenient, shelf-stable, relatively inexpensive, and heavily marketed.
That last part is hardly surprising. Corporations exist to sell products. Most of us understand that perfectly. More surprising is what a fascinating new investigation shows by offering a rare glimpse into how these types of products have been promoted.
The paper, recently published in the American Journal of Public Health, looks at what happened when tobacco giant Philip Morris acquired food companies such as Kraft and General Foods back in the 1980s.
According to the paper, internal company documents suggest that Philip Morris viewed food products pretty much the same way as they viewed cigarettes. One executive acknowledged that cigarettes might seem to have little in common with “cheese or beer or mayo,” then explained that the real connection between the product categories was understanding the customer.
The company mission, he said, was to uncover consumers’ wants and needs — even those they hadn’t articulated yet. “We don’t create demand,” he said.
We excavate it. We prospect for it. We dig until we find it.
You see this philosophy in action through a case study of Lunchables. Through internal documents, marketing materials, and product development records, the author traces how consumer research, packaging design, convenience, and children’s preferences were all carefully studied as the product evolved. The goal wasn’t just to create a lunch. It was to create a product that people would keep buying.
Much is often made of how ultra-processed products are engineered for taste, convenience, and craveability. What this new research highlights is that the engineering didn’t stop there. Companies were also studying consumers — their habits, preferences, motivations, and buying decisions — with equal intensity in an attempt to engineer desire.
Which brings us back to the greens, summer squash, tomatoes, and the rest. In other words, real food.
Real food doesn’t need marketing to convince you that it’s good and worth having. It has flavor and color and scent. It nourishes. It satisfies. It can speak for itself.
Looking for Real Food Around St. Louis?
A great resource to get you started is Known & Grown STL, a group “ committed to helping environmentally-responsible farmers within our foodshed thrive.” They emphasize that the farmers in their program “don’t use synthetic chemicals on their crops or pasture, and animals are not confined.”
Be sure to check out their guide to local markets, CSAs, and more, as well as their Local Food Locator.
And to learn more about the Lunchables case study, check out this interview with its author, Dr. Laura Schmidt of UC San Francisco, over at The Examination.
