Amy Goodhew
Not everyone is a bleeding heart, pinko, lefty, latte sipping, organic food eating wimp.
Some people like their fast food, fast cars, beer bellies and high cholesterol. They choose to live their lives eating sinful, but delicious takeaway, running all three televisions simultaneously and not recycling their packaging but defiantly keep only one bin. Some people believe that this is in no way contradictory to their faith.
These people live in fear of their identities being revealed for the swarm of natural deodorant wearing ferals who would hound them out of town, waving rainbow banners and chaining themselves to letterboxes in protest.
We interviewed one such Christian consumer about their habits and beliefs (and have withheld their identity for their own protection).
What is your typical diet?
(long exhalation) Well I usually get breakfast on the run because I like to sleep in. On the way to work I’ll grab Maccas or a bacon and egg roll with my coffee. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day so I like to fill up. Morning tea I’ll grab a couple of bickies from the tea room or I keep a private stash of things to eat in my filing cabinet like Oreos, choc chip cookies or chips so I might have some of those. The café I get my coffee from sells Oreo brownies so I might pick up one of those too.
For lunch I eat out and I generally eat whatever I feel like that day – Indian, Chinese, KFC, Oportos, McDonalds or a foot-long sub with meatballs and extra cheese.
By the afternoon I’m often flagging so I’ll pop downstairs to get a V or a coke and a chocolate bar or pastry, perhaps I’ll pick up an extra for the train trip home.
I work hard so when I get home I’m usually too knackered to cook much but I’ll order in Thai takeaway or a butter chicken with cheese and garlic naan or my favourite pizza with fizzy drink. There’s something about pizza that just goes beautifully with a Coke or Sunkist.
We usually keep ice cream and puddings in the freezer so we’ll whack one of those in the microwave to finish.
I’d say that’s more or less average. On the weekends we might go out for lunch to treat ourselves and have pasta or fish and chips or have an ice cream on the beach.
Do you eat fast food because of time constraints, good taste, inability to cook, or other?
All of the above! Life is so busy, it’s hard to find the time and energy it takes to prepare healthy food, not just for that night but for the next day for lunch as well. If you end up making that effort and then it doesn’t taste as good as what you could just order in for half the effort and price it quickly becomes apparent what the better choice is.
The bottom line is, we appreciate other things in life more than grocery shopping, cooking and then going grocery shopping again. There are other things we’d rather be doing.
To what extent do you think that consumerism is an anti-Christian activity?
Not at all. I don’t believe that consumerism is a bad thing, consumerism has done wonderful things in the world. Free trade has lifted millions of people out of poverty and capitalism rebuilt the world after the World Wars. How is choice a bad thing? All these products we have provide employment for people, keep our economy afloat and people choose to buy it. Nowhere in the Bible does it say "thou shalt not eat fast food".
Do you have any moral, ethical or religious concerns about fast food conglomerates?
No. Our wealth and our range of consumer choices are blessings. We’re not caricatures, we don’t hoard up wealth for ourselves–we’re generous in our gifts to the church and just try and have a healthy relationship with money; that attitude extends to fast food conglomerates. Look at McDonalds–they have Ronald McDonald house, they have the healthy choices menu and they produce a lot of the food in Australia– where’s the problem? I believe people just don’t like fast food conglomerates on principle, not because they’re actually a bad thing. They’re just a company, trying to offer services and make profit at the end of the day, just like all of us.
Do other well-meaning Christian types ever try to talk you out of your habits?
All the time! That’s why this interview is anonymous. It’s the hip thing right now to go shopping at the farmers' market and do yoga and have lots of food allergies. It’s not socially acceptable anymore to just enjoy the taste and convenience of fast food. The funny thing is, there must be a lot of us because these fast food places are still running at a profit! If you like eating lots of chocolate and hamburgers, people assume you must have deeper psychological issues, not that you just like the taste and don’t really care if you get fat.
What do you think Jesus would say about your consumerism?
I don't think he'd say too much and, besides, he was into food. Look at the loaves and the fishes; he fed the 5,000 pretty quickly... fast food if ever I saw it!
