The Globe and Mail (Canada)
January 12, 2009 Monday
HOW LOW WILL WE GO?;
Sorry, foodies: Canned meat, condensed soup and Jell-O are making a comebac=
k
BYLINE: ZOSIA BIELSKI
SECTION: GLOBE LIFE; REALLY CHEAP EATS: RECESSION HITS THE KITCHEN; =
Pg.
L1
LENGTH: 960 words
Wal-Mart's hors d'oeuvres are flying off the shelves,
Campbell's condensed soup is through the roof and Velveeta is making a kill=
ing.
Despite foodies who declared it dead a decade ago,
"lowbrow" food is making a comeback.
Preferring to stay in instead of eating out, some Canadi=
ans
are returning to nutritionally dubious "comfort food" such as
Wal-Mart Canada saw its sales jump 9.4 per cent between =
late
August and Oct. 31. The numbers were largely driven by higher sales of food=
at
Wal-Mart's 39 supercentres, which include grocery stores.
At $4.96 for a box of about 15, Wal-Mart's breaded hors
d'oeuvres (think Jalapeno Dippers with Spicy Thai Sauce) have been selling
well, as have two-pound bags of cooked shrimp priced at $8.88.
At Kraft Foods, macaroni and cheese, Delissio Pizza, "processed cheese product"
Velveeta and nostalgic favourites such as Jell-=
O and
Kool-Aid are enjoying strong sales, spokeswoman Lynne =
Galia
said. Kraft's net revenues increased by 19.4 per cent b=
etween
July and late September.
"We certainly are benefiting as consumers eat at
home," Ms. Galia said. "We feel that =
in
this challenging environment we're well positioned to win."
Shortly after the market crash, Campbell's Soup posted a
major profit gain: In the United States, broth sales jumped by 23 per cent,
condensed soup sales by 14 per cent and ready-to-serve soup by 7 per cent. =
"Historically, people have viewed Campbell's soups =
as a
great value in both good and tough economic times; that fact is as true tod=
ay
as any time in Campbell's history," said Anthony =
Sanzio,
group director of corporate and brand communications for Campbell Soup Co. =
"During times of uncertainty, people naturally seek=
the
familiar, they seek things they can trust, such =
as
comfort food."
Mr. Sanzio said Canadians are
using soups such as cream of mushroom and cream of chicken to make casserol=
es,
and buying the company's microwavable soups to fill out their brown-bag
lunches.
He noted that the company recorded a 30-per-cent increas=
e in
visitors to the Campbell's Kitchen website from last September. This Septem=
ber,
people printed out nearly 300,000 recipes: The No. 1 search was for crock p=
ot
recipes.
Cara Miller, a mother of four from Saint John, says she =
is
having trouble buying healthy food for her kids.
"I tend to browse all the flyers of my grocery stor=
es
and I plan my meals around what's on sale that week. They really are pushing
the pre-packaged foods, like Lipton Sidekicks, instant potatoes and a lot of
canned goods. It gets frustrating. ... I do use a lot of those convenience
foods, and I want to get back to the basics. But when I go into the grocery
store, the prices are astronomical. A bag of potatoes is $7 for 10
pounds."
Ms. Miller, who keeps a parenting blog called Tales from=
the
Minivan and oversees the message boards on Canadianparents.com, said that
despite the recent drop in fuel costs, fresh fruits and veggies are getting
more expensive in her city.
"A lot of my friends and other Canadian parents tha=
t I
converse with on a daily basis, they're feeling that crunch. The prices keep
going up. ... I can go to the grocery store and if I buy four litres of milk it's costing me almost $7, but if I go=
buy
two-litre bottles of Coca Cola, it's going to c=
ost me
two and change. That's a problem that I have, and I think it's a problem for
society in general."
In the United States, Spam is a hot seller, with factory
workers putting in overtime to produce the canned meat product. The draw is
clear: Spam is vacuum-packed for a long lifespan, and cheap.
In Canada, some restaurants are also embracing a return =
to
lowbrow food, and slashing their prices. Mitzi's Sister in Toronto has repl=
aced
its weekly specials with a "recession bites" menu. Mains go for l=
ess
than $10, and dessert is $2.50.
The menu features retro classics such as sloppy joes, mac and cheese, mea=
tloaf,
potato latkes, grilled cheese sandwiches, beans and wieners, and bread pudd=
ing.
Owner Lesli Gaynor points ou=
t that
unlike Velveeta and the quivering Spam, which are highly processed and load=
ed
with additives, her food is homemade.
"I think the only thing you might be able to come w=
ith
as a criticism would be that we might have a higher fat content ... but we'=
re
not taking any product that is laden with salt and with chemicals."
Still, some health experts are growing concerned about t=
he
larger shift to commercially processed food, with its high levels of
preservatives, nitrates and saturated fats.
"As soon as you're into the processed foods you're
asking for health problems," said Christine Lydon=
,
a British Columbia-based nutrition expert and author of the upcoming book T=
en
Years Thinner.
Ms. Lydon recommends avoiding
anything that "comes out of a can" and is loaded with sodium, or =
has
been "ground up and mixed with cornmeal and turned into a meat-like
product."
Although she admits it is getting "harder to eat we=
ll
and eat cheap," Ms. Lydon points out that =
simple
carbohydrates such as macaroni, white bread and breakfast cereals are an
inefficient way to eat.
"White carbohydrates set up a vicious cycle: You ne=
ver
feel full. These are nutrient-poor, calorie-rich foods that are going to le=
ave
people hungry. If you're not getting adequate amounts of amino acids, essen=
tial
fatty acids and antioxidants, it leads to an inflammatory status that promo=
tes
diabetes, heart disease and high cholesterol.
"Everything can be tied back to how you process
foods."