# Food abundance and the invention of unhealthy eating

Canonical page: https://thejasonsamuel.com/food-abundance

[Home](https://thejasonsamuel.com/) > [Essays](https://thejasonsamuel.com/essays)

# Food abundance and the invention of unhealthy eating

Restored from Instagram stories · 1 July 2026

humans didn’t suddenly discover “unhealthy food” in 2026. heck, we always had sweets. we always had fried snacks. we always had festival food. how many years have we had laddoo, jangiri, halwa, adhirasam, murukku, bajji, bonda, parotta, even biriyani, sweets during functions, snacks with tea. nobody treated every one of these things like poison. the wisdom that was always taught was: don’t make it your whole life.

didn’t we have something like “அமுதமும் அளவுக்கு மீறினால் நஞ்சு” which means even nectar becomes poison if taken beyond measure?

that is much better than “stop junk food.” i hate this term junk food because it’s based on a moral standing on what’s junk and what’s not.

this food is bad, this person is bad for eating it, this parent is bad for buying it. that framing can make children secretive, guilty, rebellious, or obsessed.

it can also make poor or busy parents feel attacked, because sometimes packaged foods are cheap, available, and convenient. if you’re arguing against it, you have the privilege which others don’t. i have seen kids who eat marigold biscuits for hunger and get back to studying because parents were doing daily labor and can’t make them dinner.

the better message often is:

1. don’t demonize treats. teach proportion.

2. don’t ban joy. (don’t you dare tell me those sweets do not bring me joy. it does) prevent dependency.

3. don’t shame children. guide habits.

4. don’t let companies (or social media influencers) replace parenting,

5. meals, and culture with constant craving.

lets talk about advertising now.

advertising is not evil by default. businesses advertise. that is normal.

but advertising to children needs higher standards because children don’t have adult judgment. a grown man can see a burger ad and still decide. a child sees color, cartoon, toy, influencer, music, and peer pressure. so the issue is not “companies should never advertise.”

it’s that - don’t target children so aggressively that occasional treats become everyday demand.

so instead of fear-mongering posters (you know how much i hate fear mongering), the message should be:

“let children enjoy treats, but don’t let treats become meals.

parents should build a home culture of real food first: rice, wheat, millets, dal, eggs, meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, curd, nuts, whatever fits the family/your culture.

after that, a chocolate, chips, burger, or ice cream sometimes is not the enemy.

the enemy is excess, replacement, and addiction.”

that is a much more mature public-health message than “everything is junk, stop advertising.”

because, come on - the real goal should be food maturity, not food fear. shouldn’t we be teaching our children to think through things epistemologically?

children should grow up knowing: “i can eat this, i can enjoy it, but i don’t need to lose control over it.” that is a healthier lesson than pretending these foods do not exist.

children are pretty little monsters and they love to rebel. you’ve no idea how many of these no junk food parents get surprised when their kids grab good chocolates from their hand and run away or quickly put those into their mouths or try to hide their consumption from their mom.

come on. kids love to rebel.

are you demonizing the sweets to them?

wait till they get their hands on it when you don’t see.

they’re gonna be like bears on crack cocaine. completely unleashed.

bwahahahhaa.

kids are very well capable of learning how to think epistemically if you start early. teach them moderation and why. their brains are yearning for it.

while you’re at it - stop morally dividing food. enjoy your privilege, good. don’t virtue signal.

[← Previous essay](https://thejasonsamuel.com/what-does-it-mean-to-be-ai-native)[All essays](https://thejasonsamuel.com/essays)[Next essay →](https://thejasonsamuel.com/relationships-are-choices-not-ownership)All rights reserved. Copyright © 2026 Jason Samuel