02.14.2007

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Silence in the Center Store

Observations on Michael Pollan's Recent Commentary

For those who missed it, Michael Pollan's 10,000 word essay "Unhappy Meals," which garnered front page coverage on the January 28 issue of The New York Times Sunday Magazine, has caused quite a stir among many with interests in the food, health and nutrition arenas.

The ambitious, sweeping work attempts to explain how we have largely failed in our efforts to figure out how best to feed ourselves, a task most of our ancestors and the majority of the world's cultures have had far less struggles with. Really.

His central critique follows the historical transformation of our scientific-based ideas regarding nutrition and nutrients into an ideology he refers to as "nutritionism." Pollan details how we have transitioned from a nation of consumers visiting the grocery store for food to a population of hard-working "nutrient hunters" striving for better health by carefully scanning the ingredients and nutrition information on the "nutrient rich" packaged foods lining grocery store shelves. In this, our Puritan heritage could not be more strikingly self-evident.

Engaged as we are in a perpetually evolving dialogue between nutritionists, scientists and journalists as to the proper nutrient du jour, we spend far too much time worrying about the assorted nutrients-or lack there of-in our foods and far less time simply enjoying our food. Ironically, in the process we often find ourselves consuming far more unnecessary calories than if we simply "ate the way our culture taught us to," as in the case of the French, the Japanese, etc. Pollan also points out that ours is one of the few of the world's cultures to view food as intimately connected with personal health rather than, say, pleasure or socializing.

In many, many ways, Pollan's comments echo points we've been making for several years now following the publication of our landmark report on obesity in 2004, Obesity in America: Understanding Weight Management for a Consumer Perspective. We've noted repeatedly the challenges posed by a scientific (as opposed to cultural) approach to eating and suggested that commensality-the act of eating together based on shared tradition-may prove a much more successful strategy in battling obesity than reading package labels and (trying to) count calories.

But our goal here isn't so much to critique or champion Pollan's position as to offer several observations from our own research that seem to echo some of Pollan's larger conclusions. More importantly, should those "coinciding indications" ever pan out, they hold dramatic implications for the packaged foods industry.

Who does he think he is, anyway?

Many we have spoken with since the publication of Pollan's essay seemed to bristle at the audacity with which he dismisses most packaged or processed foods, as well as the packaged foods industry. Among Pollan's claims:

• "Don't eat anything your great-great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food...There are a great many foodlike items in the supermarket your ancestors wouldn't recognize as food (Go-Gurt? Breakfast-cereal bars? Nondairy creamer?); stay away from these."

• "Avoid even those food products that come bearing health claims. They're apt to be heavily processed, and the claims are often dubious at best."

• "Get out of the supermarket whenever possible."

• "Eat more like the French. Or the Japanese. Or the Italians. Or the Greeks."

• "Cook. And if you can, plant a garden."

Much of the criticism we've encountered suggested that Pollan's comments are hopelessly myopic, the by-product of an elite, educated sub-culture of romantic ideologues striving to recapture a pre-modern food culture. After all, how many middle class American families have the time to cook, let alone plant a garden or eat like the Japanese? Besides, those packaged foods which line the supermarket shelves save us valuable time that our ancestors spent cooking, and this is time we could be spending with our children, no?

But what happens if Pollan is on to something?

And yet...we can't help but to note that for the past several years we've been encountering more and more consumers who appear to be (loosely) following Pollan's strategies, at least on several important fronts, and turning toward what we call "authentic eating."

The challenges posed by shrinking center-store sales are by now old news to most in the industry. More than ever, consumers prefer to circle the store perimeter in search of fresh and prepared foods that appear far less processed and more like, well, real food. Ditto for the rise of farmer's markets, as well as the growing interest in a myriad of ethnic cuisines.

All of this makes us wonder if Pollan's comments might not be resonating with consumers' evolving understandings of quality food experiences in the same way Rachel Carson's Silent Spring seemed to coincide with the growing environmental consciousness of the 60s and 70s. Put another way, maybe it's not so much the case that consumers are going to read Pollan's work and change their eating habits as it is the case that they already are beginning to eat that way-that Pollan has tapped into a growing consciousness that views food very differently than many might expect. In fact, we believe this movement toward high-quality food experiences is part of an important trend in how consumers are redefining quality

To be precise, what we are encountering is a growing cadre of consumers whose view of what constitutes "food" is not far off from the picture Pollan sketches. For these folks, "food" is (a) found in perishables (namely produce, dairy and meats) area of a supermarket, (b) found in the prepared foods area of a supermarket, (c) grown in a garden or (c) prepared in the household. Importantly for this group, center store represents not a place to shop for food but, rather, a place to shop for ingredients used to make other things, namely food. Importantly, this group has little use for traditional processed or packaged food products.

Of course, like the rest of contemporary society, these consumers don't always have the time to cook or prepare food at home. On those occasions one is likely to find them roaming the prepared foods section of their local grocer. Similarly, these consumers have yet to abandon packaged foods or fast foods entirely. Like the rest of us, they occasionally indulge in fast food or a frozen meal. But what is critical to recognize is that they increasingly do not view those products as "food." Instead, they view them as "fillers," to be relied upon only in times of desperation or need. In short, there is a growing body of consumers who appear to be rejecting "nutritionism" in favor of a more common-sense understanding of what constitutes food. When this occurs, packaged and processed foods appear hardly, if at all, relevant. And this relevance extends to products and brands in which consumers are saying: I'm changing. Change with me or disappear.

Perhaps most interesting of all, these consumers come from all walks of life. They represent multiple ethnicities, are as rural as they are urban, and are scattered across income and education levels. And while their absolute numbers are currently moderate, they appear to be growing rapidly.

There is little doubt that many in the consumer packaged foods and quick-serve restaurant industries greet the opinions of Michael Pollan, Marion Nestle, Eric Schlosser and others with great anxiety. In fact, we believe much of that anxiety is misplaced. For the real story here is not the influence of these writers per se, as it is the climate in which these opinions seem to emerge. Forward-thinking companies on the vanguard of consumer trends will have already been keenly aware of the "coinciding consciousness" of Pollan's work.

The critical questions that remain to be answered are how far that consciousness will stretch and how long it will take to extend its reach. If our initial findings are any indication, it may be sooner than many might expect.

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