Nutrivida
Yesterday I wanted to solve several problems at once and the key was to find a good cup of coffee. A strong one. My favorite place from last year, La Manchita, closed a few months ago (probable because I was not around), so I headed down San Jeronimo and checked into a new restaurant, La Torta. At 10:30 A.M. it was deserted, except for the restaurant dog who proved quite friendly. After a minute or so and a few happy barks from the dog, a nice, middle-aged woman appeared to give me the news that no, she had no coffee, but she did have tea, a special tea.
As it turned out, Carmelita, my new friend, opened this La Torta in August. It has breakfast, but not the traditional breakfast, she told me. This breakfast was highly nutritious and very healthy. As was the tea I then drank. As was the juice, derived from aloe, that she gave me to try. I tried it. Something slightly lemony, slightly medicinal, slightly no se.
¨Where is it made?¨ I asked.
¨In a factory in the United States,¨ Carmelita said. ¨It is a nutrition company called HerbalLife.¨
I´d heard of HerbalLife before, but never really knew anything about it. In my mind it fell into a category that included Amway and Megachurches. But here it was in Cuernavaca; Mexico, spreading nutritious living.
Finding evidence of U.S. culture here takes about as much trouble as getting out of bed in the morning, sometimes less. When I look out of the window from my room in the residence for directors, I can see a machine that vends Coca Cola.
But, it always leaves me bemused when I run into examples not of mass U.S. culture but of the American self-help culture. Like the Mormon missionaries you can sometimes spot on the streets, these seem like cultural imports that have no ready audience. As I´ve written elsewhere on Blue Monkey, self-help, therapy, and evangelical religion all have the same roots, or if not exactly the same their roots intermingle inextricably. They all offer a kind of salvation that is radically individualistic. If I change my [fill in the blank] I will have [fill in the blank]. If I change my life, go to a particular church, worship etc., I will have eternal life and [and, according to many TV evangelists and the Latin American Pare de Sufrir, lots of material possessions]. If I change how I deal with my emotions, then I will have more friends and also be able to influence people.
In the case of nutritional supplements, the message is obvious. Change how you eat and you will become healthier. Yet in Mexico every part of the meal has some direct connection to tradition, custom, family. Eating has no individual core to it--it is fundamentally communal. So, certainly some Mexicans (like many of us gringos) could benefit from eating less. But, to revolutionize the diet, to use different condiments and comestibles seems about as easy a sell here as, well, Mormonism.
Comments
Fascinating read, Dr. Spurlock (as always), though I admit I am always afraid to comment for fear that I won't do your reflections any justice.
Just a couple of questions:
Keeping in mind the individualist salvation, is it possible that (and I will shamelessly use Marxian terms) the substructures of humanity are now starting to radically be consumed by the superstructures of humanity?
It seems as though (correct me if I diverge) religious understanding -- within cultures exposed to consumer capitalistic economic development -- is being fragmented (for example, arbitrary and individual salvation as opposed to salvation from the human condition, salvation of the Messianic age, etc) by the cultural logic that Late Capitalism is thought to bring.
I'm starting to be curious about which came first, the American culture war or the rising acceptance of postmodernity? If postmodernism can be seen as arbitrary reasoning, then postmodern thought seems a lot like Red State/Blue State reasoning.
It seems as though the problem is our cultural logic is starting to become more aligned with postmodern understandings, that there is no approachable answer, that we can only know our values and choose whether or not we find them valuable enough to impose on other people's values.
Could it be that the over-emphasis on arbitrary values is contributing to the evangelical cause?
That people are aligning themselves with certain modes of religious expression because they value the same things (literal scripture readings, anti-abortion legislation, acceptance of homophobia, promise of individual salvation) and not because they believe that their conclusions are true or just?
So, I wonder if the polarity of perception about the concept of American Values(TM) has anything to do with the assumptions held about salvation? Perhaps we're starting to form postmodern social/cultural templates (aka: megachurches) by aligning our values rather than questioning our values and seeking to know their effects on other people's rights, welfare and world justice.
In any case, it's a selfish pursuit to impose on people that the evangelical heaven is worth making life on Earth Hell.
Posted by: Evan | January 20, 2007 2:48 AM