I mean, I would prefer that food items come in more generic packages rather than them screaming in bright bold colors how great SALT + GREASE CRUNCH is the best thing that happened to humanity.

I'm not certain whether this is what you had in mind, but in the UK we have a green, amber, red (voluntary) labelling system that indicates fairly quickly at-a-glance how a food product fares in various nutritional dimensions: https://www.nutrition.org.uk/putting-it-into-practice/food-l...

That would mean that our supremarket shelves would be 1/5 of the size they are today. Who the hell needs 20 different yogurt made from cow milk?

There’s a reason we have them, and there’s a reason people buy them. I may be able to meet my nutritional needs on some proverbial Soylent green, but food also has social and psychological importance to humans too.

But here in Norway most supermarkets carry only one or two brands of yoghurt and I never feel any lack even though I am familiar with the ranges to be found in supermarkets in the UK.

So which is the tail and which the dog?

Stockholm's syndrome but for Oslo?

I agree packaging should be wayyyy more standardised (and more ecological). But that doesn't mean there shouldn't be only 2 types of yogurt.

FWIW I have a feeling when you buy food manufacturing and transport is the smallest parts of cost. Packaging and shelving are major ones. Kinda why you don't see large packaging, especially in Europe. Why does all toothpaste runs out in a month? I don't change my favourite brand for years..?

I think it would need to go beyond culture and regional boundaries to be declared an addiction. A lot of countries don't have sugar/fat/msg issues, that should at least hint at a more compounding set of issues.

Also arguably what some people see as a sugar crisis has more to do with the food industry landscape than the food components themselves. TBF finding a scapegoat is easier than dealing with complex root problems.

Funny you should mention that...

The "no" campaign said "Next they will come for your cervelas" (cervela = the Swiss version of a hot dog, highly processed meat which is considered a sacred cultural icon).

After the vote, the Young Greens were all like, "ok, next we will go for the cervela advertising!!1!"

Trolling boomers never gets old. :)