THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 30, 1994 TAG: 9410290425
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: THE VIEW FROM DOWN UNDER
SOURCE: BY SARAH MISKIN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
Sarah Miskin is a Fulbright Professional Exchange Scholar from New Zealand working as a reporter for The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star. She will be writing occasional stories detailing her experiences in America. In today's installment, Sarah visits a supermarket.
STANDING IN FRONT of a huge array of cereals in the supermarket, I hear the demanding tones of a toddler.
``Oatmeal,'' she says.
``You've got oatmeal, honey,'' her parents answer.
``Oatmeal,'' she says again.
``OK, we'll try this one,'' they say, wandering off with the little girl's selection.
Me? I'm still stuck trying to choose among what appears to be a million brands of breakfast food, in an amazing range of colors and shapes. All I want is muesli, preferably toasted, with unprocessed oats and grains, dried fruits, and a sprinkling of nuts.
Instead I can have Cocoa Pebbles, Count Chocula, Lucky Charms, Magic Stars, Pop Tarts Crunch, Coco-roos, Frosted Mini-wheats, Smacks, Apple Jacks, and Fruit Loops, all of which seem to be high-processed. Many of them promise me a shot of ``essential'' vitamins and iron, but I have my doubts. They look more like cereal killers.
I find the Cheerios brand amusing. In New Zealand, cheerios are small sausages in bright red casings that are served at children's parties with lashings of Watties tomato sauce or what Americans call ketchup.
At home we have about half the range of cereals, which still gives us plenty of choice. We have cornflakes and varieties of processed cereals, but the most popular are mueslis and Weetbix, which looks something like the American Weetabix. No self-respecting Kiwi kid, however, would expect his Weetbix to have rounded ends!
My senses reeling from cereal assault, I ponder how a country that does such good things for its children as slow-speed and drug-free zones around schools can then feed them such stuff for breakfast.
Kenneth Spruill, assistant store manager of the Farm Fresh at Ward's Corner, tells me cereal is one of the store's biggest sellers and it is kids, not parents, who choose what cereals get taken home.
``Regardless of how healthy or unhealthy it is, it's about what's in the box. What prizes they have, the coupons, the bright colors, their favorite superhero on the front: that's what kids are attracted to.''
Spruill says he has tried to buy ``healthy'' cereal for his son, but he won't eat it.
Finally making a selection (some sort of granola), I move on but stop, jaw dropped, in almost every aisle, which is why it takes me 2 1/2 hours to get around the store.
I realize I could survive for my three-month stay without ever again touching ingredients in their raw form. All I'd need in the kitchen are water and a microwave.
For breakfast I can jam waffles or ``pop tarts'' in the toaster before drowning them in syrups. I could lunch on single serves of foods in foam containers. For dinner, I could raid the freezer department for everything from ``lean'' cuisine to budget gourmet foods. For dessert, I could thaw sweet pies, muffins, rolls or pastries and top them with frozen toppings or something unidentifiable in shades of green and sort-of pink from the fresh salads bar.
With much relief, I discover some New Zealand comfort foods such as canned baked beans and spaghetti. The biggest brand of these at home is endorsed by members of the All Blacks, our rugby team (world champions when they get their act together), but I cannot see them endorsing the shark, teddies, Garfield, or Sesame Street spaghetti shapes I see here.
Nor can I see them endorsing the bright orange bricks I find passing for cheddar cheese.
In the fruit and vegetable section, Braeburn apples from home look somewhat jaded next to their highly polished American cousins. I find a small notice saying: ``These fruits and vegetables have been coated with a food-grade vege-petroleum-beeswax and/or lac-resin based wax or resin to maintain freshness.''
Does this stuff wash off?
I cannot help but think of the joke from home about undertakers going out of business because the level of preservatives in today's foods means bodies won't need embalming.
Here I believe this could be true. by CNB