We are what we eat and yet most people probably couldn't tell you exactly what they're eating on a regular basis. Sure it may taste like chicken, but is it really chicken? Today's food is a mystery of ingredients, most of which can't be pronounced without a decoder ring. Lately there has been a big push for organic food. I think part of that is because it's trendy, but also because obesity has become the leading killer in America. That's something our founding fathers probably never would have imagined happening. People are living so well that they are literally eating themselves to death. Granted the food we put in our mouths would probably not be recognizable to people back then. Even today's white bread would most likely be thought of as cake as far as nutritional value is concerned. Our society is so specialized that many of us could go through our entire lives without ever producing our own food. We will have allowed someone else to provide us everything we eat.
There have been several well-made documentaries regarding the food and food industry today. All of them have a message that they're trying to get across so you may have to take what they're saying with a grain of salt. One examined how we as a country are eating more corn than ever before. Most people probably haven't thought about it until it's pointed out to them. Corn is in almost everything we eat today. Farmers who grow it are experiencing a strange time where the crops they grow can't be used directly as food. Try eating corn straight from the stalk. Unless it was grown specifically for eating, it's probably going to taste like sawdust. It's not until that corn is processed that it can actually be used for anything. That's how it is with most things these days. Processing because this term that gets used that summarizes all sorts of things. By the time they get done processing it, it tastes fantastic, but it may not resemble the original except on the surface. We live in a world where a private company has a patent on food itself. Monsanto has genetically altered soybeans in such a way that if farmers want to grow soy as their primary crop then they have to get their seeds from them. Part of me wonders if that's only the start. We have name brand food providers. McDonald's the probably one of the most recognizable of these. Imagine if they figured out a way to genetically alter cows in such a way that they would produce more beef. Or even flavored beef. Like Monsanto they could control the very supply at its source. It could only be a matter of time before companies start looking at ways to increase their hold on the particular market. Companies are working at owning food at its source. Will they eventually try to patent flavors?
Going back to what we eat, growing up it always seemed like the stuff that was good for you tasted the worst. It's been shown that food flavors have more intensity when we're young so it's very likely that food tastes different to children than it does to adults. Sure an apple is going to taste like an apple, but only more so for a kid, who hasn't experienced all the various flavors the world has to offer. As we get older the taste buds get used to everything and flavors get a bit more muted. That could explain why we tend to remember things tasting better when we were young. For us they probably did have more taste. Plus our tastes change as we grow. I used to despise mushrooms as a kid, but now I can't get enough of them. I couldn't tell you the precise moment when that happened, but it did. I'm sure if I think about it there are foods that I loved as a kid which I can't stomach anymore. As I've mentioned before our bodies become something new as time goes on. Every cell is eventually replaced so after a time we're literally someone new. That could account for why we lose a taste for certain things after awhile. Then again certain things will remain constant. Liver & onions can go straight to hell and I don't care if Bobby Flay were preparing them, it wouldn't be something I'd want to put in my mouth.
Now I'm not a picky eater. Most usually stance is that I want whatever will not make me hungry anymore. At the same time, there are moments where I need a flavor. I normally can't identify exactly what I want. I just know that I want something. Have you ever had a taste for something so specific that nothing else will do? I get that all the time and usually end up settling for whatever is closest to me. It's strange that as children food flavor was more intense naturally and now companies are working at intensifying food to match. Food has become much more than just sustenance. Who knows what it will become next.
