Eating food

Food and diet are hugely personal in our society. That in itself is probably a sociological novelty, I suspect that for most of human history daily diets were pretty standardized for all members of a social group. Now I may eat differently than my next-door neighbors, or even than my wife. Anyway, I'm basically a confirmed omnivore. I have no specialized dietary regime that I support for political, medical or other reasons. That said, I tend increasingly to accept the concept beautifully stated by Michael Pollan: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." It sounds fairly hellenic, as in moderation in all things. But we seem to have evolved as real omnivores, we aren't wedded to a pure diet of insects, or fruit, or even prairie dogs. Even our distant cousins the chimps seem to have a similar approach to food, now that we know that they eat meat occasionally, and will even hunt and kill for it.

The news recently reported a recall of 143 million pounds of american beef, mostly destined for hamburgers and other processed products. It's hard to conceive, merely a recall, of sufficient food to feed most of humanity until about two thousand years ago. There was no confirmed medical problem with any of the animals involved, just a risk of unspecified medical problems. Moreover, much of the recalled meat has already been consumed, partly in school lunch programs. Clearly, we have created a strange way of providing food for our populations, in such a way that it's not easy to even know when it's safe. I'm not a fan of industrialized food production, and at least with vegetables it seems to me (perhaps naively) that our intrinsic intuition about what is edible is more reliable than with meat. Moreover, raw vegetables are certainly less processed than raw meat, unless an animal is being slaughtered before your eyes.

Based on my own shopping experience, it also seems that the least expensive diet is one based mostly on raw produce (including dry products such as grains, breads, beans and including some dairy). The most expensive items are either meat-based or else highly processed. In my family we are developing our own list of successful vegetarian meals, some labor-intensive but many surprisingly easy especially after we become familiar with the recipes.

I am in no way anti-technology or anti-progress. I have long considered the on-demand hot shower to be one of mankind's great achievements. And no one who has had any significant dental work would object to current advanced anesthetics (other than that funny character in Little Shop of Horrors). It does not however automatically follow that technologized products are always better, and food is one area where that is emphatically clear.

Still, I cannot resist the spice aisle in any store I visit. It is well worth remembering, and appreciating, that most of the items easily found there, such as basil, oregano, thyme, savory, nutmeg, cardamon, cumin, even pepper, were rarities for much of humanity for most of history. Whenever I stir in the turmeric, or coriander, I remember that progress has its advantages.