[jerf]

"I hate to cry conspiracy theory, but I really do think that American culture in particular has been groomed to think and eat this way by food suppliers."

I tend to consider conspiracy theories a last resort. It is not that they are never true, just that reaching for them first is a mental crutch. In this case, I would suggest that given the importance of food, one would rather expect evolutionary considerations to dominate how we feel about food colorations. It may be true that making food "look good" can be used to hide flaws, but I seriously doubt the concept of "looking good" comes from training. I would imagine it mostly comes from genes and common-sense-type-training.

(I assert this without proof, which is why I mentioned my conspiracy-theory metric. My point is that I don't see a need for the conspiracy theory choice here.)

[Groxx]

Yeah, I generally agree. And the evolutionary standpoint makes sense, and is the logical counter to this. My main focus there isn't that we equate the two, it's that there's such a strong connection. At least, as far as I can see. It could've grown from "that sells better, what if we do this", but it's still kinda strange, and I wonder if it's at least partly intentional.

'Tis just speculation, though. There are plenty of weird / weirder things in the world.