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To gain some insight on this topic, we reached out to Rachael Hartley, who is a certified intuitive eating counselor and the author of Gentle Nutrition.
She started off by listing a few popular low-cost items that are popular among high-class people: “Some favorite cheap foods include instant ramen noodles, Cheetos, Little Debbie or Hostess cakes, boxed mac and cheese, and fast food.”
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Additionally, Hartley provided her thoughts on what might be the key to the deliciousness and satisfaction of such basic and inexpensive food. “Part of the satisfaction behind "poor people food" can be the nostalgia,” she started. “Many of these foods are things we grew up eating and may have an emotional connection to. Also, these foods can just be objectively tasty and satisfying!”
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“How we view food in terms of quality and nutrition is heavily wrapped up in class assessments. "Foodie" culture often looks down upon "poor people foods" as being lower quality, or compares them to a more expensive version of the same food,” Rachel emphasized. “For example, if you were to put a bowl of Velveeta mac and cheese up against a restaurant's version, made with 3 different cheeses and a crispy panko topping, sure, I think most (but not all!) people would pick the fancy mac and cheese. But that doesn't mean the boxed mac and cheese isn't also delicious, not to mention much more accessible!”
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Now, good news to such food lovers: “Because our conception of health and wellness is heavily wrapped up in status and class, cheap foods are often viewed as less healthy, when in reality they are almost always chemically and nutritionally the same or similar to their more expensive counterparts.
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Moreover, she provided a few examples: “Fruit juice from a carton and expensive cold-pressed juice are both just pressed fruit and fancy kettle chips and Lay's potato chips are both fried potatoes. Even when there is a nutrition difference, it doesn't justify categorizing one food as "good" and another as "bad.”
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