Recently I have read some thought provoking material on the quality of American foodstuffs. Most of the information has been around for a few years, but has been somewhat obscure. It was thought provoking to me, so I am passing it on to you in hopes it may be thought provoking to you likewise.
We eat differently than our grandparents did. A lot of us can remember our grandma making most everything from scratch. Pumpkin pie was made straight from the meat of the pumpkin, and grandma rolled the pastry dough out herself into a real pie plate. There were no frozen piecrusts, disposable aluminum pie tins, or canned pumpkin (unless grandma had canned it herself). Some might remember fresh milk from the cow, homemade cottage cheese hanging outside on the clothesline, gathering the eggs from the hen house, and butchering a chicken for supper.
If you remember "the good ole days", you will vaguely remember the wholesome character of all the food that was associated with them. I do emphasize vaguely. Vaguely you remember the smells of a "real chicken" being fried on the stove, bread being baked and the taste of milk and cream straight from the cow as it was eaten with a piece of home-picked, home-baked peach pie. You might remember those wholesome delicacies were available in the home everyday. There was not even a reason to run to the corner convenience store to get a treat.
So much for the memories you say, my life doesn't work like that anymore. Coffee comes from machines in a convenience store. The coffee is pre-ground and pre-packaged. Latte or Cappuccino is vended by machine. It is simply a processed powder mixed with heated water. Breakfast is a mass-produced doughnut that came out of an acrylic case. Snacks are sodas, candy bars, chips or other such delicacies. Supper comes out of a microwave. Most all of our meals come from pre-prepared or nearly prepared foods that have been processed and packed with preservatives. Our water is chlorinated. Dairy products are pasteurized and some are irradiated. None would have the time to shop for fresh foods with any regularity, and the reality is, this is life with which we have become accustomed.
Some do cook in a manner similar to grandmas, but the way they receive their ingredients is different. Meat is purchased at the store, few are able to butcher their own. Bread is bought in plastic sacks. A few may have bread machines and purchase bread mixes, but only a scant few knead their own bread as Grandma did. Flour is processed from un-germinated grains into a fine powder. Wheat is no longer harvested and left to stand in the field in shocks to germinate a bit as it was years ago. Nearly no one has the opportunity to drink milk straight from a cow or goat. Cottage cheese is no longer an item that is processed on the clothesline. Even those who cook from scratch as much as possible don't have access to the wholesome ingredients of the past.
Our food supply is considered safe. There are regulations beyond belief regarding packaging and processing. Most everything is processed with so many preservatives, we may be considered walking mummies. Our water is chlorinated but not all the chlorine is filtered out before we consume it at the tap. That same chlorine which kills harmful bacteria has an effect on some of the beneficial bacteria in our bodies. When I read an ingredient label and read of all the "necessary" chemicals, which I am also consuming, it makes my appetite subside. All these are acceptable by our government standards, but make for a very different foodstuff from those of my grandparents. Preservatives found in a can of corn or carrots, and trace amount of chemicals found on fresh corn and fresh carrots bought at the super market are considered "safe" for human consumption. We eat them all the time at home or in a restaurant. I do believe that garden fresh corn and carrots without any preservatives or any trace of chemicals is a safer product to consume and digest.
Pasteurization is undeniably a major advancement considering the way we consume food today. Pasteurization has made it possible for milk, juice and other products to have a longer shelf life. During the pasteurization process, harmful as well has healthful bacteria are killed. Are we able to get some of those necessary bacteria from somewhere else if we make all of our food products "sterile"? We will never see raw milk sold on grocery store shelves by the millions of gallons, but raw milk, cheese and other products are healthful and available.
I have read books claiming all natural products are better. I do agree. At the back of some of these books you will find a list of many supplements one can buy to make the food we consume more healthful. In our society, not all will be able to purchase fresh foods. These supplements might be answers for particular health problems. There are many, many places to buy fresh foods in many venues, from the city to the country. Websites such as www.eatwild.com are available to direct consumers to fresh products that are available in every state. Consider trying some of these fresh foods. Even here on the farm we have gone back to maintaining a milk cow for fresh milk, a goat for fresh cheese, butchering grass-fed cattle for meat, and baking bread from grains that have not been exposed to chemicals. We haven't measured the health benefits in any scientific way, but if taste is to be the judge of how wholesome food is, it is enough to convince us that grandma's food was far superior!
