One time, while sitting around relaxing and talking about some big changes in bygone years someone asked, “What can we expect to see in the future?” My old friend (Roly) replied, “I quit predicting the future but it will be different.”
Some of us have seen changes from driving the horse and buggy to town to coming to town in a car that can park itself. Soon we will have cars that can drive us to town without a driver. We have also witnessed changes in what and how we eat that we never predicted.
Just after WWII, because of a periodic butter shortage and a new grease that became available a little cheaper than butter, margarine was used at some tables instead. Doctors discovered that too much cholesterol could clog the veins in your body and contributed to increases in heart attacks and strokes.
Then some scientists discovered that margarine contained less cholesterol than butter. The manufacturers of margarine used this information in their advertising and margarine sales increased as butter consumption declined for the next 40 years.
More comprehensive research was completed by our medical research that showed that there were two types of cholesterol. Soon after, it was discovered that the cholesterol more prevalent in butter could be dissipated by your body much more easily than the type of cholesterol found in margarine. That information combined with increased knowledge that margarine is made mainly from GMO plants has caused an increase in butter use at the expense of a reduction in margarine consumption.
We have also witnessed an enormous change in where we eat. In grandma’s time, 90 per cent of meals were eaten at home and most of the rest of the meals were prepared by grandma and packed in her husband’s lunch box for him to eat at noon hour at work. It was a very rare occasion when the family went to eat at a restaurant.
Now in 2019, more than half our food is eaten outside the home. Fast food restaurants have sprung up on every block in town. Much of the food served there is prepared in large plants. Consumers lost control of what’s in the food they eat.
Although most restaurants mark their menu to outline gluten free foods and hot foods when asked what kind of oil that they use in the fryer, they do not know. Many servers don’t know that most soy sauce contains gluten.
The newest and fastest growing fast food is the meat free burger. Some consumers order it because it’s new. Some consumers think that by eating more non-meat burgers that they are helping to reduce the number of farting cows. Some consumers are trying to eliminate all animal consumption and order their non-meat burger wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun and no cheese.
So, what’s in these no-meat burgers? Different manufacturers of these non-meat burgers use a different patented recipe. The ingredients that they select from are; pea protein, sunflower, some form of soybean, canola oil, palm oil, beet juice (red bloody colour) and water. Unless the burger is certified organic, then much of the grain sourced protein and oil is from GMO grain.
Today’s consumer is becoming much more demanding to know what ingredients are used in their food. How was it prepared? Were the animals that it is made from ethically looked after?
Our farmers are willing to talk to you and show you. Demand the same from everyone else who is involved in your food chain.
Know what you eat and be healthy. The very best weight loss plan is to push back from the table before you have to.
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations. gladcrest@gmail.com
