[alakep]

Have foods gotten more processed in the last two decades?

My understanding is that there has been a movement away from hyper processed food, but still a huge uptick in allergies.

The hygiene thesis and antibiotic thesis seem true to me, but I am not sure that processed foods are that determining.

[colechristensen]

You would probably have to look at the diets of actual people.

Like how do allergies correlate with grocery store chains a person uses.

Are public school lunches any less processed these days?

Are people actually eating much different food outside of a rather small cohort of upper class adults?

[kzrdude]

There are various definitions of "processed" but I think they center on changing the food structure in a way that doesn't even happen with cooking, for example reforming fats or proteins. There's a large set of vegan products based on reforming soy, rice, and other proteins and I consider those to be very processed, and they have gained in popularity.

Food is getting more and more accessible to buy and order - are people cooking less at home?

People ask each other, "which protein powder do you use?". Protein powder is processed food.

What does cantine and school lunch food look like - the everyday food of children all around the world ought to be very important for this.