About 1990, the dairy farmers of North America developed a campaign to encourage restaurants to use real dairy products. Dairy farmers were given two kinds of business shaped cards. If a restaurant served butter, real whipped cream and other dairy products that were not dairy substitutes with the meal, a nice tip was left along with a card that said, “Thank you for serving real dairy products!” If they used margarine instead of butter or artificial creamers instead of real creamers then they got no tip and a card that said, “Thanks for the great service but please use real dairy products!”
It was about then that I noticed, that if I had breakfast with margarine on my toast I ended up with an upset tummy for the rest of the day. My friends said, “That’s convenient that you are a dairy farmer and margarine makes you sick.” We all laughed but I still had an upset tummy. I just ate more Rolaids or Tums and the day went on.
Soon, I started to carry a pack of antiacid tablets in my pocket every day along with every farmers companion, the jack knife, because there was an increasing number of times every day that I needed them.
I started to notice that some makes of sugar in my coffee bothered my tummy while others didn’t. Then I noticed that icing on cake bothered me. I found out that it depended on the brand of icing sugar that was used. I soon noticed that French fries from some restaurants upset my tummy while others didn’t. I later found out that if the chip truck used vegetable oil in their fryer, my tummy wasn’t happy after I ate the chips. If they used palm oil or even lard, I was fine.
I never was a fan of plain white rice, unless grandma made rice pudding with plumped raisins and cinnamon on top. I started to get sick if I ate rice that had not bothered me 40 years ago.
I loved to eat corn; corn on the cob, creamed corn, canned niblets, frozen corn, even Johnny cake made with corn meal. About 20 years ago, I noticed that the only corn that didn’t bother my tummy was own corn on the cob or our own frozen corn that had been cut off our own cobs. I loved doughnuts but now my tummy gets very upset if I eat old style doughnuts that were fried in vegetable oil. I love homemade cookies but can only eat the ones made with real butter if I want to be happy after.
I used to like corn syrup on my porridge but had to give that up about 1990 because it made me sick after eating. I also gave up soda pop and most alcoholic drinks if they were made in North America because corn sweetener is used in most of them.
On a trip to Ireland several years ago, I noticed that there were no antacid commercials on TV. Then I noticed that I could eat anything there and never get an upset tummy. Cookies, pop, beer, birthday cake, even margarine didn’t upset my tummy. Then I found out that most crops are conventional and foods made from those crops have extremely low levels of chemical residue in them. Their consumers demand it.
I may be the only person in the world that has this problem, but I hope that some day our foods will be labeled before my memory cannot remember the hundreds of products that make me sick.
I truly hope that no babies or people with dementia living in a hospital or retirement home have the same digestive system as I do. If you have to take any antacid pills, tablets, or medicine maybe you should look into the problem?
Farmers want to provide you with nutritious, tasty, and safe food. There are a few corporations that may not have the same concern …
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon
on land that has been in his family for generations.
gladcrest@gmail.com
