Gopal Kapur believes Americans punish their food. "They harvest it and then send it to a factory," he says, "where they strip out all the taste, color and nutrients, replace those natural ingredients with chemicals and artificial flavorings, and then put it in a pretty box."

He blames processed foods with high levels of salt, sugar and carbohydrates for the nation's obesity crisis.

The immigrant from India wants to bring nutritious, tasty, affordable food that is easy to cook to poor people in his adopted country.

Easy to cook is essential. Kapur believes too many Americans don't know how to cook.

He's created four different meals that are tasty and nutritious. To prepare, just add water, heat and stir.

But will Americans eat it? To find out, Kapur conducted taste tests. He tells his tasters to be honest. If they don't like the food, spit it out. Most don't. In fact, in some tests, the pickiest eaters, kids, came back for seconds.

Kapur's ultimate goal is to produce his meals on a mass scale and distribute them free of charge to the poor. He thinks it's urgent that all of us, especially children, start eating good food that will make us strong and healthy, not fat and sick. I couldn't agree more.

Ginger Rutland writes for the Sacramento Bee Opinion pages.

Gopal Kapur can be reached at [email protected]