Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 1 OcTOber 2019
Does outsourcing affect our personal connection to food?

By MELISSA RAYWORTH and they have no idea how
Associated Press to feed themselves. They
The growing options for don't know how to grocery
outsourcing meal plan- shop. They don't have ba-
ning, grocery shopping sic cooking skills."
and cooking can be called Jenike notices the same
time-saving blessings or cul- thing at his university: "One
ture-destroying curses. In of the real problems with
the end, they're probably things like Uber Eats and
a complicated mix of both. eating out all the time
The positive spin goes and food delivery is that
something like this: Assum- so many kids now grow up
ing you can afford it, you'll without the skills to prepare
save precious time by click- their own food."
ing a few digital boxes and A company called Starship
getting someone else to Technologies has begun
choose your vegetables delivering takeout via A.I.-
and deliver your groceries. controlled robots on a few
No time to plan a meal? An college campuses nation-
ever-expanding list of meal wide. No need to even say
kit services including Blue hi to a delivery guy, which
Apron and HelloFresh will This product display image released by HelloFresh shows ingredients offered from their home may present problems of its
send you premeasured in- delivery meal kits. own. If that isn't enough to
gredients to whip up a va- Associated Press concern you, try this: In his
riety of recipes — complete work studying what "com-
with step-by-step, photo- professor and sports dieti- chair of the department of been spent driving to the fort food" really is, Jordan
enhanced instructions. All tian at Quinnipiac Universi- anthropology at Lawrence grocery store and rushing Troisi has found that the
that for around $8 to $10 ty, doesn't see the situation University in Appleton, Wis- through the aisles is instead psychological comfort we
per person. as black and white: "It de- consin, says food is both bi- spent purposefully simmer- get from foods has to do
No time to cook? Get pends on what the base- ological and cultural, and ing a sauce, a home cook with the social meaning
a week's worth of frozen line was before." the approach to it needs could become more con- we attach to it. We're com-
meals delivered courtesy If you're someone who to take both into account. nected to their food. And forted by spaghetti and
of Home Chef, Freshly or a never cooks and eats out "It fulfills biological needs if a meal kit includes every- meatballs not necessarily
host of other local and na- at fast food places all the but is imbued with mean- thing premeasured down because of the tasty carbs,
tional services: It's the mod- time, ordering groceries or ing that makes it very cul- to the last half-teaspoon but because it's what our
ern version of a TV dinner, meal kits could be a step in tural as well," Jenike says. of chili powder, White says, family always ate.
but it tastes better. And if the right direction "So I could certainly see people who find cooking "Food is a physiological
hunger strikes and you But "if it's taking you away for some people that get- intimidating might discover need for humans," Trioisi
need immediate gratifica- from the farmer's market ting a meal kit allows them it's actually kind of fun. says. "As a consequence, it
tion, you're no longer stuck and you stop putting the to focus on bonding and But there are downsides. A gets attached to so many
ordering a pizza or a few basil plant in your back- together time as they pre- growing number of young other needs that we have,
containers of takeout Chi- including feelings of safe-
nese: Uber Eats, DoorDash ty, feelings of connection,
and GrubHub stand ready feeling a sense that in times
to deliver anything you of stress, things are going to
crave. be OK."
But as people increasingly But what happens, he won-
limit their involvement in ders, to a kid who doesn't
meal prep, the question of grow up with any "family
how that affects our per- recipes" because the meal
sonal connection to food is kits they were raised on
debatable. changed every week?
"As we exist at a greater Last year, HelloFresh began
distance from where these offering an entire Thanks-
foods originated, we tend giving dinner in a box and
to forget — or now, perhaps they've followed up with
not even learn — where other holiday boxes, in-
things come from," says cluding one for Mother's
Jason Seacat, a professor Day. Is this the end of family
of psychology at Western recipes, or is it possible that
New England University, having the basics covered
who studies the relationship helps home cooks really fo-
between people and food. cus on making a few fam-
"This growing disconnect ily favorites from scratch as
not only contributes to a In this Feb. 20, 2018, file photo shows the Uber Eats app on an iPhone in Chicago. holiday side dishes?
loss for humans, but also for Associated Press Donna Talarico-Beerman
our natural world because and her husband Kevin
greater disconnect often tried ordering groceries.
equals less concern for the yard," White says, these ser- pare and consume a meal adults have no idea how to But with their hectic work
natural environments that vices may do more harm together. That could be a scramble an egg or cook schedules, produce would
produce the food." than good. Mark Jenike, very appealing option." rice. White often sees "stu- sit in the refrigerator instead
Dana White, an associate associate professor and If an hour that would've dents that come to college of being used.q