This weekend there was an article in The New York Times that really got my adrenaline flowing. A link to the article can be found by clicking here:
Gluten-free diets are the topic du jour. What really struck me about this particular article was the General Mills element.
Companies that are making mass produced, processed foods are on the gf bandwagon in a big way. I'm not as grateful as you might think. In fact, I published the following comment on the Times site last night:
As someone who nearly died before being diagnosed with celiac disease 40 years ago - I am MORTIFIED by two elements that were highlighted in this article:
1) Gluten-free has most certainly become a 'fad' - and puts some of us at considerable risk when operating in the world at large. 10 years ago it was safer for me to order in a restaurant than it is today - because almost everyone assumes that they know what gf means, and most see it as a diet trend.
2) WHY are we so hell bent on eating commercial foods - (made by General Mills no less) - as if we've learned nothing from the fact that our bodies don't want to eat processed crap.
I'm hardly a crunch granola type - but companies like General Mills already have way too much power over our food supply. They are worried about losing market share... and we are worried about not eating "what everyone else is eating". Monsanto has nothing to worry about. We are lemmings.
1) Gluten-free has most certainly become a 'fad' - and puts some of us at considerable risk when operating in the world at large. 10 years ago it was safer for me to order in a restaurant than it is today - because almost everyone assumes that they know what gf means, and most see it as a diet trend.
2) WHY are we so hell bent on eating commercial foods - (made by General Mills no less) - as if we've learned nothing from the fact that our bodies don't want to eat processed crap.
I'm hardly a crunch granola type - but companies like General Mills already have way too much power over our food supply. They are worried about losing market share... and we are worried about not eating "what everyone else is eating". Monsanto has nothing to worry about. We are lemmings.
I concede that I was being a bit heavy, but I am really struck by how we are not learning anything from the rise in food intolerance.
Instead of seeing this as a sign that something has gone wrong... and that perhaps we need to take better care of ourselves - we are greedily looking to make our lives look like they used to. We romanticize about foods, and forget how lousy we felt when we ate them (and not just because they had gluten in them!).
We don't seem to mind that our food is modified beyond recognition to behave the way we want it to (and survive on a shelf for a very long time). I'm not above eating gluten-free cake mix... but I have to say that I'm feeling worried about the direction this is taking.
I wonder what "food" will look like in another 25 years.
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