Feature: Serving Suggestions, a study in thought control
Yesterday I had veggie burgers for dinner. With chips and peas. Because that’s what the serving suggestion suggested. I felt comforted and secure - I only had to settle on the burgers and the rest of the meal was already decided for me.
Today I determined to have some lovely mushroom grills, but in seeking the comfort of the serving suggestion on the packet I found myself plunged into confusion - a confusion that has forced me to re-evaluate the nature of the world today.
The serving suggestion on the packet of mushroom grills showed the succulent delicacy surrounded by a colourful array of vegetables - baby corn-on-the-cobs, finely diced carrots, peas and courgettes. But I don’t like courgettes!
At first the answer seemed simple - just have the meal without the courgettes. But there was more to it than that. One question kept asserting itself in my head and refused to go away. If I wasn’t going to follow the serving suggestion exactly, then why follow it at all?
A host of further questions crowed in on me. Dare I assert my independence from the packet and devise an entirely new meal? What would the consequences be? Total nutritional breakdown or simply a nasty taste?
These questions soon led to more sinister thoughts. Who decides what the serving suggestion is going to be? Is there someone whose job it is to decide what I will have for dinner? I began to imagine a twisted individual, sitting in a dark and dirty room, filling his lonely existence with visions of other people’s dinners. Perhaps this person feels inadequate, unable to control his own life, so he creates meaning and purpose through controlling what I have to eat.
I didn’t like that thought, so I tried another. A team of highly trained scientists in clean, white coats who assess a variety of serving suggestions for nutritional quality. They work to a high standard, set independently by nutritionists, and aim to present the consumer with serving suggestions that will satisfy their appetite, taste buds and dietary requirements.
At first I was comforted, but soon another thought was forcing its way into my increasingly disturbed mind. Although reassuring at first, this second vision also smacked of control. Serving suggestions being used in a subtle and unobtrusive way to coerce unsuspecting people into making pre-arranged nutritional decisions.
Come to think of it, the whole concept of suggesting a preferred way of serving food seems suspect. There could be any number of reasons for encouraging people to eat certain products. Another vision flickered before my eyes. A fat business man, cigar firmly planted in his hot, wet mouth, is talking into an expensive telephone. "Now I appreciate that your pesticide-soaked courgettes can cause neurological diseases, but for a million pounds I’ll put them on the serving suggestion for our latest product."
Or perhaps it was even worse than that. "Yes, Prime Minister. We’ve injected the new drug into the entire courgette market. All we need to do now is get the serving suggestions printed and the experiment will be underway."
I shuddered. Yesterday’s source of comfort and reassurance had become a symbol for state control and suppression. I was a pawn, a subject in a global experiment. How could I stop it? Who could I tell? Would anyone believe me?
Suddenly my stomach rumbled. I was still standing in the kitchen, clutching the packet of mushroom grills and now I was really hungry. I glanced once more at the serving suggestion and saw nothing but death in the slimy circles of courgette. I dropped the whole packet in the bin and cooked a plain baked potato instead. From now on my diet will change - no ready meals, no fancy burgers. Nothing but Kwik Save ‘No Frills’ products. They may taste like shit, but, as an advocate for free thought, I couldn’t in all conscience make any other choice.
(Published in 'Ars Magique' 1996)
Today I determined to have some lovely mushroom grills, but in seeking the comfort of the serving suggestion on the packet I found myself plunged into confusion - a confusion that has forced me to re-evaluate the nature of the world today.
The serving suggestion on the packet of mushroom grills showed the succulent delicacy surrounded by a colourful array of vegetables - baby corn-on-the-cobs, finely diced carrots, peas and courgettes. But I don’t like courgettes!
At first the answer seemed simple - just have the meal without the courgettes. But there was more to it than that. One question kept asserting itself in my head and refused to go away. If I wasn’t going to follow the serving suggestion exactly, then why follow it at all?
A host of further questions crowed in on me. Dare I assert my independence from the packet and devise an entirely new meal? What would the consequences be? Total nutritional breakdown or simply a nasty taste?
These questions soon led to more sinister thoughts. Who decides what the serving suggestion is going to be? Is there someone whose job it is to decide what I will have for dinner? I began to imagine a twisted individual, sitting in a dark and dirty room, filling his lonely existence with visions of other people’s dinners. Perhaps this person feels inadequate, unable to control his own life, so he creates meaning and purpose through controlling what I have to eat.
I didn’t like that thought, so I tried another. A team of highly trained scientists in clean, white coats who assess a variety of serving suggestions for nutritional quality. They work to a high standard, set independently by nutritionists, and aim to present the consumer with serving suggestions that will satisfy their appetite, taste buds and dietary requirements.
At first I was comforted, but soon another thought was forcing its way into my increasingly disturbed mind. Although reassuring at first, this second vision also smacked of control. Serving suggestions being used in a subtle and unobtrusive way to coerce unsuspecting people into making pre-arranged nutritional decisions.
Come to think of it, the whole concept of suggesting a preferred way of serving food seems suspect. There could be any number of reasons for encouraging people to eat certain products. Another vision flickered before my eyes. A fat business man, cigar firmly planted in his hot, wet mouth, is talking into an expensive telephone. "Now I appreciate that your pesticide-soaked courgettes can cause neurological diseases, but for a million pounds I’ll put them on the serving suggestion for our latest product."
Or perhaps it was even worse than that. "Yes, Prime Minister. We’ve injected the new drug into the entire courgette market. All we need to do now is get the serving suggestions printed and the experiment will be underway."
I shuddered. Yesterday’s source of comfort and reassurance had become a symbol for state control and suppression. I was a pawn, a subject in a global experiment. How could I stop it? Who could I tell? Would anyone believe me?
Suddenly my stomach rumbled. I was still standing in the kitchen, clutching the packet of mushroom grills and now I was really hungry. I glanced once more at the serving suggestion and saw nothing but death in the slimy circles of courgette. I dropped the whole packet in the bin and cooked a plain baked potato instead. From now on my diet will change - no ready meals, no fancy burgers. Nothing but Kwik Save ‘No Frills’ products. They may taste like shit, but, as an advocate for free thought, I couldn’t in all conscience make any other choice.
(Published in 'Ars Magique' 1996)
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