More meanderings on food and the generations.In previous posts I have been reflecting on how our eating habits have been changing as a society. I have been blogging about food and recipes for well past a year now and I noticed a pattern in my eating habits from the past. I additionally noted how often I caved in and made a meal to suit my husband's preferences, rather then my own. In the early Spring of 2015, we discovered I wasn't the only one with health concerns, he had a few as well. We both started seeing medical professionals and looking a little differently at our food choices as well as lifestyle.
Time for a Change
We both believed we were getting enough exercise and didn't think we were eating too badly. Looking back at our busy lifestyles, we had been making a number of mistakes and even when we thought we were making "healthy" choices, we didn't choose them as often as we could have, and many quick healthy meals, well, they weren't that healthy. Part of our poor choices was in fact due to our lessened time spent in our own kitchen. We were picking up our meals more often then making them. It has become so easy to do so.
The last 125 years has seen leaps and bounds in science and technology, and many processes which were applied to feeding the Troops that had gone to wars overseas, and keeping crops flourishing, have been put to use to create food for consumers in this day and age. That science and technology is now an integral part of how we process, preserve and package food for ease of delivery, and they keep improving on it. Our food and it's variety has been changing consistently over each generation too, not just the last century.
We have learned to dry, pickle, salt and store food to prevent starvation over cold winters and to secure a nutritional supply during times of drought or disease. We learned to farm grains, store them and discovered how to create breads, pastries and biscuits out of their milled flours. This has allowed us to quite literally ensure that entire populations didn't die of starvation during times of crop failure. This is obviously not not a bad thing, many people world wide do receive foods they would never have had access too. Additionally, there are far more nutrients in our diets then I believe any of our ancestors had. There are bonuses to such a creative way to produce new edibles.
On the flip side, other things, such as additives and preservatives are being included to packaged and processed foods, we have products that I think we probably shouldn't be eating or drinking at all too. We need to be ever more mindful of what we are putting into our bodies if we eat on the run and purchase processed or convenient foods on the fly. I don't believe every change made to our food supply is wrong. I do understand, now, that the more we steer away from whole foods and meals that we prepare ourselves the less we consider the things we are eating.The busier I was, the less often I cooked, our lifestyles have changed so dramatically in the last 50 to 60 years, our "busyness" is affecting our quality of living. There should be more to life than working, buying the newest technology and being a consumer of goods we don't really need. Looking back, I think I should have been more focused on being happy and healthy rather than being "successful". Live and learn.
The whole world has changed and humans have changed it. We adapt, learn, create new ways of feeding ourselves en masse. We started as hunters and gatherers, as Agriculture was discovered, civilization took hold. The human race adapted, each culture became creative with the ingredients that were available to them in their regions. Egyptians, Romans, Incas all began raising their foods sources. Many societies learned to become Agriculturally based and began stock piling grains, legumes and other products which could be used to feed their ever increasing populations. Still, Nature had her way of culling us down even with such advances to help us better survive.
Our ability to fight plagues and disease had not progressed to the point it has today. Progress is a good thing.
Arts, Sciences and the ability to meander through our thoughts turned our curious and intelligent ancestors into scientists, mathematicians and philosophers, we had the time and ability to explore our world. The invention of a glass lens led to the eventual creation of a microscope which was the beginning of our understanding of the microscopic creatures that attacked the human body. Discovering viruses and bacteria led to cleaner water supplies and vaccinations. How creative we had become, you can thank a stable food supply for that!
Being able to store food and preserve it meant we could survive the frigid Winters, intensely hot Summers and other unpredictable changes in the seasons. We turned into explorers as we could carry rations of food to support the treks, sea-faring and colonizing of new worlds. The foods which we started to eat may not have been easy for us to digest, but we could glean the nutrition needed to get to the next new world and discover ever increasing cultures, spices, new food we could grow abroad and new experiences.
Every culture was changed as they met a new one. The entire world began to completely reform itself.
Here we are today, imperfect, with much to learn and new discoveries being made every day still. I'm often amazed at just how clever we are as a human race, and yet we still have so much to learn. I guess that is what makes being human so...human.
The dramatic change to our diets over the last several centuries, has helped us as a whole, but we do need to look at what we eat daily. I do beleive moderation of what you eat is a smart choice in the long run, and I do believe we consume far too much, both in diet as in resources.Cooking From Scratch, Reduce and Re-Use.
More meandering another day, just my thoughts today. A few of my posts will be be delving into how people cooked and survived in Medieval Times. The Northern European's had to learn to adapt to climate and survive during the coldest winters. Some of our "comfort" food we make in this day and age were quite literally their means of survival.
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