Jelly Belly Deception

This week the Woolman Semester visited various food production companies and farms in order to gain more knowledge on how our food is made. The part of this trip which influenced me most was when we visited the Jelly Belly jelly bean factory.

Before we started the tour, we took a group picture with a giant, plush, anthropomorphic jelly bean. My roommate and I jokingly kissed the cheeks of the jelly bean for one photo. I didn't even think about how unsettling it was that I was putting my lips next to a mascot for the idea that processed sugar and cornstarch is okay.

As the tour began, I happily breathed in puffs of sugar and crowded next to the other tour members to watch a tiny TV screen showing a pear peeling away to reveal a pear flavored jelly bean. The implication was that the jelly bean was whole and pure, tasting just like a pear. (They even said at one point during the tour that every Jelly Belly jelly bean tastes "exactly like you think it would".) The screen then showed us a video telling the history of Jelly Belly, weaving a charming family tale. I didn't even stop to think about how this quaint little family was now producing modified cornstarch in multiple factories across the nation. We then moved on the elevated ramp to the next station and viewed the factory in motion, the workers looking like ants below us. At the time, nothing seemed wrong with watching these little white ants pile sugar, corn syrup and flavoring into various machines which pushed and pulled and turned them until they popped out as jelly beans. Some of the ants even smiled at us as we walked by. The tour guide nonchalantly mentioned that all jelly beans which were dropped on the factory floor were donated to local farmers who fed them to their pigs. The entire process seemed satisfying, pure, and safe from the beginning to our free samples at the end.

After leaving the factory, I started to leave the fantasy world which was displayed to me by the tour guide. I started wondering what exactly this "flavoring" was made of and how exactly these machines pushed and pulled this sugar, corn syrup, and the ever mysterious "flavoring" into the right shape every time. Rapidly the charming fairytale of wholesome jelly beans fell apart.

It becomes very easy as a society to accept this story of quaint families, happy little white ants, and dollops of sugar cased in flavoring. We pretend that the things we like are the things that are good. As uncomfortable as it is, we must delve deeper into where our food comes from, how it is made, and how every being which comes into contact with it is affected. Are the workers paid fairly? Does this quaint little family realize that they hold an almost-monopoly? Are the pigs who are fed jelly beans negatively affected by them? I don't know, because I was willing to accept the pleasant fantasies of the tour. However, I plan to learn more about it here at Woolman, and I hope that you will join me in finding out more than the cover story on where our food comes from.