Cultural Food – Relationships With Food

Which is better:  The Mediteranian Diet,  The Eskimo Diet,  The Oriental Diet,  The American Diet?

I put the American diet last because it seems to be the most dangerous to live on.  It does belongs last!  One of the reasons for this is that Americans don’t eat “food.”  Americans eat things that look like food but are really processed, chemically altered industrial creations,  that pass for food.   But this is another discussion.  What I want you to think about today is Cultural Foods and how they can keep you healthy.

Michael Pollan in his book,  “In Defense Of Food” points out that there have been many cultures that had pretty healthy people; yet,  when compared,  the people living in each society ate very different foods!  How can this be possible?   Michael Pollan has an interesting explanation.  He says that food cultures Evolved as a relationship between the food being eaten and the eater so that both would benefit.

To understand this,  go way back in time.  In each area plants were available for food and people tried to eat them. If we could eat them and benefit,  then we spread there seeds and the plants prospered by our taking their seeds to other locations.  Over time this Relationship,  people and food,  helped both to survive so we each became attuned to each other.   Over greater time spans,  food cultures arose around these relationships.  These cultural diets kept humans healthy and plants expanding their domain.  In other words,  The Way People Ate (cultural diet) Was Determined By The Plants That Fed Them And Our Getting Healthy From Them!

This is an out-of-the-box creative understanding of why different societies can have good health eating different diets.   In essence it is NOT just  a count of the nutritional elements in the diet (the label on the side of the processed “food” we buy in America),  that are important,  it is much more.  It is the sum total of all the foods we eat in combination as well as how we prepare them.

This helps explain why the American diet does not work and yet different long evolved food cultures across the Earth can work.  Now admittedly it is not this simple as you must take into consideration the genetics of the people in each culture,  their working style and lots more.  However it is a understanding that can help us find direction if we are seeking to avoid disease and live as healthy as we can.   Want to get a better handle on how you might stay healthy and avoid disease that are way too common in America?   Then consider reading his book.

I recommend reading Michael Pollan’s book,  “In Defense Of Food”

Dr Joseph Ross  (Janr Ssor)