Advanced warning: in this blog I will sound like a cranky old lady. I grew up on fast food. I prefer a chicken nugget to anything that looks like it could have come from a bird. I ate American “cheese” sandwiches for lunch and dinner for the first two years of college–except for Sunday brunch, when I’d often have two grilled cheese sandwiches and a diet Coke. In short, I’m hardly a food snob. In fact, sometimes I stop by the drug store on a bike ride home to grab a snack. Tonight, though, I just wanted a highly chilled sparkly water or an unsweetened iced tea, because it’s hot out there, and even a few miles of riding demands refreshment. No such luck. I mean, there’s iced tea flavored with raspberry and ginseng and lemonade, water flavored with blue, sparkly water with caramel color and corn syrup, but nothing that was actually refreshing. I got a still water and found a bottle of sparkle water to bring home and toss in the freezer. I did a quick tour around the store to see if I could find something else to take home with me. And then I saw this display. That’s Cinnabon flavored cream of wheat, three packs for a dollar, and above that are Raisels. What are Raisels, you ask? Sour orange flavored raisins, lightly dusted with with sugar, but with less added sugar than a sweetened cranberry, for those of you keeping track at home. And all of this is somehow environmental–see the Green! sign? Yes, it’s telling me I’m going to save money, but it’s playing on our new “going green” mentality, because our politics is about buying stuff these days. And our food seems to be training us for a world where there’s nothing natural to eat, and oranges are supposed to be sour and raisins don’t taste like fruit. Raisels. Nope, not eating that. I got my Kit Kat, got back on the bike, and headed home.