You Are What you Eat - A Philosophical Enquiry into why we eat what we do
Contemporary culture has an obsession with food.
We eat too much, we don't eat enough. This is bad for us, this is good for us. Try this diet, look at these recipes. Jamie Oliver. Jamie Oliver. Jamie Oliver.
Food is being blamed for our the way our children behave, the way adults don't behave, the recession, the credit crunch and the end of the world as we know it. It is mentioned on the news, in the papers, in the House of Commons and on almost every report on the state of the nation. and seems to be current number one on the list of problems with the Western world. We all eat too much, we all eat the wrong things and we are all going to die. However, for all the bombast and hyperbole no-one appears to be coming to any solutions.
There is a reason for this. We cannot find a solution because the right questions are not being asked in the first place. It should be not as simple as just deciding what is bad for us and what is good for us. Humans are not that simple. No the important questions to consider are why do we eat what we eat and what factors influence in us making that decision? The government must have realised by now that just telling people what to do doesn't work so they need to find a different approach to making us all healthier, happier human beings. Changing perception is all about finding out why we do what we do, and then influencing things that way, and so in this enquiry I aim to try and figure this out for them, and at the same time try and decide what I am going to have for lunch tomorrow.
Now before we dip into the main course I want to answer a quick question. Why I am so bothered about all this in the first place?
Food is not the most important thing to me. The most important thing in my world is me - who I am, why I am who I am and who I want to become in the future - and this 'me' is nothing to do with what I eat. It is based around far bigger issues, like work, education and love, not how many packets of crisps I ate in the last week. Okay, I want to look better, I wanted to lose my beer gut, I want to be fitter, I want not to feel guilty about only eating one piece of fruit a day, but still, it doesn't matter THAT much. I eat what I eat for a reason right? It was other things, other factors that were making me look like I did and feel how I did.
However, then I took step back and thought about it. Is what I consume really that insignificant. Is my self that set in stone? If so, why do healthy people always seem happier than cake-munching slobs?
So I decided to find out. I thought about myself and who I was at that time, and then I decided to change my diet - eating healthily, not unhealthily - to see how that made me feel. Our diets are certainly not set in stone after all, we can change them whenever we like and however we like. Our situations change, our tastes change, our worldviews change and it's the same with food. So I changed, and that was when I realised how naive I'd been. Food can change everything.
I started eating more fruit and I felt better. My digestion improved, I got ill less, my skin looked better. I then spent a day eating crisps and chips and I felt sluggish and negative about the world. I had a posh Italian dinner with wine, and when I sat down to write that evening I was full of fantastic new ideas about characters and settings, and even which words to use in my sentences. The next night I had a kebab and some lager and I couldn't be bothered to even read a book. Food was incredible! What I ate affected almost everything I did, every part of my precious self that I had been cultivating all these years through a limited spectrum of irrelevant factors. If I ate the right things, that might solve everything.
But the question was what? What should I eat and why should I eat it? Should I try and be healthy all the time, or should I try and keep a happy medium of everything? How should I decide? What factors should I consider in deciding my food future, which could lead to the future of my entire life?
It was big question and one to which there seemed to be no simple answers.
So to the main course. To answer the questions above I took three of my friends, each of whom has a very different perspective on food, and tried to find out why they eat what they do. I asked them a selection of questions about their diets, with some specific recipes to follow should you be interested, to try and see how they have come to the decisions about which foods to consume, and how they live their lives from this. I then hope to be able to work out if any of them are for me, or at least try and find out how the decision process works, so I can try and consider and answer for myself.
Now I'm hungry, so we better get on with it.
Living Foods
It is important to forget the pre-conceptions we have about eating. I didn't like apples at one point, or milk, or bananas, now I can't live without them. Fruit makes me happy and feel good. So in this respect, what does a person who will only eat foods that are organic, uncooked and unprocessed think I should eat, and why? I asked a Raw Food Expert
Recipes
Brown Rice in Curry Sauce
1/2 cup of brown rice (must be brown)
1 tbsp. curry powder
1 lb. carrots
1/2 small beet
1 stalk celery
Chinese spinach (when juiced thickens sauce - could use soaked flax seeds
instead)
1 clove garlic grated
1/2 small onion chopped finely
olive oil
mung bean greens
Soak brown rice in plenty water for 12 hours. Drain. Mix in chopped bean greens and place in serving dish. In a glass place onion,garlic and any other desired seasoning greens. Just cover these with olive oil and let soak. In another glass mix curry powder with enough olive oil to make into a paste. Juice beet, carrots and celery and chinese spinach. Add curry paste to juice and mix well. Pour curry sauce into serving sauce bowl.
