Faine Greenwood: I do think that “almost everyone stopped smoking” may have something to do with rapidly changing standards for food in the US

I do think that “almost everyone stopped smoking” may have something to do with rapidly changing standards for food in the US

I do absolutely think there's also a generational shift between people born in the 50s & 60s, who smoked a lot and thus literally destroyed their sense of taste, and those born in the 80s and 90s, where this is not the case. (People born in the 70s(hello) are somewhere in the middle)

My hottest of hot takes is that we should absolutely fuckin ban cigarettes, period. You want to smoke tobacco? Pack your own damn pipe, or roll it yourself.

We tried that once with alcohol it caused an extreme spike in organised crime, led to a lot of smuggling and turf wars. So it betters to just educate people about the dangers of smoking then outright ban it so we don't end up in that situation again.

A ban on pre-rolls != Prohibition of tobacco, tho. We can continue to educate folks on the dangers of (using a drug that temporarily makes this dystopia less miserable) AND continue making pre-rolls harder to acquire AND we could do other stuff to make our dystopia less drug-requiring.

Oh I didn't know that pre-rolls were a separate thing to tobacco altogether. Sorry I'm kinda stupid when it comes to drugs (like I know the history but that's it)

Being able to actually taste the food you put in your mouth matters, I guess.

Food has flavour? Who knew?

Also free trade agreements

Also part of the picture I think is that in 1900 very few women smoked whereas in 1950 most did

Well, not "very few". But I think 20% or fewer

Never thought of that, but absolutely agree. My parents did not smoke and we ate way more interestingly than all my friends' families.

I’ve never made this connection either, but just to offer a counter example: my parents never smoked either and we ate the blandest shit imaginable (a product of growing up poor in the Midwest and imitating what they ate as kids, I think)

I totally buy the argument, though, that at a societal level it may have influenced tastes

Midwest may sort of be the exception? Idk. I grew up in a Midwestern family (though not in the Midwest) and def bland, but my mom never smoked. I'd be curious if there's some form of explanation in the regional history.

I never thought about this but I bet you're right.

Also possibly more adults seeking treatment for ADHD.

Totally agree as a quitter myself Also we (millennials and gen z) do a lot more sautéing and cooking with fats Depreshies and Boomers boiled and steamed everything. The former cause war and poor, the latter because they were convinced fat in all its forms was bad for them

I think there's a lot of things, including increased globalization of food chains. Even the change from canning veggies to flash freezing them.

I have a very unresearched theory that one cause of the “obesity epidemic” is that people aren’t smoking, which is known to be an appetite suppressant and cause weight loss

Don’t forget that refrigerators only became a household appliance in the ~1930-1950s.

Fun theory but doesn't mesh with things like SE Asia having some of the most flavorful food and highest smoking rates.

Huh? I do believe the situation i similar over here. With the rapid decline in smoking and generally better food. Interesting theory regarding the possible corellation.

Chemistry and mass production of food (mixes like hamburger helper, additives like msg, hfcs) had a lot to do with it. Today, people couldn't spice their food to save their lives, even though spices are ubiquitous.

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