Lunchables: Everything that is wrong with America in a box

By: Danya Rumore

Posted: 2/9/07

Amid a highly intriguing discussion about ideological state apparatuses and "inculturation" in my nutritional anthropology class last Tuesday, I had an amazing and somewhat disturbing epiphany. It suddenly became clear to me that everything that is wrong with American society can actually be packaged in an innovatively designed cardboard and plastic container about the size of a large book. And it is. We call it "Lunchables": the epitome of America's disconnect and dysfunctionality.

Let me begin my tirade by introducing the concepts "ideological state apparatus" and "inculturation." We are all familiar with the idea of totalitarianism and repressive state apparatuses in which ideologies and socialization are products of force: think Nazi Germany or the Taliban. An ideological state apparatus (ISA) is a slightly more surreptitious and subversive way of indoctrinating. The ISA functions through our education system, through media, through markets and firms. It twists and turns your mind without you knowing it. It is McDonald's and Abercrombie and Fitch. It is the ads you see on the television and the cars you see on the street. The ideological state apparatus, prevalent in democratic societies, gives constituents a sense of independence and yet socializes and cultures us to its designs - this is the process of inculturation.

Here in America we are the products of an ideological state apparatus that inculturates us to disconnect, be consumers, be individualistic, be human-doers rather than human beings. All of these attributes (and many more) are all conveyed via the ISA, pre-packaged and ready to go in a neat little container with "Lunchables" scribbled on the front.

What may seem like an innocent and oh-so-convenient meal option is really a subtle tool to reinforce and deepen many of America's perhaps not-so-wonderful values. In the carefully segregated little package that is Lunchables lies a statement about what Americans are and what Americans should be. Who would have imagined that a couple of crackers, some "pasteurized processed mozzarella cheese product" (is that gross or what?), and some unidentifiable meat surrounded by petroleum based plastic could be the uniting factor that binds Americans together?

For the minimal price of $2.09 you can buy a Lunchables meal and can support a dysfunctional nutrition system, a broken capitalistic system, a wasteful consumerism system, even an unsustainable and utterly anti-environment system. And to top that off: you can supersize it (although that will cost you $3.79)!

Nutritionally, this popular "food" option is rather worthless. Sure, there are plenty of calories in a Lunchables package: the standard Luchables meal with a Capri Sun "juice" tallies a grand total of 750 calories (about 75 percent of a young child's daily recommended intake). This means that if you send your children to school with Lunchables you hardly need to feed them for the rest of the day. That's convenient. And if this isn't frightening enough, consider the fact that this standard Lunchables package provides 17 grams of fat (75 percent of the recommended daily intake of fat for a child) and about 56 grams of sugar, mostly refined. It also contains less than one gram of fiber. You don't need to be a nutrition major to find this slightly disconcerting. Not only are Lunchables helping us raise a generation of obese and malnourished children (meaning they are getting too many calories with too few nutrients), but the packaged products are also encouraging a trend of "beige-itarianism" (where's my Wonderbread, mom?) Oh. By the way: isn't it wonderful that we now have 10 percent juice in our "juice?"

Not only do Lunchables reaffirm the American disconnect from food and nutritional quality, they also help us become better consumers. A tool of the ideological state apparatus that seeks to mold American society in the form of capitalism, Lunchables teach us to forget about the value of preparing our own meals in the name of consumerism. We no longer need to think about what we are eating - we can now buy a pre-made package of food that MUST be good for us (because Big Business is always looking out for us, right?) Lunchables are an inexpensive and easy fix that demonstrate to the common man that food is cheap and unimportant. Lunchables seek to convey the message that food should not require time and energy, food should not look like food… by the way, what is that meat? If you make your child a brown bag lunch with a whole-wheat sandwich and an apple, you and your child will be scorned for not conforming. Even the less well-off kids at school have Lunchables thanks to the current food stamp program that covers purchases of Lunchables and related processed food items.

Lunchables teach us to be human-doers rather than human-beings, feeding the cycle of capitalism and driving us to work more and be less. In the neatly divided plastic Lunchables tray lies a message that parents should worry less about what their children are eating and more about getting to work and making more money (to buy more Lunchables, of course!) The speed and efficiency implied in the subdivided meal are like whips, driving American parents to perform rather than love, to earn rather than care. Also embedded in the tidy little separated dishes of crackers, cheese products and meat-like stuff (plus a Butterfinger, if you are lucky!) is a drive toward individualism. Children with Lunchables are not dependent on their parents to make them sandwiches - as long as a child can maneuver past all of the packaging on his/her Lunchables, he/she can do as he/she pleases with the provided assortment of food-like products. Our kids can be fat and unhealthy, but they will be individuals.

To add frosting to the cake, the entire premise of Lunchables lies in excessive, absurd amounts of packaging. If you think about it, it is rather ridiculous to encapsulate a couple of crackers and some not-at-all-nutritious cheese and wanna-be meat in so much petroleum derived plastic and dyed cardboard. Granted, all of that cardboard suffices quite well as a billboard for advertising brand names to our children (have you noticed that the Lunchables box sports more brand name advertisements than a pro-league stadium?) I don't even want to imagine how many calories go into producing your standard Lunchables package, but I have a pretty strong inclination that the energy budget isn't in favor of sustainability. Not to mention the waste created for the sake of the nutritionless meal …

Eric and I beat the war drum of awareness, asking everyone at very least to question the ideological state apparatus that surrounds and molds you. If you don't like it, change it. When it comes to food, I agree with Michael Pollan and prescribe one simple rule: "Don't eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." (By the way for all other Michael Pollan groupies out there: MP just published another fantastic work in the NYTimes called "Unhappy Meals." I recommend everyone read it!) If nothing else, next time you are at the grocery store deliberating over what to buy, recognize that you can either ratify or rebel against the ideological state apparatus. And eat food. Real food.

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Danya Rumore is a senior in environmental science. The opinions expressed in her column do not necessarily represent the opinions of The Daily Barometer staff. Rumore can be reached at forum@dailybarometer.com.