Part of the enjoyment of this dish is all the serving that you allow yourself. I'll explain. You have the rice mixture in a bowl. The onion/garlic mix in a serving shot glass (or something) and then you have the sauce that should look orangy/reddy/browny in a another serving bowl all on a tray. Your bowl is empty. Then you spoon in some rice and on one side of the rice you spoon on some of the onion garlic mix, on the other you spoon on some of the curry sauce and so as you eat the rice, you decide how much of what flavours you want. Then you can serve yourself some more rice and more sauces... it reminds me of the way Asians eat- many serving bowls of different interesting stuff.. and you keep serving yourself as you go along.
This stuff not only tastes good.. it looks good too!
Sea Veggie Pizza
I call this a sea veggie pizza because its base is made from Laver, a sea vegetable. Dulse, another sea vegetable is used in the topping. It is very simple, and can be prepared quickly.
Ingredients:
Dried Laver Circles (found at Asian Markets)
2 Avocados
Juice of 2 Medium Size Carrots
Dulse Flakes
Toppings:
Tomatoes, Dried Tomatoes, Onions, Bell Peppers, Zucchini, Dried Zucchini, Arugula, Parsley, Cilantro, Cucumbers, Sunchokes, Edible Flowers, Broccoli, and anything else you would like!
Mash the two avocados. Add the juice of 2 carrots, Mix Well.
Spread the above mixture on the Laver.
Sprinkle Dulse Flakes to completely cover the avocado Mixture.
Select several toppings and chop them up into small pieces.
Carefully place each topping, one at a time on the pizza.
Be sure to use your imagination, and make it look pretty!
Options:
This recipe is very open to your imagination and creativity!
The "sauce" can be a tomato paste (Sun Dried Tomatoes, fresh tomatoes and soaked walnuts), a humus, dip, a pate, or even a seed cheese!
The topping can be anything you desire, just chop it well into small pieces!
Silvered Veggie Chop Suey
Almost any vegetable works in this recipe, the secret lies in making the longest and thinnest slivers that you can manage. They will pick up the taste of the seasonings and are fun to eat and easy to digest. It is worth the effort!
2 Carrots, slivered (by hand or use mandoline)
2 stalks celery, peeled and slivered
1 Cup thinly sliced mushrooms
1 red pepper, slivered
2 Cups thinly sliced Bok Choy, leaves and stems
1 small zucchini, slivered
1 cup green beans, slivered
1 cup snow peas or snap peas
1 cup mung sprouts
1 cup sunflower sprouts
1 cup clover sprouts
1 small red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 teaspoons ginger juice, or 1 Tablespoon minced ginger
2 Tablespoons sesame oil, or more to taste
2 Tablespoons Tamari
4 pieces of Nori, cut in 1/2" strips
Toss well. Serves 6-8
What does eating mean to them?
Eating is all about nourishing our bodies. We need a multitude of different vitamins and minerals, as well as energy and fat, to answer the combination of needs that form our human need of 'hunger.' We eat then, to answer these needs in the best and most comprehensive manner. Eating is not about making ourselves feel better emotionally. It is not about getting a boost of energy to start the day. It is not about providing a quick fix. Eating is a complex process that requires thought and understanding to do in the best way. It is recognising what our body is, what our body needs and what food can do to us.
Why do they eat what they eat?
I eat living foods because they meet the purpose of food itself, to nourish our bodies, in the best way possible. They do not have any added extras. They have not had all the goodness taken out of them by boiling, roasting, processing - they are what food is meant to be. Humans are a part of the natural world and the natural world has everything required to provide for them, that's why they have evolved as they have. All the foods I eat come from nature and are kept in their natural state. As a result they nourish me in ways others foods cannot.
Does she feel good about what she eats?
