Van Tulleken may be right that it is the other stuff — synthetics, chemicals and stabilizers — used in the processing that causes overconsumption. But another critical difference between real and frozen pizza is cost: The fresh pizzeria pie discussed in the book costs 600 percent more than the frozen pizza. Do people eat more when food is cheap, or do they eat more cheap food because the processing that makes it cheap tricks us into eating more? Even if food is “designed to be overconsumed,” no one would eat it if it cost $100 a bag. A hundred years ago, Graham worried that fake food would make us sick because it lacked vitamins, nutrients and calories — and was chased out of town.

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Persons: Tulleken, van, Graham, Van Tulleken’s