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written by Phillip , September 15, 2009
Great piece, however I beg to differ on the bit on consumerism not being a problem. To the contrary, consumerism, I believe is a huge problem, particularly here in Australia, but also in the U.S in some respects. It's unfortunately a sad fact that, quite often we are confronted with ads advertising the latest fashion, get-rich-quick schemes, etc, when we should be learning the opposite, modesty, so that we can assist our Aboriginal peoples, and also the Third World. Congrats on an as always, an awesome website!! Keep up the good work. Phillip.
written by Sean , September 25, 2009
I think I put on twenty kilos just reading this.
In the anonymous Christian's defence: fat and sugar really are the Christian vices. This guy/girl is probably a virgin, who doesn't smoke or drink, or gamble or swear or murder, or partake in any other kind of heathen recreation. Food is how Christians have fun. What else are we going to do? Eat vegetables and read? Please. I love to read and I don't even read.
Look, we can slam this nameless, bible-out-of-context-quoting, cholesterol absorbing, third-world exploiting, global-warming-causing worker bee all day long, and have fun doing it, but what's going to change? How do you change a freak like this? Give them a box of Scarborough Fair Earl Grey and make them watch the movie Trade? We are amazingly distant from any of the consequences our consumerism causes. We are convinced that when we buy t-shirts and jeans for five dollars we have given some unfortunate Chinese urchin an honest dollar to work for.
Until billows of red dust colour the sky and everyone wakes up knowing the world has been burnt out by our insatiable appetites, they just won't know/care any better. Oh wait. That happened yesterday. And it scared the pants off of me. So I bought a new pair, for five bucks - bargain - and ate some M&M's to settle myself down. Nice website by the way.
written by Paul Smith , November 04, 2009
As a gay man who refuses to accept that my life style is contrary to Christian faith, I am not going to tell TuCc that s/he doesn’t understand what it means to be a Christian. God doesn’t care what you eat (see Peter's vision in the Acts of the Apostles) but God does care for the poor - including the poorly informed.
Consumerism anti-Christian?
TuCc is confusing consumerism with capitalism. It was the latter that lifted millions out of poverty etc etc. Consumerism, on the other hand determines that products that return the highest profit are produced in preference to what is actually needed. How is choice a bad thing? It is a bad thing when the choice is between several brands of luxury goods (most of what we consume in the developed world) for those who can afford them, at the expense of what is really needed by the overwhelming majority of people on the planet.
Moral, ethical or religious concerns about FF conglomerates
Let me declare an interest here. I travel extensively and frequently and look for the golden arches for coffee and light snacks. But I don’t allow the existence of Ronald McDonald House to diminish my awareness of the issues that call into question the impact of the fast food industry on small business in the towns I pass through, potato farmers in Tasmania - not to mention indigenous people in Brazil - and the blood streams of anyone who uncritically consumes such products. I benefit from the convenience of McDonalds AND I support stricter regulation of the fast food industry on principal.
Taking a stand on principle is the point. You can argue that any and every company or industry does some good. The alcohol industry sponsors sport. Casinos contribute funds to assisting problem gamblers. Even cigaret companies engage in philanthropy (Philip Morris)! It is a matter of principle that companies involved in gambling and supplying addictive drugs are held in low regard and subjected to scrutiny and increasingly rigorous regulation. It is a matter of principle that the fast food industry is next in line for the test of its social responsibility.
Intervention of well meaning types (Christian or otherwise)
This is such a parody that I can’t believe that TuCc actually exists. On the other hand it would be so ethically offensive to make something like this up that I also can’t believe that the people running this site would concoct such an interview just to get people to respond. So on the assumption that you really do exist, TuCc, you are totally justified in not caring about your food preferences being socially unacceptable; but believe me, when (not if) you do get fat, you will care!
What would Jesus say?
This is the bit that worries me most. Get fat TuCc, by all means! But please don’t trivialise Jesus. Or was that supposed to be a joke? Excuse me if I say I suspect not. You said earlier, Nowhere in the Bible does it say "thou shalt not eat fast food". It does say, however, “Thou shalt not bear false witness.”
Love ya, but. Eh?
Paul
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