Over the past two weeks the Register has participated vicariously in the one-month SNAP Challenge by interviewing locals who are either on food stamps or are seeing what it’s like to be on a food budget determined by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
For those willing to take this short walk in the shoes of the poor, they often trip up on the stipulation that they cannot dine out at fast food or regular restaurants. Per SNAP guidelines, such enterprises are not allowed to accept SNAP payments. The reason, of course, is that it’s more expensive to eat out than to make a meal from scratch. And though it’s not stated, it’s implied that cooking from scratch is healthier. One reason typical restaurant fare tastes so good is that it’s loaded with salt, sugar and fat.
Even so — or because our palates have become addicted to salty and sugary food — dining out has become an American way of life. According to the Department of Commerce, Americans now spend more eating out than they do buying groceries. Millennials, those between 18 and 34, have tilted the spending scales in this direction, generally favoring fast food, delis, or ethnic food options.
Iolans are no exception.
After 10 days on the SNAP Challenge, Ashley Widener called me to say she was quitting because the program was too confining for her young family.
Denying her daughter Lydia, age 2, an ice cream cone was the tipping point. “I don’t like the idea of her missing out on things,” she posted on the SNAP Challenge blog.
I told Ashley I admired her effort to partake in the Challenge — which in itself is a willingness to become more aware of the plight of many of our neighbors — and also of how she is learning to cook and become more mindful of healthy eating habits.
TEACHING people how to cook with fresh ingredients is a goal of Debbie Bearden who serves as a coordinator of the local Farmers Market on the Iola square every Thursday evening and in the parking lot of Orscheln’s on Saturday mornings.
Bearden said her biggest obstacle is convincing people that fresh ingredients taste good.
The trouble, she said, is that a diet of only meat and potatoes or processed foods has “corrupted” their idea of what tastes good.
“Our taste buds are educated by what we give them,” she said. “If they are not given the opportunity to eat fresh food, they don’t know what they’re missing.
“They have not developed a palate that will accept fresh vegetables.”
Bearden occasionally gives cooking demonstrations to illustrate the ease of cooking with fresh vegetables.
“Often, people will say it’s too much work,” she said of assembling a variety of vegetables. “They don’t want to take the time.”