If the question is a moral one, then yes I feel good about what I eat. Eating living foods is better for the planet, as it is only consuming what is already there for us. Large scale farming, particularly for meat products, is damaging our planet every day and moving towards products that are more accessible is devolving my responsibility in this. My foods are readily available and do not incur the costs, the power and the cruelty of animal slaughtering. I am happy about this, although I am not saying that I am self-congratulatory. I understand why other people may not make the same choice I have.
Living foods also make you feel good inside in a physical way. Because they nourish your body in a more complete way than processed meals, they give you a greater level of energy and physical fitness.
And in a mental way you feel better as well. Living foods, as many a critic might say, do not fill you up in the same way a pizza might, but this actually makes you feel better in the long run. I do not have the same mental highs and lows that come with eating an unhealthy meal - the instant satisfaction, the cravings for more, the sluggishness when I eat too much. Synthetic foods have ingredients that make us feel irrational, making as feel high when he have no reason to, and then low because of it, while natural foods do not do this. The initial sensation may be a feeling of incompleteness, of unsatisfaction, but when you realise what this means on a more sophisticated level, you realise that consuming processed food is an endless struggle to attain goals that simply don't exist. Complete satisfaction can only come through answering what the body needs for nourishment, not what we have convinced it it might want.
Does she like it?
Living foods take a bit of thought and experience to like in the traditional sense, however once you find the correct combinations and methods of serving than the taste is superior to more traditional types of food. The senses become more acute and as such the experience is at a higher level than simple eating. Fresh food smells less because it is not cooked and so the reliance is much more on taste from the palette, which is the core process in eating. There is vibrancy in eating living foods, it is all about finding interesting combination rather than the bland manufactured tastes that come with synthetic products. Although there is more effort required, this means that each meal is a new dining experience. A living food is not, and cannot be a homogenous one. Only humans can produce food like that.
Does she want to eat other things, and if not why not?
I have eaten other foods in the past. I have been Vegan, a Vegetarian and a regular food eater. The only food I have not ever let pass my mouth is junk food - takeaways, fast food - this kind of things. In that respect my decision has been a very balanced one, I have tried all of them and I know what is best for me. I do not crave other foods ever, because for me my body will feel worse for consuming them, regardless of the taste. The experience of eating is simply very different for me now and to go back to eating for comfort, or eating to replace desire, just would not happen. It would be like suddenly talking like a baby again - I understand language so I use it. I understand eating and I eat food that reflects this.
Does she think that what she eats is right or wrong?
Now that is a moral question isn't it? I guess I think it is right for me, however I don’t agree that there is any right or wrong in terms of food consumption. I think there is a right or wrong in terms of how foods are produced and the damage caused from this, but I do not agree that the morality of this necessarily passes on to the consumer. Even if I say now that this is the best way to eat, that I am gaining the most nutrients, that my body feels great for it, I am aware that things will change. Just like ordinary food, the trends in raw veganism change all the time - it used to be this that would give you the best diet, then it was this, now it is that. However, I do thing that the way I eat is right in that I am eating for what my body needs - I am not complicating the hunger issue with other things like emotions, drugs or chemicals. I would say that that is the important thing, to eat food in the right way, rather than to eat the food that is right. I hope that makes sense.
Normal Food
All very interesting. Now to counter this I have asked a friend of mine who would pride himself as having a 'normal' diet. What does this mean? What does he think I should eat?
Recipes
Spaghetti Bolognese
Onion, peeled and chopped
Vegetable oil
500g Beef Mince
Can of Bolognese Sauce
Spaghetti
Fry the onion in a pan for around for mintes
Turn the heat up, add the beef mince and cook until browned
Stir in the Bolognese sauce and turn the heat down. Simmer for around half an hour.
Meanwhile cook the Spaghetti for around ten minutes until al dente.
Serve with grated cheese
Steak and Chips
450g rump steak
A serving of oven chips
Half can of baked beans
Pour in the chips onto a baking tray and place in a pre-heated oven at Gas Mark 7 for 20 minutes
Heat 2 tbs oil in a frying pan
Fry steak for app 5 mins on each side
Heat baked beans in saucepan for app 5 mins.
Serve with tomato sauce and mustard
All Day Breakfast
Two medium eggs
Half can baked beans
Two pieces of bread
Two sausages
Two rashers of bacon
Fry all ingredient apart from beans in a frying pan
Heat beans in a saucepan
Serve with brown sauce and cup of tea
What does eating mean to them?
