Letters to the Editor

The bunny vs. the blue box Annie's Homegrown Macaroni & Cheese is the pantry staple of harried, organo-hipster parents everywhere. But is it any healthier than the day-glo noodles of our white-bread childhoods? By Anastacia Marx de Salcedo [2007-01-30]

• A couple more steps

  I think it's great that the difference in preparation was laid out so clearly that it's obvious we're being sold a false sense of convenience. However, thinking about it from the convenience angle adds a couple more steps to the recipe:

  Homemade

  1. Boil water

  1.5 Measure pasta

  2. Add pasta

  3. Cook pasta

  4. Grate cheese

  4.5 Measure amount of cheese (maybe this is 3.5?)

  5. Drain pasta

  6. Add pat of butter and stir

  7. Sprinkle with grated cheese

  8. Serve

  So there are actually three steps that you have to do with homemade that you don't have to do with Annie's, two of which include simple math. (Yes, I'm skipping the steps for measuring water, milk, the pat of butter, etc. because they're the same in both situations.)

  I'm certainly not sticking up for Annie's; I'm just trying to understand what makes Annie's attractive. And I find it fascinating that the idea that Annie's saves you time (i.e.: is more convenient) doesn't actually hold water when you actually stop and think about it.

  More to the point, I wonder what this kind of marketing mojo could achieve were it turned from the dark side (so to speak) and applied to important issues like the climate crisis...issues which form the subtext behind a lot of these kinds of purchases.

  -- Dave
  [Read Dave's other letters]
  Permalink Flag Tuesday, January 30, 2007 06:31 AM
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