Covid19 has nothing on fast food culture

REALISING THE lockdown wasn’t having quite the expected “appeal,” the Government changed gears, shuttering all fast food operations and restaurants. Lines of twitchy, finger-lickin’ junkies pressed tightly together may have had something to do with the Government’s about face on the essential status of these services.

It was an extreme measure, to say the least. One, though, that seemed unavoidable given our looser interpretation of social distancing. There may have, however, been more in the mortar than the pestle; a reference many won’t get because of their unfamiliarity with the kitchen – but more on that in a minute.

Howls of disdain could be heard as far away as Hokkaido in Japan. After getting over the initial body blow of the edict on fast food, Trinis went into action. They thronged KFC outlets to get their one last fix before the colonel closed his doors and stood down his flour-dusted troops.

Scenes of drive-through chaos and meandering lines outside of these treasured national landmarks had to be seen to believed. A TV reporter chatted with a member of the public outside of a particularly buzzing outlet. Joe Public voiced his own disbelief at the unfolding madness and asked why people don’t stay at home and cook.

By the way, he was waiting for someone who had gone into the restaurant to get some dead. “It haaad,” he said, pondering the coming period of withdrawal.

I have rarely seen Trinis so passionate about anything. If KFC were to be put on the ballot, it would be the only third force to break the two-party hegemony in this country.

The temporary closure of fast food operations was certainly an undesirable option from an economic standpoint, but perhaps the right one.

If the goal is to limit the movement of people and restrict as many souls to their homes as possible, then taking the thousands of restaurant workers off the board and out of public transportation is definitely a step in the right direction. Not to mention the discouraging of long lines of huddled fast food zombies.

Reactions to the Government’s move point to something terribly off in this country. “How all the essential workers on the covid19 frontlines will eat!”

It’s beyond sad that the prosperity this nation once celebrated has turned us into a fast-food paradise. We jumped into the embrace of imported franchises. Chewing chicken bones down to fine splinters we (ironically) curse the so-called parasitic “one per cent” under our greasy breaths.

What is the result of our undying devotion to takeout culture? Well, a look at our general health gives some clues.

Research suggests there are almost 200,000 people living with diabetes in TT. In fact, we are third in the world for deaths from the affliction. Additionally, an estimated 26 per cent of the population are living with hypertension. It’s a leading cause of heart attacks and can result in blindness and other decidedly inconvenient health complications.

A 2019 PAHO/WHO report puts obesity in the TT population at around 31 per cent. Still, we aren’t making the connection between lifestyle and our abysmal shape. The health sector spends hundreds of millions each year treating chronic health conditions. Our hospitals are revolving doors for people with lifestyle diseases.

Even worse, many of our citizens are unaware they may be stricken with high blood pressure or diabetes. Those are the sort of underlying conditions that covid19 makes mas with. You may not know you’re sick, but the coronavirus will find out pretty quickly.

Yet, we lead with our bellies and not our hypertensive hearts. Modern-day, harried work lives conspire with food scientifically engineered to be addictive, chipping away at our cooking culture. The idea of preparing meals for the week ahead or making sandwiches to take to work sounds like craziness to many people.

Additionally, there is this mistaken idea that people eat fast food because it’s cheaper than home-cooked food. I routinely prepare healthy versions of traditional Trini foods that give me servings of up to three to four days. This I am able to do with a fraction of what it would cost me to buy food everyday. You’re kidding yourself if you believe you’re doing lunch on the cheap by buying food every week.

The ugly truth is, chronic diseases around the world will easily kill more people than covid19. Our devotion to fast food and abhorrence for cooking are underlying conditions that will have consequences long after coronavirus disappears from the headlines.