Children’s lunch boxes have been the focus of Campbell Live this week with a nutritionist declaring last night that sandwiches should be avoided due to the carbs they contain in the bread and other nutritional concerns. Without contributing to the already frantic and ever so slightly vitriolic response from outraged parents I’d like to suggest we have well and truly shot the messenger – dissected her and feasted on her bones like some paleo fiend.

We are caught in a trap woven by expert knowledge becoming more and more specific and specialised and available at the touch of a button. In the west the production of food or should I say ‘food like’ products has proliferated to the point where our concept of ‘nutrition’ has been infiltrated and hijacked by a plethora of interests least of all commercial.

Neoliberalism has married perfectly with capitalism, coupledom and consumerism in a comfortable polyamorous arrangement that has given birth to some complex and often contradictory information about food. Slap on a thick layer of parental guilt and ever changing landscapes of ‘healthy’ and voila you have a people feeling perpetually under the self regulating gaze of conscientious conformity when putting anything in their supermarket trolley that comes in a package.

People – relax and smell the organic, fair trade coffee. Your child will be ok with a peanut butter sandwich (excusing those with nut allergies obviously) but it is curious how sugar has crept its way in – watch that – but keep it real…with a thick layer of oil at the top to lubricate your sense of humour.