Eating is what I do when I feel hungry. I feel a basic, human need and I act on it. It is as simple as that. I don't like to take time over it, or overcomplicate the issue, I want to keep it as basic as possible. I eat until I feel full and then I stop. I will then wait and eat when I feel hungry again, and will then eat whatever is there and available, be it a takeaway, or a simple pasta meal. I think it's a forced ignorance in a way, so I can get the job done as quickly as I can. If you keep it simple, that's the easiest way - just go on instinct.
Why do they eat what they eat?
I eat what is easy to make and quick. I'm a busy man and food is not number one on my agenda for the day. The ingredients are simple and I don't need to worry about how they are put together too much. In fact, if they are already all put together, like a pizza, then even better, it saves me a job. We live in modern times, where the preparation of food can be done for you and you can spend your time doing other, more enjoyable things. I don't go out hunting to catch my food, because I can pay for the privilege not to have to, and buying a microwave curry works in the same way. Eventually we will all think in the same way, people have just got to stop holding onto the past.
Does he feel good about what he eats?
I don't feel virtuous about my eating habits like some do-good heath freak, if that's what you're asking? But in the same way I don't feel bad either. Some arrogant individuals might describe what I eat as junk food, but I don't see that. It is food for convenience, but it's still food. I can't imagine a starving family would think of this as junk, it's just different. I would like to mention that I am not fat, not ill and I combine my eating with an active lifestyle. So if I have had a full meal after being hungry, then I would feel good. That's life isn't it? We have wants and we try and find the quickest and best way to satisfy those wants.
Does he like it?
I know my foods may have a high fat content - not that I pay too much attention to these things - but here's something you may not know, it makes them nice! As most chefs will tell you, fat is essential in making food taste good. That is why there is nothing quite like a Fried Breakfast on a Saturday morning, why it is certainly better than a boiled egg and porridge. I think my body is very clear about the food that agrees with it and see no reason to change. After a long days work a Spaghetti Bolognese always does the job and I would have no problem with eating this every day.
Does he want to eat other things, and if not why not?
It just does not interest me. I realise that my food choice may seem quite limited, but why should I vary it if I don't need to? It is easy and effective and that is why the majority of people in this country eat the same as I do. I think each country has brought up its own method of eating for the same reason - ease of supply and ease of consumption - and to change this speaks of elitism to me. Fast food is becoming more and more popular, because it enables the human race to do other, more important things, like working or thinking of new ideas. I think if I keep eating what I'm eating, then other people will see sense.
Does he thinks the way he eats is right, or wrong?
What I eat is right for me. In my eyes everyone has their own tastes and therefore what we eat is not right or wrong - there is no ethical choice about it. As I've said, it's all about going with instinct, with our evolutionary need for food. Whatever we feel we want when we are hungry, we should do our best to have. Trying to complicate that desire, by thinking about what is right or wrong, is delusional. When people start thinking like that, they will feel hungry and therefore they are not answering their evolutionary need for food. They are kidding themselves that the process of eating is something that it isn't. This is where I think there is a right or wrong, where girls don't eat to stay thin, or guys eat cold chicken and drink protein shakes to build muscles. There is something unnatural about it, about not eating when hungry. It's the same with vegans and people like that. They can't accept the truth about what they feel - hunger!
Food for Fuel
It's quite difficult to remember what normal is now. Finally I decided to ask someone with slightly different dietary requirements to the general consensus - an ultra-marathon runner.
Recipes
Fettucine with Chicken and Vegetables
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 yellow pepper, deseeded and chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
175g skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
4 button mushrooms, wiped and cut in half
1 small courgette, sliced
aubergine, diced
60g mange tout, trimmed and cut in half
400g can tomatoes
1 teaspoon oregano
a little low-sodium salt and freshly ground black pepper
175g wholewheat or non-wheat fettucine
Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Cook the onion and pepper for five minutes.
Add the garlic, chicken, mushrooms, courgettes, aubergine, mange tout and tinned tomatoes. Continue cooking over a high heat for three minutes or until the chicken is white on all sides. Mix well then bring to the boil, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes until the vegetables and chicken are tender. Add the oregano and season to taste with low sodium salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta in boiling water according to the packet instructions. Drain then add to the vegetable sauce, stir well and serve.
