So somebody has discovered that most of the kids’ meals at fast-foot chains are loaded with calories. Who would have thunk it?

The fact that those meals are so unhealthful, and the fact that it takes a report from the Center for Science in the Public Interest to make a major news item of this fact, tells us something about how we live.

We live not so smart.

Anybody can look at crispy chicken, french fries and chocolate milk shakes and see that this is not the height of nutrition. People eat this stuff because it tastes pretty good going down, because it’s available everywhere, because it costs relatively little and because you don’t have to spend any time fixing a meal or waiting for it to be ready.

At the risk of sounding like Methuselah, one has to point out that this is not how human beings used to eat. In the good old days, Methuselah says, somebody was back in the cave or the home cooking meals, starting with breakfast. They also sometimes packed a sandwich and an apple for lunch. And later in the day they would fix a dinner.

But our changing society said that old setup was wrong. Everybody had to get out of the house to help make a living because, first of all, we all needed more stuff and stuff was getting more expensive, even though most of it was made in China. And even more important, in the name of equality nobody should have to be relegated to the job of feeding a family regular meals.

Capitalism was more than happy to oblige. It got more workers, which meant that in relative terms each could be paid less. And it got the opportunity to start feeding America with hamburger, pizza and chicken joints at every corner.

In order to feed several hundred million people, none of whom had enough time to buy raw food and cook it at home, food had to be tasty, ready in minutes and cheap. So that’s what we got.

One way to fix al this would be to change a whole range of policies and laws to encourage meal-cooking and eating at home, but it’s too late for that.

Instead we have the regulators jumping into action, with bans on this and that, and requirements to post more calorie information, as though that will do any good. The result? Unhealthy diets and more regulation. The price of progress. (hh)