{"id":18555,"date":"2024-12-18T09:01:08","date_gmt":"2024-12-18T10:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=18555"},"modified":"2024-12-18T10:26:48","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T10:26:48","slug":"how-the-right-and-the-maha-movement-have-co-opted-crunchy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=18555","title":{"rendered":"How the Right and the MAHA Movement Have Co-opted \u2018Crunchy\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

Not to brag, but I have stellar \u201ccrunchy\u201d bona fides. I was raised on wheat bread, limited television and camping vacations, and at 17 went off to Oberlin College, that notorious incubator of crunchy achievers. I am deeply familiar with old-school crunchy in all of its hues: the lumpy hand-knit sweaters, the unkempt hair.<\/p>\n

In the 1980s, \u201ccrunchy\u201d held a faintly pejorative meaning; one didn\u2019t announce oneself as \u201ccrunchy\u201d with pride. It felt more like a fashion (or anti-fashion) statement than a political stance, though if pressed I would have noted that crunchy often aligned with vegetarianism, which aligned with environmentalism \u2014 which was <\/em>political. Leftist \u201cgreen\u201d parties and politics were attaining prominence in Europe, and at least one person I knew found an internship with the up-and-coming clean-water crusader Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/p>\n

Kennedy has evolved a lot since the 1980s and \u201ccrunchy\u201d has, too. Having gone through numerous life stages<\/a> (addict, activist, vaccine denier, Democrat, Independent, presidential candidate, MAGA surrogate, and vaccine denier-denier<\/a>), Kennedy, at 70, is now President-elect Donald J. Trump\u2019s pick to be secretary of health and human services. As Kennedy evolved, so did \u201ccrunchy,\u201d into a \u201chorseshoe\u201d alliance of far left- and far right-leaning home-schoolers and homesteaders, hippies and religious believers suspicious of conventional medicine who like to grow their own food.<\/p>\n

Now \u201ccrunchy,\u201d and specifically \u201ccrunchy mom,\u201d is a hashtag on social media, complete with influencers who promote electric kettles<\/a> and wooden toys. On TikTok and Instagram, crunchy moms \u2014 mostly young, white mothers of small children \u2014 post passionately about the effects of medication, pesticides and food additives on their families\u2019 health. In their rejection of junk food, ultra-processed foods and, often, pediatricians\u2019 advice, they see themselves as a defiant band, out of the mainstream of American child-rearing. No matter their political affiliation, they almost universally love Kennedy, whom they regard as singular in his concern for their children\u2019s health. \u201cThe assault on our children\u2019s cells and hormones is unrelenting,\u201d he has said. And: \u201cThey are swimming around in a toxic soup.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\n

In some ways, today\u2019s crunchy moms resemble the crunchies of yore. They make home-cooked meals from organic and locally grown produce and grass-fed meat if they can afford it and strive to raise kids in a low-tech environment with plenty of outdoor play. They idealize natural childbirth and other markers of a preindustrial past, in which one might procure eggs from one neighbor and pork from another, and \u201cspend Easter to Labor Day barefoot, outside,\u201d as the crunchy influencer and satirist Emily Morrow put it to me. On Really Very Crunchy, Morrow\u2019s account, she makes skits that mock her own crunchy obsessiveness: In one, she triumphantly pressures her non-crunchy husband into drinking raw milk; in another, she brings the ingredients for bone-broth hot chocolate to the movies. Morrow has 3 million followers on YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok combined.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
<\/div>
Ashlyn Bristle used to identify as \u201ccrunchy\u201d but is not so sure anymore.<\/span>Tony Luong for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.<\/p>\n

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into<\/a>\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe<\/a>\u00a0for all of The Times.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.<\/p>\n

Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not to brag, but I have stellar \u201ccrunchy\u201d bona fides. I was raised on wheat bread, limited television and camping vacations, and at 17 went off to Oberlin College, that notorious incubator of crunchy achievers. I am deeply familiar with old-school crunchy in all of its hues: the lumpy hand-knit sweaters, the unkempt hair.In the 1980s, \u201ccrunchy\u201d held a faintly pejorative meaning; one didn\u2019t announce oneself as \u201ccrunchy\u201d with pride. It felt more like a fashion (or anti-fashion) statement than a political stance, though if pressed I would have noted that crunchy often aligned with vegetarianism, which aligned with environmentalism \u2014 which was political. Leftist \u201cgreen\u201d parties and politics were attaining prominence in Europe, and at least one person I knew found an internship with the up-and-coming clean-water crusader Robert F. Kennedy Jr.Kennedy has evolved a lot since the 1980s and \u201ccrunchy\u201d has, too. Having gone through numerous life stages (addict, activist, vaccine denier, Democrat, Independent, presidential candidate, MAGA surrogate, and vaccine denier-denier), Kennedy, at 70, is now President-elect Donald J. Trump\u2019s pick to be secretary of health and human services. As Kennedy evolved, so did \u201ccrunchy,\u201d into a \u201chorseshoe\u201d alliance of far left- and far right-leaning home-schoolers and homesteaders, hippies and religious believers suspicious of conventional medicine who like to grow their own food.Now \u201ccrunchy,\u201d and specifically \u201ccrunchy mom,\u201d is a hashtag on social media, complete with influencers who promote electric kettles and wooden toys. On TikTok and Instagram, crunchy moms \u2014 mostly young, white mothers of small children \u2014 post passionately about the effects of medication, pesticides and food additives on their families\u2019 health. In their rejection of junk food, ultra-processed foods and, often, pediatricians\u2019 advice, they see themselves as a defiant band, out of the mainstream of American child-rearing. No matter their political affiliation, they almost universally love Kennedy, whom they regard as singular in his concern for their children\u2019s health. \u201cThe assault on our children\u2019s cells and hormones is unrelenting,\u201d he has said. And: \u201cThey are swimming around in a toxic soup.\u201dIn some ways, today\u2019s crunchy moms resemble the crunchies of yore. They make home-cooked meals from organic and locally grown produce and grass-fed meat if they can afford it and strive to raise kids in a low-tech environment with plenty of outdoor play. They idealize natural childbirth and other markers of a preindustrial past, in which one might procure eggs from one neighbor and pork from another, and \u201cspend Easter to Labor Day barefoot, outside,\u201d as the crunchy influencer and satirist Emily Morrow put it to me. On Really Very Crunchy, Morrow\u2019s account, she makes skits that mock her own crunchy obsessiveness: In one, she triumphantly pressures her non-crunchy husband into drinking raw milk; in another, she brings the ingredients for bone-broth hot chocolate to the movies. Morrow has 3 million followers on YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok combined.Ashlyn Bristle used to identify as \u201ccrunchy\u201d but is not so sure anymore.Tony Luong for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18557,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18555"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18558,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18555\/revisions\/18558"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}