There must be some line to cross tho. Plastic is definitely not food… at least I thought so until recently: http://goo.gl/4gb88

This was bugging me! I had to look it up…

"In June 1992, a Boston College professor and opponent of biotechnology wrote a letter-to-the-editor of The New York Times in response to an opinion piece supporting FDA oversight of biotechnology-produced foods. In the letter, Professor Paul Lewis coined the term "Frankenfoods"."

…that's out of Google search "timeline"… don't see a way to link it directly.

Thanks. That makes sense.

I was a little ambiguous, but I meant protein as an "afterthought" and green salad as they apply to language too. I hope I didn't imply that they were just shunning them intentionally. 🙂 I'd guess that availability would tend to shape the language initially. Once it's normalized, the language would retroactively influence the thought of those using it subsequently (likely over the course of generations).

I'd say protein isn't so much an afterthought as… too frequently unavailable. In poor families, girls in particular are shortchanged – the order of serving is men, women, boys, girls, and if the meat runs out before it gets to the girls, well… hopefully they get some tomorrow. (Note – I am talking about the very poorest families, not all of Uganda).

Green salads were rarely served, although a small serving of bitter boiled greens was common. Other fruit and vegetables were certainly available, but not the focus of the meal – indeed, often only prepared for special occasions.

I think you may be right about it being partly a language issue. Hospitality is very important throughout East Africa, and like many other cultures, that means serving "food" to your guests. If "food" is a commonly available starch, even the poorest families are able to fulfill their obligations as hosts.

Wouldn't Big Brother just simplify the whole process by making food a binary concept in the first place?

I'm sure there is a linguistic solution somehow within the context of Newspeak 😀

In a culture in which food (the concept, not the literal word) is fundamentally thought about in binary terms, coming up with any meaningful term will be impossible. Any word assigned the intended meaning would almost immediately be subsumed by the cultural meaning and assume colloquial connotations.

I would speculate that a shift in conceptualization would have to precede terminology. Then again, my understanding of linguistic theory is near zero. 🙂