Stir-fry Indonesian Prawns in Peanut Sauce
1 tablespoon olive or sesame oil
225g green beans, cut in half cross-wise
450g large peeled prawns
85g chunky peanut butter
150ml unsweetened canned coconut milk
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons curry powder
a handful of spring onions.
Heat the oil in a wok over a moderate to high heat.
Add the beans and prawns, stir-fry for three minutes.
In a bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, coconut milk, soy sauce, curry powder and 175ml of water. Pour over the beans and prawns. Add the spring onions.
Stir and cook for a few minutes until the mixture is warmed through and the sauce has thickened.
Serve with noodles or rice.
Pan-fried salmon with vegetable rice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 yellow pepper, de-seeded and sliced
1 red pepper, de-seeded and sliced
125g sugar snap peas
225g basmati rice
800ml vegetable stock
a little salt (or low-sodium salt) and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 x 150g salmon fillets
a handful of rocket
Saute the onion in the oil over a moderate heat for five minutes.
Add the garlic, peppers and sugar snap peas and cook for three minutes.
Add the basmati rice and stir over the heat for a further two to three minutes.
Add the stock, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 25-30 minutes. Season to taste.
What does eating mean to me?
For me, eating is a pleasure and a means to an end. As a marathon runner I spend a lot of my time hungry, so eating the day after can feel exquisite. Unlike many people if I feel hungry, I can eat a lot of food and not feel any shred of guilt. Exercise gives me a great liberty to eat what I want a lot of the time, without doing anything stupid. It is simple, I can eat when I'm hungry and then I can eat what will be good for my body. As an athlete I have an excellent inner-knowledge about what is good to eat and what isn't. A lot of cake the night before a run is not good, although would be good in a way afterwards. This much pasta the night before a run is how much I need. Then this much breakfast, then that much afterwards. I eat what my body tells me it wants. Most of the time, it is more right than my head is. We are hungry so we eat.
Why do I eat what I eat?
I eat a lot of carbohydrates for energy. I consume sugar for quick energy replacement and because my muscles need glucose to grow. I eat fruit because it supplies me with vitamins and keeps me healthy. And then there is meat for protein and it makes me feel up. But mainly it is the carbs that dominate. I eat to give myself the best feeling when running, so I can quicker, longer and better.
Do I feel good about what I eat?
Yes, because I can never eat enough. There are not many feelings better than eating when you are really hungry and because of my lifestyle choice I am almost always hungry. Running 10 miles a day burns more calories than you can usually eat so I need to eat a lot. There is also quite a fantastic feeling about being completely empty of energy, and being able to feel the different ways foods affect me. I think it gives me a deeper understanding of food from a base level and makes me realise just how important it is. Food is treated as a bit of a sin these days, so it's nice to feel its true benefits.
Do I like what I eat?
If you are hungry enough you will like almost anything, so I guess I treat food in a different way to some people, who will be more discerning, because they won't have the same insatiable need. I love having brown bread and cereal the morning after a hard evening's exercise, because that is when my hunger is at its greatest. I don't enjoy the carb loading so much, as it makes you feel quite 'bunged up.' I guess the way I determine what food I like, is by how it makes my body feel when digesting it, rather than the taste that hits my mouth at the start. Fine dining wouldn't mean much to me, so I don't think I'd have such an appreciation of these things. Taste would always be overtaken by running potential. I guess runners are not the greatest food critics, they will eat almost anything!
Do I want to eat other things?
I have craving for fatty foods, like Fish and Chips, that are know will do me no favours when running, so I eat them very rarely. I would also like to eat different foods - your body can get very bored of pasta and brown bread, but head doesn't allow me - it knows that these work. Other than that, a few more cakes occasionally maybe, but that's about it. I don't want for much. I know what makes me feel good in the long run (no pun intended) so I am happy to eat that.
Is what I eat right or wrong?
For my lifestyle choice its right. Is that right? I'm not sure. There is a certain lack of variety to it, but there doesn't have to be. I am happy to eat almost anything I think that's very important. Being picky about food is one of the Western world's most embarrassing traits, and it only when you are REALLY hungry do you realise how superficial it all is. Try running a marathon and then having the only offer of food for an hour after to be, I don't know, Marzipan or sprouts, whatever food you despise most and see of you don't take it.
