“Dietary practices in the United States are driven in part by consumer demands and preferences, influenced by culture, cost, taste, and convenience, and influenced by industry advertising and marketing practices… the most profitable food production sectors are snack food producers, as opposed to producers of healthier alternatives. The unbalanced promotion of fewer nutritious products and their lower cost can influence dietary practices negatively… Other drivers, such as policies, technology, and market forces, indirectly affect dietary practices by influencing food cost, preference formation, or accessibility. Market forces, including consumer demand, do not always support dietary practices that are consistent with public health nutrition recommendations… and their associated public health goals (e.g., reducing chronic disease risk and micronutrient deficiencies). For example, current consumption of fruits and vegetables is well below recommended levels.” (Committee on a Framework for Assessing the Health, Environmental, and Social Effects of the Food System).

With so many different forces at play, what food do Americans like the most? “If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, which would it be? A survey conducted by The Harris Poll posed this thought-provoking question to Americans across the country. More than 2,000 U.S. adults responded… the single food that most Americans would want to eat for the rest of their lives is pizza, which 21 percent of survey participants chose as their answer. It beat out steak (16 percent), tacos (11 percent), pasta (11 percent), and even the undeniably American hamburger (13 percent)…And as pizza worked its way into the hearts of Americans, Americans made pizza a surprisingly significant part of their own matters of the heart. Of the participants who dated online, three in five said they would swipe right or match with someone who mentioned pizza in a dating profile. But the follow-through is just as important; 22 percent said if their date ate pizza with a knife and fork, they would not agree to a second date” (Nowak).