Food Fads and Fad Foods
For much of man's history, as far as we know, obtaining food was the major preoccupation. Evidence for early man is sometimes shown by animal bones split lengthwise, presumably to extract marrow for food. Probably the first food fad was the idea of cooking, especially meat. This concept is most admirably described in Charles Lamb's wonderful A Dissertation upon Roast Pig, a must read if you've never read it before.
There is evidence that the world produces sufficient food for its present population, but much is wasted, and altogether too much is diverted to fuel production and fed to animals, which of course is food, with lower efficiency.
Animal protein production requires more than eight times as much fossil-fuel energy than production of plant protein while yielding animal protein that is only 1.4 times more nutritious for humans than the comparable amount of plant protein.
This is from the
Cornell study from 1997.
The food fad of the moment (dare I say this?) is the gluten-free diet. How many of us had ever heard of gluten a decade ago, and by 2015 sales of gluten-free products will exceed 15 billion dollars a year.
The November 3 issue of the New Yorker cites an experiment in which it was determined that it is a group of carbohydrates (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols) that are the actual culprits in most gastric distress. A diet free of these is complicated but allows people to eliminate certain foods and then re-introduce them to determine what exactly is responsible for their food problems.
There are many fads that were based on incorrect information and embraced, only to fade as more was discovered. For decades doctors encouraged consumers to eat margarine instead of butter because butter is laden with saturated fat. Later research showed that people who ate four tablespoons of margarine had a 50% greater risk of heart disease that those who did not.
Diet fads abound. We've adopted and sometimes discarded Scarsdale, South Beach, Zone, flexitarian, pescatarian, and paleo. We eat "low fat" even though many such prepared foods are packed with sugar and calories to make up for the lack of fat.
Egg yolks were to be avoided; now many high end restaurants feature dishes topped with soft-cooked yolks (totally delicious, by the way). Wine has alcohol so be moderate, except now red wine has antioxidants and resveratrol and is good for you.
I grew kale when we first moved here. I couldn't get anyone, including myself, to eat it. Now kale in myriads of forms is de rigueur everywhere. We all suspected that bacon was not good for one…..just look at all that fat. Now bacon is the "in" food, exceeded only by Cronuts (look it up). Avoid sweets…..now specialty cupcakes are the thing, though fading recently.
I eat a regular diet with some meat and fresh vegetables as much as possible. And I would have said I don't accommodate food fads at all. But as I pointed out to Mrs. side pocket yesterday, "we need more olive oil", and I looked at that. We were supposed to use vegetable oil, then canola oil, then sunflower, peanut oil, etc., and then negatives were found. So we use olive oil exclusively. That's increasing as more flavors and additives find their way into olive oils. Is it a fad? Time will tell.
Two diaries that touch upon this subject are Doctor RJ's The Strange History of Corn Flakes and allergywoman's Superfoods or Superfads.
So let's hear about your particular food fads or food fantasies in your purview. Have you modified your eating habits due to new information? Do you believe the new information if it conflicts with your desires?
*Special note for Marti…………..chocolate is exempt from this discussion.
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Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, and interesting videos, as well as links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate. Readers may notice that most who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but newcomers should not feel excluded. We welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.
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