Expectations and the Food Industry

Book excerpt: We purchase an object or enter a scene not for their own sake but for the expectations we have of them. When we purchase an orange we do so in the expectation that it will quench our thirst or that it will taste good, or that it will make us healthy. On the other hand, our orange is so perfect looking (because it has been dosed with insecticide and herbicide) and shiny (because it has been coated with wax) that if we do not wash it thoroughly before eating we will eat it in the expectation that it will poison us. The activity of the moment is pursued not only for duty or immediate pleasure, but also with the dread, excitement, or merely boredom of that which we have a plate of food in front of us, we are lies ahead. This applies whether entering a room, shopping, at work or play, or merely doing the washing up. We are continually experiencing expectations, most of them subconsciously. However, all lead to motivation and state of mind. Joy or disappointment results from the fulfilment or otherwise of prior expectations. In other words, the stimulus provided by the total appearance of an object or scene engenders expectations of the outcome of our involvement with the object or event.