2008 Woodie Awards
Food For Thought
Back To The Basics
Ari Shapiro
Issue date: 10/22/07 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 1
When we last left Carrot Kid, he was trapped on Planet Mars-Bars, battling the evil emperor Lord Nosh-a-lot to the death. Will he be able to defeat his nemesis, save Princess Bell Pepper, and still have time for some healthy eating? You'll have to wait and see.
Toward the end of this past summer, I traveled with my family to Hawaii (as if our hometown of LA wasn't exotic enough for us). While one can envision the many features that could fascinate a tourist of Hawaii, I happened upon perhaps the most unusual one. It wasn't the sparkling beaches or hula dancers (chas veshalom!) that caught my attention, rather, it was the wide variety of different tropical fruits that grow there. Wait! Don't stare at me like that; I can explain myself.
The dazzling diversity of the fruits that grow in Hawaii is indeed remarkable. Besides for the familiar mango and papaya, other fruits such as passion fruit, guava, and nonni fruit play important roles in Hawaiian society. For me, at the time, these fruits meant new, unique flavor experiences as well as something interesting with which to keep me engaged while on the island. The ability to reach up and grab a guava off a tree during a hike through Hawaii's natural scenery gave me a feeling of self-sufficiency and adventure.
Only later on did I get to thinking: God really got it right when he created all these interesting species on Earth! One thing led to another, and eventually another epiphany smacked me across the face: that the natural plant-foods that grow back home on the mainland are just as fascinating as their tropical cousins. Funny how all these amazing food-options were around me all-along, yet it took a change of scenery to realize it.
The reason for my delayed appreciation, I believe, is found in a certain craze that has taken hold of society and until now, me as well. No, I'm not referring to Facebook or the chronicles of reckless, teenage-girl celebrities. I'm referring to the just-as-crazy phenomenon of packaged and processed food, now ingrained in our culture's DNA. As humanity has become more and more technologically advanced, its control of what should be eaten and how it should be eaten has expanded. Natural, simple foods have been toyed with in order to be perfected, and artificial compounds have been synthesized and extensively used. You pick up a package of good ole wholesome cereal, yet when you peer at the ingredients, you see more numbers, colors (yellow 5 and blue 6, for example), and indistinguishable, technical terms than anything else.
Man has forgotten the charm of natural foods. Adam and Eve knew that charm all too well even though for them it unfortunately led to their downfall. "Remember the days of old, consider the years of ages past,"(Deuteronomy 32:7). Remember the time when man respected the wholesomeness and purity of the earth's bounty for what it truly was. Indeed, on a positive note, a trend is only recently beginning, of keeping the ingredients all-natural in essence, though, we are simply returning, slowly but surely, to the days of old.
The new era has also ushered in the fast-forward age where everything has sped up to a dizzying pace. No one can waste precious time on waiting for things to happen, they must happen now. Processed and packaged foods follow in this line of thinking. They give a person the ability to pop a pre-made meal into the microwave, and eat it two minutes later. But what about the experience of creating one's own meal from the basics?
Another advantage of eating foods straight from nature will attract most of Yeshiva, which is learning Mesechet Brachot. That is, the more processed a food is and the more ingredients added to it, the more wearisome it is to determine its bracha. This can turn into a whole shakla ve-tarya as your ice-cream sundae inconspicuously begins to melt. Wouldn't the logical approach be to select foods that come, by themselves, straight from their source, making the decision of which bracha a cinch?
So, my challenge to you, my readers, is to attempt, slowly of course, to add more natural foods into your lives. Do this and you will see that eating in a more wholesome way will make you a more wholesome person.
Toward the end of this past summer, I traveled with my family to Hawaii (as if our hometown of LA wasn't exotic enough for us). While one can envision the many features that could fascinate a tourist of Hawaii, I happened upon perhaps the most unusual one. It wasn't the sparkling beaches or hula dancers (chas veshalom!) that caught my attention, rather, it was the wide variety of different tropical fruits that grow there. Wait! Don't stare at me like that; I can explain myself.
The dazzling diversity of the fruits that grow in Hawaii is indeed remarkable. Besides for the familiar mango and papaya, other fruits such as passion fruit, guava, and nonni fruit play important roles in Hawaiian society. For me, at the time, these fruits meant new, unique flavor experiences as well as something interesting with which to keep me engaged while on the island. The ability to reach up and grab a guava off a tree during a hike through Hawaii's natural scenery gave me a feeling of self-sufficiency and adventure.
Only later on did I get to thinking: God really got it right when he created all these interesting species on Earth! One thing led to another, and eventually another epiphany smacked me across the face: that the natural plant-foods that grow back home on the mainland are just as fascinating as their tropical cousins. Funny how all these amazing food-options were around me all-along, yet it took a change of scenery to realize it.
The reason for my delayed appreciation, I believe, is found in a certain craze that has taken hold of society and until now, me as well. No, I'm not referring to Facebook or the chronicles of reckless, teenage-girl celebrities. I'm referring to the just-as-crazy phenomenon of packaged and processed food, now ingrained in our culture's DNA. As humanity has become more and more technologically advanced, its control of what should be eaten and how it should be eaten has expanded. Natural, simple foods have been toyed with in order to be perfected, and artificial compounds have been synthesized and extensively used. You pick up a package of good ole wholesome cereal, yet when you peer at the ingredients, you see more numbers, colors (yellow 5 and blue 6, for example), and indistinguishable, technical terms than anything else.
Man has forgotten the charm of natural foods. Adam and Eve knew that charm all too well even though for them it unfortunately led to their downfall. "Remember the days of old, consider the years of ages past,"(Deuteronomy 32:7). Remember the time when man respected the wholesomeness and purity of the earth's bounty for what it truly was. Indeed, on a positive note, a trend is only recently beginning, of keeping the ingredients all-natural in essence, though, we are simply returning, slowly but surely, to the days of old.
The new era has also ushered in the fast-forward age where everything has sped up to a dizzying pace. No one can waste precious time on waiting for things to happen, they must happen now. Processed and packaged foods follow in this line of thinking. They give a person the ability to pop a pre-made meal into the microwave, and eat it two minutes later. But what about the experience of creating one's own meal from the basics?
Another advantage of eating foods straight from nature will attract most of Yeshiva, which is learning Mesechet Brachot. That is, the more processed a food is and the more ingredients added to it, the more wearisome it is to determine its bracha. This can turn into a whole shakla ve-tarya as your ice-cream sundae inconspicuously begins to melt. Wouldn't the logical approach be to select foods that come, by themselves, straight from their source, making the decision of which bracha a cinch?
So, my challenge to you, my readers, is to attempt, slowly of course, to add more natural foods into your lives. Do this and you will see that eating in a more wholesome way will make you a more wholesome person.