Rich People, Poor Food

This is Beacon Hill.

Two homes in the Beacon Hill area are currently on the market, priced at $14.5 million and $18 million.  Not for the likes of plebs like you or I is this Hill.

I used to work on Beacon Hill, and I love to go back and walk up and down the streets, sipping fashionable tea as I watch professional dog walkers wrestle with massive Saint Bernards up and down the street.

It's a beautiful area, and believe it or not, the people who live there are really nice folks.  I wrote a piece for a local organization, and they were friendly and warm to the feckless intern in their midst.

What I just can't understand is this...

Why do people who can afford to eat better... eat cheap junk food?

I saw a woman on Beacon Hill this week carrying the $1200 Louis Vuitton bag I'd been coveting.  This is not remarkable.  The combined retail value of the handbags walking down that street could fund a nuclear research facility.

The strange thing is that all of her children were eating those 99-cent firecracker popsicles.  You know... the red, white and blue ones you used to get at summer camp that are equal parts corn syrup, water, and experimental food dyes.  The artificial cherry flavoring was invented by some scientist who never tasted a real cherry.

I stopped in at the local grocery store looking for a snack.  In the interest of full disclosure, I've seen worse.  There are those city convenience stores where the only vegetable is a Ho-Ho.

But the prognosis wasn't good.  Here's a look at the cereal aisle.

You can see we've got our root vegetables, our grains, and our deep leafy greens.

Oh, my bad.  That's Cap'n Crunch and Weetabix.









T'wasn't all dire.  They made an effort with some dried fruits and nuts.  At about $5-$9 a pop, they were a little pricey for the likes of me and mine, but if you're cruising $14 million houses, a $5 box of wasabi peas won't hit you where it hurts.

Still...  A lot of this "health food" was misleading.  Yogurt-dipped pretzels were nestled right alongside roasted almonds.  Everything was given a really peaceful "organic" looking label.  It made me feel like a kindly Vermont grandmother tucked my Assorted Dried Fruits in their plastic box and sealed it with a loving kiss before heading out back to sing the cows to sleep.

Holy unseasonal, totally non-regional produce, Batman.  The last time an avocado grew in Massachusetts, I'm pretty sure dinosaurs roamed the earth.


The point of this journey through the grocery store isn't to nitpick and highlight the fact that almost every one of those vegetables is a nightshade from a different climate.

I just want to know why nobody has a problem with constantly ingesting food that atrophies our health.

Especially people who have the financial and educational resources to care.

The brunch, breakfast, and lunch restaurants on Beacon Hill are filled with eggs, ham, bacon, and sugar.  Donuts, pastries, cakes, croissants...  Why is nobody insisting on better food?

Why do the financially impoverished neighborhoods of Boston have higher quality produce and restaurants than the most expensive square mile in New England?

What are they eating?  At first I thought they were leaving Beacon Hill to get organic produce and food.  Then I saw the family of popsicle-wielders and thought again.

I'm not passing down judgement.  There is no finger-shaking here.  When it's on TV, in our magazines, advertised on the subway, listed in the Michelin Guide, subsidized by the US Government, and carried in every store on the planet, it's not a matter of being aware or unaware.  We're being fed.

And I believe that as a nation, for richer or for poorer, we deserve better than what's being put on our plates.