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Re: Quality of organic dialogue
In article <Pine.SUN.3.91.961217125918.14203A-100000@kira> Amy Knutson <aknutson@PEAK.ORG> writes:
>I can't resist any longer. I just have to add this point to the
>nutrition/organic food dialog. It's not just a matter of changing our
>eating habits but re-educating our tastebuds. The food industry has gone
>to great lengths, not just in marketing and packaging, to produce food
>that is so full of salt, sugar, and fat (which is most pleasing to the
>mouth) that we become almost addicted to these "non-foods." People need
>to learn to appreciate the taste of real, whole, fresh foods, and once
>that happens, "junk" food is almost sickening.
I don't think you've found any major area of disagreement here. Many
people eat things that aren't good for them because such things taste
"right" and fulfill habitual/traditional roles at mealtimes. Many
people eat fried eggs for breakfast but never for dinner, drink beer
at parties but not at home, or use barbecue sauce at outdoor cookouts
but not at indoor meals. These are eating habits, pure and simple.
They can be very powerful.
But as for processed foods, I think you've found something
indicative, not causative. It's not as if processed foods made the
raw ingredients vanish from the shelves. No one is being forced to
buy processed foods. If anything, it's easier to make things from
scratch now than ever, since distribution is so much better than it
once was. So people CHOOSE processed foods. In fact, our
grandparents (who knew a lot more about cooking from scratch than
most people do today) led the charge! Why is that?
I think it's because processed foods are a pretty good substitute for
the foods they replaced. There was never a golden age in which
non-farmers mostly ate wholesome foods. For example, the diet of
turn-of-the-century Americans was dreadful, shot through with
deficiency diseases, loaded with fats, salt, and adulterants of every
kind. Perishable foods were often of questionable safety by the time
they got to market. Month-old eggs were often all one could get. A
shocking percentage of milk carried the turberculosis bacillus. Not
to mention that the pesticides of the day were often astonishingly
toxic arsenic compounds.
So it's not as if the food industry took us from a dietary paradise
and unceremoniously dumped us into Purgatory. Things are actually
much better than they were. They just aren't very good.
>In my experience, organic
>foods contribute to this re-education because as whole, fresh foods they
>DO taste better than highly processed, large production vegetable, fruit,
>dairy, and meat products. Organically grown beef actually has more flavor
>than your average supermarket beef, as do eggs, milk, fruits, and
>vegetables. Perhaps once people learn to appreciate this quality they can
>learn to eat in healthier and moderate proportions, thus supplying our
>bodies nutritional needs without having to pop vitamin supplements.
>After all, one of my main motivations for growing organic fruits, nuts,
>and vegetables is to have a convenient supply of yummy food (and I know
>where they've been and what's been done to them). Taking care of and
>nourishing the soil and environment on my land is a natural outcome of
>that desire.
There's no question that this is so. We just need to keep on
marketing. The general public is more or less receptive once you get
their attention. We need to keep peddling our wares, pitching our stories,
and winning converts one at a time.
-- Robert
--
Robert Plamondon, High-Tech Technical Writing, Inc.
36475 Norton Creek Road * Blodgett * Oregon * 97326
robert@plamondon.com * (541) 453-5841 * Fax: (541) 453-4139
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