In today’s video I don't think I will make a point. I think I will just talk about food because I love it and I hate it and it confuses me.
Its interesting to me that we have evolved and developed tremendously as homo-sapiens in these last 110 thousand years or so, and yet food is something that preoccupies us more than almost anything else. In fact, it seems that a great deal of our various cultures are manifested through foods that we prepare. So much so that when we speak about immersing ourselves in the culture of others, we speak predominantly of eating their food and sharing their lives around a dinner table.
However, this preoccupation, while not diminished, appears to be developing away from traditional culture, and more towards a culture of health and well-being that centres in some way around the, confusing, cliche, “you are what you eat”. This is evidenced by the sheer number of diets that have been in and out of vogue for the past, too many years.
Lets see, there is the Atkins diet, the Palaeo diet, the zone diet, the south beach diet, the raw food diet , the Mediterranean diet, the vegetarian diet and all of its subsidiaries like; Lacto-vegetarian, frutarian-vegetarian, lacto-ovo-vegetarian, living food vegetarian, ovo-vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian and then there are the vegans, who seem to take up various forms of strict vegetarianism not only for health, but also for social, environmental and political reasons.
Many of these diets emphasise the importance of fresh, unprocessed and/or organic vegetables. In fact, the general feeling is that we benefit most of all from foods produced in more traditional ways than those that have developed to fill certain economic and social needs.
I suppose this is generally true, but like most things, its not that simple. Modern day agricultural techniques and technology can be seen to have developed out of the standard profit motive. That is, land has a tremendous potential for wealth creation, and it behooves those who posses it, to maximise the value they can extract from it. So it holds that it is in one’s best interest to ensure that the products that we get from that land are in great demand and are of a sufficient value that I will be able to maximise my return on investments. This is straight forward and it is not as predatory as it may sound in the ears of some. Think that these modern farming techniques are also responsible for making food more accessible to increasing populations and warding off starvation for many. Generally speaking, high yield agriculture was born out of a simple supply and demand equation. This point has not become less relevant with time. The truth is that our populations are exploding still and the earth; we have finally started to recognise as a finite resource that is delicately balanced in ways that we can alter to our own detriment with further unregulated development.
So we have to get even smarter with our food production. Take beef as an example. The cattle industry contributes tremendous amounts of pollution to our planet because of its sheer scale. This year we saw the creation of lab grown meat from cow stem cells. This is great. Think about all the vegans who will finally be able to eat beef, as there are no ethical reasons its consumption. Unless the cow is seen to possess an immortal soul and the blastocyst that is destroyed in the process is an act of pre-emptive murder. I suppose that, barring this complication, the dedicated vegan should be morally required to enter into the moral project of overtly eating lab grown meat. That being said, at this point we are looking at $250,000 for a beef paddy. But rejoice, for it is believed that in the near future we may be able to get the price down to about $80 per kilo, thanks to economies of scale. Capitalism.
Some kidding aside, I wonder if people will choose this alternative, or if we will have to wait until all the people who are not open to
rational persuasion, to just die, like racists, and expect that a new set of generations who are not ruled by the “back in my day” philosophy to take up the new normal.
Certainly there are risks associated with creating new technologies that make food production fast and more available, and potentially better for the environment. For example, think of all the people with Irritable bowel syndrome who find themselves discomforted by bread. In 1961 a method for reducing fermentation times of breads was developed where yeast derivatives were increased and machinery were used to create ideal temperature. The result is an excess of fermentable materials left over in the bread that later reacts with the gut microbiota of the IBS victim. Causing their symptoms.
That being said, rational persons would argue that we should go back to using horses and carts because the invention of cars allows us to travel at speeds where crashed can be fatal. No, instead we improve safety. Hurray for the age of reason.
I suppose this relates a little with the organic foods issue, from a health perspective. If you want the health benefits of organic in terms of nutrients, then pay attention to your supply chain. Where are your veggies coming from? If they are organic but will take days to arrive at your mouth, then you are better off with the frozen variety instead. When you pick a vegetable, the folic acid and the vitamin C in it will begin to oxidise immediately, whereas those that are frozen as they are picked hold their nutrients better because the enzymes that breakdown the goodies are slowed almost to a stand still. A study published in 2003 showed that after 7 days at 15 degrees, broccoli loses around 80% of its glucosinolates (cancer fighting agents), and about 60% of its flavonoid antioxidants. Which sounds bad. To make matters worse for you food snobs, properly ripened tomatoes from a can are better than “fresh” ones because that fresh are typically picked unripe for shipping (because you won’t buy the bruised ones will you?) and ripened with Ethylene Sprays before they hit the shelves.
ts all really confusing. We want to be healthy and eat right, for some reason. But its hard to know how. What makes things worse is that there are all manner of quacks out there peddling ridiculous diets based on revisionist histories about our ancestors’ health or magical tribes that don't get our western diseases.
I told you I wouldn't make a point.
Thank you very much for reading, I will catch you again soon.
-Rod Peredo - SOCM Services
Watch the video to this post at: https://youtu.be/MPpwyVAnSuc
