Have you noticed the news lately? There has been much talk about why certain foods are good for the body and if certain foods are good for the soul. Broccoli, spinach, Kale, avocado and acai berries as super foods; cheese, wine, sugar and chocolate as soul foods. Root vegetables are promoted for warmth, tropical fruits to keep cool, healthy fats, toxic chemicals and everything in-between. Let's try and make sense of all that the media suggests.
We are animals. Long ago, humans relied on their instincts, their local food sources, their hunter/gatherer abilities and the season for food. Food wasn't something picked over and perused at the super market. You may think I am looking back behind the annals, but it wasn't that long ago when every house had a varietal garden where dinner was found and by which winters were stocked. It was common to have a cow, or a neighbor with a cow, and chickens for eggs and meat. Meat was consumed at a rate of a half a pound per week, and fruits and veg were grown with cow manure and compost as fertilizer.
The length and heat of the growing season dictated what was grown and consumed. Minnesota's diet differed from California's, from Florida's, from Maine's, from Oklahoma's, from Peru's. Then cities came to be, farmers came into demand, intrastate shipping became common place and now it's a global market. Instead of waiting for a chicken to mature at its normal rate of growth, growth hormones are utilized to support demand. Varietal gardens are no longer necessary, for now separate regions are supplying separate things; Wisconsin farmers provide cheese to the nation; Florida, oranges; California, avocados; Maine, blueberries; Idaho, potatoes; Georgia, peaches; Texas, beef; etc.
Today, with broccoli and acai berries on the news, it sounds like science is delving into foods with magical medicinal properties that can't possibly be true. Let me tell you, dear reader, science is taking foods we ate organically 80 years ago and foods found on the global market today and explaining what we now know about their nutritional benefits in a scientific way. That is it. Science is taking apart our food, as our body takes apart our food, identifying vitamins, nutrients, minerals, elements and how long it takes the body to burn its energy (caloric value) then describing them to us in a fresh new way backed by science.
I am not sure if it matters much if we know the scientific breakdown of food stuffs. My grandmother ate food right from the garden, before science named broccoli a superfood. It is because of her my mom has a nourishing garden in her back yard full of asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, onions and a dozen green vegetables in-between. She is keen to what grows well in her area and consciously tweaks her methods to get the best produce she can. Real, naturally occurring food, and I bet if you ask her what they offer nutritionally she would say, "I'm not sure, but they sure do taste good!" That's all the description I need~
Anna~
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