Food Righteousness. This phrase may be new to you, it may be something you know quite a lot about. Personally, I am still learning but continually perplexed and irritated by it. So what is it? Do you ever sit down at the end of the night and say, “I was really good today, I ate a salad for lunch,” yatta, yatta, yatta? Food Righteousness. You as a person were not better or worse because of what you ate.

This kind of language is common. “Oh I was so bad, I ate half a pizza!” No. You weren’t bad. You didn’t decrease as a person, you just ate some pizza. Move on. But we feel that way, don’t we? We feel better or worse morally because of what we eat or ate. Under-eating is to be praised, over-eating is to be shamed.

So where does this come from? Wonderful question, thank you for asking. Let me help you. SOCIETY. Just like everything else. Our culture praises diet and exercise, but these things, that really can be helpful things, can also destroy someone without them realizing. America has a special kind of food religion, we think we are more or less moral because of what we eat. We don’t like to talk about it. In fact, whenever I write an article about it, it gets less views/shares than my other articles. We think it’s normal.

Ever since I learned about Food Righteousness I’ve seen it pop up more and more, especially in advertising and branding. Doubt me? Let me show you some examples:

Good Health Chips

Good. That word. No. No, you are not better or worse as a person because you eat these chips. Repeat that to yourself. Oh and in case you think when they say "good" they're just referring to the taste or quality of their food, just look at their motto: enjoy being good. No, no.

Good Thins

Good again. I’ll admit, these chips are yummy and I do buy them. But I am fully against the use of the word good, as in the previous chip.

Goodful

Do you follow them on Facebook? Video recipes that are way better than others, because they are good. Anyone else tired of that word? Same. Because guess what? Whether or not I eat a salad or a greasy burger, I am no better than I was before.

Clean Eating

This is a new phenomenon that, truly, I wish would stop popping up on Pinterest. Clean. What a poignant word. You are not clean or dirty based on the food you eat. Clean? Take a freaking shower if you’re dirty. Don’t give up the pizza.

Do you see it now? It’s surrounding you. You’ll start to see it now. It’s a daily fight. When your friends post on FaceBook about their new Paleo or Atkins diet, when you walk through the checkout line at Ross and Good Health Chips pop into your line of vision, when you go to sleep at night at feel guilty about that chocolate you ate. You are not altered as a person. Keep fighting. It’s important. Society wants you to quit, they want you to buy their product, they want your freaking soul, man. Don’t let them win.