Give to Learn: Fast Food and the Third World

Last weekend, Aaron and I took the public bus up to a tiny city called Santa Maria de Jesus on the shoulder of the volcano. As the only non Guatemaltecos in the city, it was clear that we had entered a different world. People passed by us with mules and horses carrying grasses or hay, men walked by with pitch forks and machetes as women washed clothes in the city center. A small market with produce was set up outside of the center church.

A girl counting her earnings from market day.

A father and son transporting firewood.

Check out the Quaker sign in the background...

Some kids help sweep outside of a store.

Just as it seemed like we were witnessing life in Guatemala as it has been for years, we saw a small girl in traditional clothes carrying a giant 2 liter bottle of Fanta orange pop. Yes, the "first world" has had a dramatic impression on all peoples - whether they live in cities or rural areas. Unfortunately, the largest "export" seems to be packaged or fast food. While fast food is more expensive here and typically not accessible to rural and/or poor families, packaged foods from chips and candy to pop are available in every one-room store. Even in the most remote areas, you are sure to find a man with a hand-trunk selling "Helado" (ice cream). The fast food/junk food revolution has hit this country in full force and has produced some problematic bi-products.

View of the streets in Santa Maria de Jesus.

Note the prominent Quaker sign...

The introduction and uptake of packaged foods has happened far to rapidly for infrastructure to keep up. While people may have access to the foods, they do not have access to a waste management system (e.g., garbage pick up, etc.). Particularly in rural areas, the roads are strewn with garbage and pueblos may be marked on the outskirts by an unofficial "garbage dump" where people just through things over the side of a hill. In the city, garbage pick up is slightly more organized. Every week, a truck drives through town and people can run bags of garbage out for pick up. In a country where you still cannot throw ANYTHING in the toilet, it will take a long time to get a "first world" waste management system.

Garbage pick up.

A lack of education plagues remote areas Guatemala, and I'm not just talking about school based education. I'm talking about things that many in more developed countries would consider "common knowledge." In remote villages, people have been living the same way for centuries, learning from elders to cook, care for children, and survive. Little education has been provided to improve nutrition, maternal child care, or basic health. Until recently....Enter technology. With internet cafes in even the most remote places, television, and international news and magazines, young adults and kids are seeing an image of what they think life should be like. That image always includes fast or convenient foods and brand names. While poor people can rarely buy enough junk food to cause obesity, this lack of education coupled with the availability of "first world" junk food has led to serious malnutrition and major dental problems among the children who are raised on pop, coffee and tortillas and little else (largely because their parents just don't know any better). Serious malnutrition among rural/poor families is juxtaposed by a growing obesity epidemic among middle and upper class.

Those with money in Guatemala can afford to eat at any of the number of fast food chains here...from the local and ever-popular "Pollo Campero" to McDonalds, Burger King, or Domino's Pizza. Note that fast food in Guatemala is not cheap. It costs the same as in the US, but people here make only $4.00 per day minimum wage and many make far less than that. It seems that fast food is even more popular in Guatemala because it is "American." It is consumed in great quantities not just because of the "convenience" but because of what it represents. Beyond the apparent growing obesity problem among those who are more well off, we have also heard from locals that diabetes is on the rise. However, because of the extremely low utilization of health care here, people are not tested and treated as often as needed. (Note that even middle class people only go to the doctor in the case of a serious problem - I will do another post on the health care system in Guate).

There do not appear to be any groups providing basic nutritional education to those in rural areas. Based on our research, most NGO's seem to be addressing the effects of poor nutrition in a more "downstream" manner. I'm hoping that this education is the next "export" from the U.S...and quickly.

Girl in Santa Maria eating an helado.