Popular Culture Review Vol. 8, No. 2, August 1997 | Page 82

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consciousness is con^bined with the nurturing wholesomeness of "Old
World European" eating or the curative powers of "traditional"
Asian foods or the high brow distinctiveness of "exotic" ethnicities,
the result is deep satisfaction and dollars spent.
The recent interest in low-fat dieting has caught on partly
because of its simplicity, after so many years when diets had
elaborate "systems" of calorie counting. Also, low-fat eating doesn't
require any painful denial of pleasurable eating or jarring changes in
the national diet. The potential downside of the low-fat movement,
however, is its very singularity and compulsive quality. In other
words, the richness and pleasure of eating are undercut by focusing on
a single element of nutrition. Many Americans are very concerned
with losing weight, but they don't want to feel like they are obsessed
or vain.
Enter ethnicity. Supermarket ethnic foods reconstitute the
blandness and narrowness of a diet focused on low fat. When low fat
becomes ethnic, nutrition is less clinical and more about nurturance.
Furthermore, the FDA's newly required "Nutrition Facts" inevitably
calls attention to the "ethnic" food's health value. Of course
nutritional information doesn't n ecessarily reflect the health
qualities of traditional foods since many ethnic foods, particularly
from Northern and Western Europe, are extremely high in fat. The
low-fat ethnic foods draw on a different sense of ethnicity, however.
Ethnic nutrition conjures up images of the stalwart mother who fusses
over every bodily ailment of her family and has dozens of time-worn
treatments for every one of them. Ethnic nutrition can also imply a
sun-drenched vitality, a swarthy, passionate zest for life or a refined
sense of harmony and spiritual, physical equilibrium. All of these
associations are a far cry from the "You Can Never be Too Rich or Too
Thin" mentality which, as talk shows and tabloids moralistically
point out, leads to self destructive behavior.
Fantastic Foods' "Rice and Beans" is an illuminating example
of the healthy, powerful, and malleable appeal of ethnicity. This
microwaveable, just-add-water mix of precooked brown rice, red and
white beans and dehydrated vegetables (tomatoes, onions red and
green, bell peppers, garlic and beets) is "all natural," "low in fat"
(although quite high in sodium) and ready to eat in its own container.
The peel-back lid cover informs us that "Ethnic foods around the
world combine rice and beans for a hearty, nutritious lunch. Savory