Consciousness of Food

When I grocery shop, or even go to a restaurant (fast food or sit-down) I am extremely pragmatic. Like eons of evolution and years of socialization have been wiped from me, I resemble something of a Neanderthal: my consciousness and decision-making are utterly barren of ideology or principle. At the grocery store everything I buy passes through a few basic censors characterizing my desire for maximum utility (to put it politely) and laziness (to put it bluntly). I first note my tastes, whatever my stomach and taste buds crave - in these moments I am a slave to my passions. Next I consider price, but not even in a self-interested model of efficiency of purchase, much more because the lowest number will almost always direct me towards my choice (its about ease of decision-making, really). After this I consider the ease at which the food can be cooked, and also its possibilities for LOs (left-overs, for the layman). Upon checkout I quickly peruse my shopping cart or basket and evaluate the overall nutrition of my selections - this inevitably leads me back to the heart of the store to balance my monumental purchases of ramen, pasta, and potato chips.

My excursions into fast food bare little difference. Often I go to a fast food restaurant before the grocery store, internalizing the sentiment "don't shop hungry". The irony is inescapable: grocery shopping is the healthiest, most efficient means of obtaining food - my unhealthy, expensive habit equates to smoking a cigarette before going on a run.

The point of this is that NO WHERE in my habits of demand and consumption does the environment enter in. In fact, after learning more and more about humanity's apparent grudge against the planet that spawned it, I only feel the slight sting of guilt as I go about these activities. What's more, my recent preference for Whole Foods over Giant has little dulled this sting. To extrapolate, I shudder to think that I am the only consumer with these habits or outlooks - perhaps an even more terrifying thought is that even an informed public would not change their patterns of behavior.