After shamlessly sharing my bourgois personal concerns, I thought I’d take another reflection on food as part of our history and evolution. I recently attended a workshop with the head dietician/nutritionist at Kripalu in the Berkshires. He reminded us that agriculture as a practice is still new (10,000 years or so) compared to our estimated millions of years history as hunter/ gatherers. Like every other animal we ate what nature provided. As the anthropologists assert- we were omnivores, we ate 60-80 different wild types of vegetation and meat as was possible.
Transport yourself to today and we eat food that is not naturally available, not naturally grown, not naturally digested and we are living in a nutrient deficient world. Some of us are privileged to get organic foods or grow our own, but the vast majority of the world has their food supply controlled by a few corporate giants. In essence our move to agriculture as industry has resulted in a decline in our food supply. A decline in quality, in access and appropriateness.
The key is to get the most nutrient dense fresh foods to those who need them and to avail ourselves of the abundance where we are fortunate enough to have it. This requires those with education, means and opportunity to be demanding consumers to change the food industry which seems to be hard of hearing.
On a lighter note, apparently my love of all things Italian is justified. It turns out that the Medici women who married french kings brought the first Italian chefs to France who in turn were the beginning of what we now consider “French” Cuisine!
