On Frozen Food

I used to be against the concept of frozen pre-cooked food that needed just baking/microwaving to be eaten. Figured it was against what foods were meant for, that it was dehumanising, that it was the epitome of the excesses of capitalism. Make people work so hard they don't have time to make their own food, and then sell them frozen glop that barely sustains them so they can go work for you the next day. Miserable.

After having tried trader Joe's frozen foods, watching a tonne of Japanese food docs, and enjoying some frozen garlic bread here and there my opinion's turned around. Frozen food is not bad, it's actually good for a food culture!

Hear me through. The Japanese eat a lot of frozen/pre-packaged foods. The aisles in 7-11's and Lawson's are filled with ready-to-eat packaged foods. Use the microwave right in the store, sit on the tables there, and on you go with a solid simple meal. And there's no one arguing that Japanese food culture is worse off because of this.

Frozen/packaged food forces people to see the potential of industrial food, and raised their expectations regarding real restaurant food. If the fifteen dollar meal plus tip at an Indian restaurant does no better than the three dollar frozen meal from TJ's, you begin wondering the point of the restaurant. You expect more from the place. Restaurants are forced to innovate, create, offer fresh food that only humans can produce, not robotic food. Because robots can do that for far cheaper already. It forces restaurants to humanise the food they sell.