Vote with your dollars!

I saw this post on facebook from John Douillard a little while ago

with the caption from John that read "And consider that Oreos and Doritos are vegan..."

Instantly, I did a double take.

Oreos are vegan?   As a vegetarian for seven years, I learned to avoid Oreos because they were made with lard.  Hydrox, on the other hand, were not.  So when I saw this post, I stopped in my tracks. And since I was on my lunch break, I decided to google my question and found this. Apparently, they are now made with non-hydrogenated vegetable oil. But this piqued my curiosity even more... so I headed to Wikipedia and started reading.

Did you know that Oreo was originally an imitation of Hydrox?

As I read the story of the origin of Oreo, it's name, even the iconic stamp on the cookie, I was drawn in. I had no idea this little sandwich cookie had such a fascinating history. Eventually, I found myself reading about all the different countries the Oreo cookie is sold in and the variations to the cookie in those countries. For instance, in Canada, instead of using vegetable oil, they use coconut oil, which accounts for the cookie's differing taste from the US version.  In China, not only do they contain less sugar, but they are sold in smaller packages to make them more affordable for smaller Chinese salaries.  As I read about all these little nuances, it occurred to me that processed food manufacturers really have to go through a lot to market their products internationally. Each country has different laws and rules regarding what can be put in food.  I marveled at the red tape that they must deal with in every country they offer their products.  And the fact that they were willing to do whatever it takes to make their product marketable.

Imagine if we refused to purchase products with high fructose corn syrup? Unnatural ingredients? Carcinogenic ingredients? GMOs? What if we retrained our taste buds and they were no longer numb from too much salt, sugar, and fat? The market would have to change to accommodate that. And the amazing thing to me is that THESE HEALTHIER OPTIONS ALREADY EXIST.

What if everyone refused to purchase these sickeningly sweet, diabetes and heart disease inducing snacks?  What if the marketplace demanded organic produce? Pesticides would become a thing of the past! And for those of you who think that we cannot produce enough organic produce to feed everyone, this is simply not true. If all farms were truly sustainably organic, the yields would surpass conventional farming. But that's a post for another day.

Vote with your dollars, and together, we can change the world.