Much of the food we purchase and consume every
day is either processed or filled with artificial flavors. As it states in Artifice and Authenticity:

“Nature is unreliable and inconstant. Fruits
and vegetables will only be in season during certain times of the year, and
their quality will vary from crop to crop. Artificial fruit and vegetable
flavors are available year-round and are always at their peak. Fruits and
vegetables grow old and decay, they carry dirt, and often have unpalatable
peels. Their synthetic essences, in contrast, are pristine and unchanging: ‘pure’
flavor.” (Classen, Howe, et al. 338)

            As one of the wealthiest nations in
the world, it is surprising that we don’t choose to eat healthier, considering
we can afford it. We have resources such as money, land, and farms, yet we
still choose processed goods over the real thing. The authors state that these
synthetic essences are ‘pure’, however, by even calling them “synthetic essences”
they are contradicting that label. A “‘pure’ flavor” (Classen, Howe, et al.

338) is not one that has been processed in a lab to mimic the real thing, a “‘pure’
flavor” (Classen, Howe, et al. 338) is one that comes from nature itself. Although
the creation of artificial flavoring is not a completely bad thing, I still
find it extremely hard to understand why we are choosing to consume an
artificial diet, when we have access to more real, unprocessed foods than any
other nation. Artificial flavors are preventing us from taking advantage of
what we already have, and soon it will be too late.