I also always finish what is on my plate and take pleasure in every mouthful. Nothing is wasted and I am never gluttonous. I do have a large appetite though, and I guess that can seem quite embarrassing. I also constantly cajole people into not worrying so much about what they eat, which I understand is easy for me to say.
I guess I believe in eating what you need, but not being too picky about it. I like food and need food, and therefore I am a big food fan, and I think people who disdain different types are food are just incredibly arrogant toward those who are truly hungry.
These are three very different views on what to eat, and a great polarity of ideas of why we should have the diet we do. It would seem that there are an incredible number of factors as to how our diet is created, perhaps more than I realised in making my choice. Firstly what comes first, a choice of lifestyle or a choice of diet? My Raw Vegan friend would certainly state the latter, while my Normal associate would vehemently advocate the former. There is certainly something to be said that food has variable levels of significance in some lives, and our lives also dictate how much food we require and what types of foods we need. In this respect, can there ever be an answer to the question of what diet I should confer to?
Well, I should think the answer to this is no, and in this respect my two dogmatic friends would perhaps be proved wrong. Firstly it cannot be right that there is a normal way to eat and an abnormal way to eat. All human beings are hungry to some extent, but there is such a variety in choice of products in the modern world that we cannot say that one way is right and one is wrong on the basis of normality. It would seem that my friend enjoys eating Spaghetti Bolognese, because he likes it and he sees no reason to change. As he admits, he is purposefully ignorant, but I would not agree that anything else is being 'overcomplicated.' Trying new things is adding sophistication to your tastes, not complicating them, so I would feel it that trying to sample as many products as possible, must lean itself to eating better food, or certainly finding out what I like the most. Therefore we could suggest that finding out what you like the most, to the most sophisticated level you can, is what having a 'best diet' is all about.
Perhaps, but then if we look at my marathon running chum then surely this ethic would fall down immediately. What he 'likes' is not based around what he necessarily feels tastes good, but what will enable him to achieve the most in his chosen profession, of which food is an essential part. Food choice is therefore not necessarily about what tastes the best in terms of flavour, but rather what tastes best to you as a person, with flavour of course a part of this. In this manner ironically, I feel that my Raw Vegan has things about right. We all seem to approach from three different ways: a dogmatic view - we choose to eat some things and not others, a taste view - we like some things and not others, and a health view - we want to be healthy, or we are militantly unhealthy. Either way we have an opinion. The correct way to eat would seem a way that takes all these three potential choices into account. My 'normal' food consumer is that he has no interest in other types of food, and in this respect he is limiting his approach in all three of these categories of best eating. The word normal just does not seem applicable in the world of accessibility of food types that we live in and his ignorance feels obtuse as such. Just because you are busy does mean you have to be ignorant. My marathon running friend seems to have completely ignored any issue of taste or flavour, his opinion is entirely manipulated by what he feels is right to his lifestyle, rather than any concession to the individual nature of what is on his plate in front of him. However, and this does surprise me somewhat, my Raw Vegan friend has made a decision based on all three factors. She has considered her dogmatic view on why she feels the need to eat what she does, she has considered the health benefits of her diet, and what she might be losing out on, and she is certainly trying to eat what tastes the best. Some might suggest she is being incredibly limited in her perspective of what she eats, but in comparison to my 'normal' food eater friend, she has come to a long and thought out decision. One thing you have to be in living the life of a raw vegan is open minded.
So perhaps I am not about to go out for a wild berry and nut salad tomorrow for lunch, but maybe I'll think about it. I certainly won't dismiss it before I've even tried, although I am well aware I cannot try everything. What I will do is try and figure out how I feel about food in terms of how I want to live my life. I will then think about the health concerns I have, and how much I need for this, and not of that; and then finally I think about what I like, about what flavours are good for me. It might take me a while, but at least it's an approach. And when I manage to figure that out, I'll write a letter to Gordon Brown and tell him what I've done, and then maybe he'll stop telling me how much salt I am supposed to eat per day and how many units of drink is in my pint of beer. Food, after all, is much more important than that.
We eat too much, we don't eat enough. This is bad for us, this is good for us. Try this diet, look at these recipes. Jamie Oliver. Jamie Oliver. Jamie Oliver.
