Shaun Groves
Seth Godin lists the ingredients of Kraft Guacamole:
WATER, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED COCONUT AND SOYBEAN OIL, CORN SYRUP, WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE (FROM MILK), FOOD STARCH MODIFIED, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF POTATOES, SALT, AVOCADO, DEFATTED SOY FLOUR, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, TOMATOES, SODIUM CASEINATE, VINEGAR, LACTIC ACID, ONIONS, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL, GELATIN, XANTHAN GUM, CAROB BEAN GUM, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, SPICE, WITH SODIUM BENZOATE AND POTASSIUM SORBATE AS PRESERVATIVES, GARLIC, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, CITRIC ACID, YELLOW 6, YELLOW 5, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, BLUE 1, ARTIFICIAL COLOR.
Then laments…
As you can see from this list of the ingredients in order of quantity, avocado is the ninth ingredient by weight, coming in at less than 2%, less, in fact, than the salt.
I think I understand why the folks at Kraft prefer to use modified food starch instead of avocados (cheaper, easier to source, keeps better) but what I don’t understand is why people buy it more than once.
He wonders if it’s just part of human nature to want what’s processed and bad for us, not at all authentic. And throws his hands up without arriving at an answer that satisfies himself. But his answers satisfy me and make me think beyond Kraft.
When I married Becky I’d only tried the mostly non-avacado guacamole. I crinkled my nose up when she made me her own version one day. Large green chunks. Pieces of cilantro big enough to see without a magnifying glass. Diced tomatoes. On and on. A half hour and two grocery sacks later, she made me try the strange looking stuff. And I haven’t put Kraft’s concoction in my mouth since.
So I’m wondering if things get dumbed down, bastardized, injected with artificiality first of all when pragmatism or profits become values we cherish more than quality, truth, craftsmanship, investment of time and on and on. Then, I wonder, if the fake stuff begins to become the norm when one person grows up having never tasted the real thing. Fake is normal.
I’m thinking about the two worlds my brain lives in the most: Music and Religion. I grew up listening to Top 40 radio. Good. Filling. But not great music to the chefs of the music industry who’ve heard and even made better. It took being served up earful after earful of savory music from other cultures and times by teachers and friends to change my appetite, or at least expand it.
And studying the history of the Christian religion for the last couple years has convinced me the faith of my fathers is not the faith my father shared with me. WHich isn’t his fault. It evolved long before he was born, and still is, in both wonderful and disastrous ways. He grew up thinking it was the original recipe. But as I’ve had tastes of authentic Christianity I’ve become less and less thrilled with the more profitable and pragmatic brand manufactured for mass consumption.
What’s missing from my faith and my music that I don’t even realize I’m missing?
Seth Ward says:
Well, it is hard to speak for someone else and tell you what you are missing. So maybe I will start with me and see it that relates.
For starters I’m beginning to think that there is more to the Lord’s supper than pass the stale crackers and Welch’s. Maybe Zwingli missed the 1500 year old boat on that one.
btw, I like the new word verification thing.
The regular one is a dyslexic man’s nightmare.
Shaun Groves says:
“What’s missing from my faith and my music that I don’t even realize I’m missing?”
Rhetorical…mostly.
Seth Ward says:
sucker!
Stephen @ Rebelling Against Indifference says:
Seth, I’m with you on that one. I had an interesting conversation yesterday in the studio with a Catholic monk I was working for (John Michael Talbot) who mentioned that the word Trans (from transubstantiation) means ‘beyond’. The term was created in the early church when there were groups teaching that Christ was not the Son of God, and the whole point was to declare that it was a mystery, beyond our understanding. And then we have Zwingli come along and say that there is no mystery, that the Lord’s Supper is simply a memorial.
I think there is tremendous value in learning what the early church believed, and why they stated their beliefs the way they did.
Seth Ward says:
About the music thing. I think musicology is one of the most interesting subjects to study. I read this book by an ethnomusicologist named Henry Blacking called “Soundly Organized Humanity” I discoverd that we view music totally different than certain non-western civ. cultures. There are cultures and tribes in Africa that wouldn’t know what “music” is in the way that we think about it. We could identify it when we hear them make it but it is so a part of their culture and commuicating dialect that it is not compartmentalized as a separate “thing”. For instance they will sit in the woods and “sing” with the sounds that they hear.
Anyways, just thought that was interesting.
Cool post.
Brody Harper says:
I like avocado’s.
Seth Ward says:
Stephen, just caught your comment. I like that idea of “trans” beyond. Really cool. I never thought about it that way but is really is like the mystery is removed. It seems like the lines between Cons and Trans are barely there.
FzxGkJssFrk says:
I like your analogy, even though I’m not a huge guacamole fan to begin with. My wife makes good “real” guacamole, too.
This post reminds me a little bit of Rod Dreher’s “Crunchy Conservative” blog. You might find his perspective interesting.