Absolutely nothing I've seen anywhere justifies the idea that access to food is the problem. In most cultures, you don't need cooking classes because the food is ingrained into their culture, and recipes are passed down. Americans have a much weaker link to their heritage. You might know a few dishes, but in my experience, absolutely nobody knows how to cook.

By cook, I don't mean "can add one box of prepared goods to another box of prepared goods with a can of prepared goods on the side", I mean buying meat, veggies, fruit, and grains and cooking a dish from home, mostly from scratch.

edit: 13 million Americans are in food deserts. If the problem were that small, it'd be similar in size to people who are addicted to substances other than alcohol. This is affecting almost everyone. There MUST be another, bigger solution.

As Gordon Ramsay put it: "Most people don't cook, they heat their food"

Look up food deserts. Access is absolutely a problem.

I know - the extreme majority of them are in rural areas where you'd have to drive a couple hours to get to a grocery store. My MIL lives in one.

Guess how they get most food? All that super-cheap rural land.

Are you suggesting that impoverished people with low income jobs and extreme hours should spend some of their missing time … farming?

It's an observation, not a suggestion. That's literally how many low-income (not impoverished) people live in rural areas. They grow (and hunt) some food at home but not enough to be self-sufficient, and also have a regular job. Sometimes those jobs involve working long hours at peak times. This is a pretty normal lifestyle.

Yes. A garden is a healthy and productive way to spend your free time. If you have land, EVERYONE should be growing some food.

What are you suggesting they do instead? Scroll tiktok?

>and extreme hours

This is not the problem in rural communities.

The most famously true thing about rural areas is that they’re all exactly the same and the people in them experience identical struggles.

Ah, so that’s how you know they’re all short on time

I think canned food can already be considered ultra-processed if it contains any preservatives.

Canned food such as canned tomatoes or canned pickles (if pickled with vinegar/salt/spices) is not considered ultra-processed food. It's considered processed food and can be considered as part of a healthy diet. Well, same could be said about UPF -- your health is unlikely to detoriate long term if you have 1 frozen meal per week. It's just quantity that matters and lack of moderation.