What is healthy eating? It may seem like the answer is simple, since information on the subject is everywhere. However, we will see that the answer to this question has been shaped by social processes over time, and in the case of the gastronomic industry, it responds to more complex phenomena.
Everyone has a more or less formed idea of what healthy eating is, regardless of whether it is scientifically validated. Common answers include concepts like balance, variety, and equilibrium, as well as those involving restrictions, food origins, and other considerations. By analyzing how the gastronomic industry has adapted these variations to the foods it offers, we realize that conceptions are as diverse as the attributes and impacts these attributes generate for their clients.
In the 1960s, France saw the development of the so-called Nouvelle Cuisine, which, among other things, incorporated small portions of lean foods cooked by methods such as steam or sous-vide, opposing the classic French sauces, many of which were based on fat. Nouvelle Cuisine influenced many trends that still persist in some restaurants: from the famous tiny portions that force diners to order several dishes or even grab some tacos after leaving the restaurant to feel satisfied, to the reduction of fats due, in part, to the findings of the era—now proven to lack scientific basis—regarding the potential health risks of consuming all types of fats. As it became clear that fats were not as harmful, some points were reversed.
It is not that the gastronomic industry responds directly to nutritional science findings, but this is one of many factors considered in establishing trends. It also responds to macrosocial processes, such as globalization. Beyond the well-worn example that nowadays there is a McDonaldization of eating habits, focusing only on this phenomenon is reductive. The way foods are produced and their provenance, along with free trade policies, generated a series of movements reflected in how part of the gastronomic industry shifted the concept of healthy eating toward the origin of the products used in their dishes. Thus, a whole niche developed, ranging from 'authentic' to 'healthy,' passing through 'natural, organic,' and 'homemade' in a single dish. In this way, processes like the slow food movement and the origin of ingredients became synonymous with healthy eating according to some conceptions.
Within this multiplicity of examples, there is also the deeply rooted movement within large restaurant chains to offer 'healthy' alternatives on their menus. These alternatives include everything from substituting fries with a salad to indicating the number of calories in a dish on the menu, or creating a special section for 'healthy' options. However, if we were to focus solely on caloric intake in a restaurant, we would have to say goodbye to a carbonara pasta made with the best parmigiano reggiano with denomination of origin, even if it were prepared using artisanal methods. These kinds of contradictions suggest that, to consider what is 'healthy' eating, we must first question our conceptions of the term and then consider the complexity of factors involved, beyond the determinisms that nutritional science sometimes falls into.
— This article was originally published in Spanish by Liliana Martínez Lomelí. Translation generated with AI from the original text.