Originally published October 4 2005
A look at how Americans begin to idolize certain foods
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Blogger Connie Bennet, author of Sugar Shock!, questions the enshrinement of fast food icons like the Slurpee and the impact of marketing and ad campaigns on public health issues.
How well I remember when I used to put certain desserts on a pedestal, too, so to speak.
"Is my beloved Slurpee looking to reinvent itself, Gatsby-like, as a pseudo-sophisticated drinkable dessert?
In the late '50s, a Kansas Dairy Queen owner named Omar Knedlik found his soda machine was on the fritz.
He tossed some bottles of pop in the freezer and discovered people went into conniptions for the slushy texture that resulted when the soda partially froze.
Writer Amsden then goes a bit overboard (but entertainly so) in an effort to pinpoint why Americans get so hooked on the slushy, sugary stuff.
Explaining the appeal of the Slurpee is a bit like explaining the appeal of pure oxygen or terrific sex: Those who don't get it are simply not to be trusted.
Slurpees are divine because of their unapologetic garishness, a giddy reminder that no amount of sugar is ever too much.
That the expression "brainfreeze"---meaning the needling headache brought on by drinking something too cold too quickly---was trademarked in 1994 says it all: The point is masochistic, to find pleasure in pain, to embrace evil over good."
"Michael Jackson reportedly plunked down $75.62 to install a Slurpee machine at Neverland Ranch.
Eleven million Slurpees are sold each month and hit the eager palate at a cryogenic 28 degrees.
"(Sometimes this is taken too literally: Near my Maryland home, a teen was recently convicted of murdering another teen for trying to buy a girl a Slurpee.) My point here is to say that it's not (too) hyperbolic to equate drinking a Slurpee with surrendering to the greed and gluttony that is being a chronically shortsighted, diabolically unthinking American.
It lists many, many outrageous symptoms of addiction, some of which are playful, but most of which, evidently are true.
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