Food is being blamed for our the way our children behave, the way adults don't behave, the recession, the credit crunch and the end of the world as we know it. It is mentioned on the news, in the papers, in the House of Commons and on almost every report on the state of the nation. and seems to be current number one on the list of problems with the Western world. We all eat too much, we all eat the wrong things and we are all going to die. However, for all the bombast and hyperbole no-one appears to be coming to any solutions.
There is a reason for this. We cannot find a solution because the right questions are not being asked in the first place. It should be not as simple as just deciding what is bad for us and what is good for us. Humans are not that simple. No the important questions to consider are why do we eat what we eat and what factors influence in us making that decision? The government must have realised by now that just telling people what to do doesn't work so they need to find a different approach to making us all healthier, happier human beings. Changing perception is all about finding out why we do what we do, and then influencing things that way, and so in this enquiry I aim to try and figure this out for them, and at the same time try and decide what I am going to have for lunch tomorrow.
Now before we dip into the main course I want to answer a quick question. Why I am so bothered about all this in the first place?
Food is not the most important thing to me. The most important thing in my world is me - who I am, why I am who I am and who I want to become in the future - and this 'me' is nothing to do with what I eat. It is based around far bigger issues, like work, education and love, not how many packets of crisps I ate in the last week. Okay, I want to look better, I wanted to lose my beer gut, I want to be fitter, I want not to feel guilty about only eating one piece of fruit a day, but still, it doesn't matter THAT much. I eat what I eat for a reason right? It was other things, other factors that were making me look like I did and feel how I did.
However, then I took step back and thought about it. Is what I consume really that insignificant. Is my self that set in stone? If so, why do healthy people always seem happier than cake-munching slobs?
So I decided to find out. I thought about myself and who I was at that time, and then I decided to change my diet - eating healthily, not unhealthily - to see how that made me feel. Our diets are certainly not set in stone after all, we can change them whenever we like and however we like. Our situations change, our tastes change, our worldviews change and it's the same with food. So I changed, and that was when I realised how naive I'd been. Food can change everything.
I started eating more fruit and I felt better. My digestion improved, I got ill less, my skin looked better. I then spent a day eating crisps and chips and I felt sluggish and negative about the world. I had a posh Italian dinner with wine, and when I sat down to write that evening I was full of fantastic new ideas about characters and settings, and even which words to use in my sentences. The next night I had a kebab and some lager and I couldn't be bothered to even read a book. Food was incredible! What I ate affected almost everything I did, every part of my precious self that I had been cultivating all these years through a limited spectrum of irrelevant factors. If I ate the right things, that might solve everything.
But the question was what? What should I eat and why should I eat it? Should I try and be healthy all the time, or should I try and keep a happy medium of everything? How should I decide? What factors should I consider in deciding my food future, which could lead to the future of my entire life?
It was big question and one to which there seemed to be no simple answers.
So to the main course. To answer the questions above I took three of my friends, each of whom has a very different perspective on food, and tried to find out why they eat what they do. I asked them a selection of questions about their diets, with some specific recipes to follow should you be interested, to try and see how they have come to the decisions about which foods to consume, and how they live their lives from this. I then hope to be able to work out if any of them are for me, or at least try and find out how the decision process works, so I can try and consider and answer for myself.
Now I'm hungry, so we better get on with it.
Living Foods
It is important to forget the pre-conceptions we have about eating. I didn't like apples at one point, or milk, or bananas, now I can't live without them. Fruit makes me happy and feel good. So in this respect, what does a person who will only eat foods that are organic, uncooked and unprocessed think I should eat, and why? I asked a Raw Food Expert
Recipes
Brown Rice in Curry Sauce
1/2 cup of brown rice (must be brown)
1 tbsp. curry powder
1 lb. carrots
1/2 small beet
1 stalk celery
Chinese spinach (when juiced thickens sauce - could use soaked flax seeds
instead)
1 clove garlic grated
1/2 small onion chopped finely
olive oil
mung bean greens
Soak brown rice in plenty water for 12 hours. Drain. Mix in chopped bean greens and place in serving dish. In a glass place onion,garlic and any other desired seasoning greens. Just cover these with olive oil and let soak. In another glass mix curry powder with enough olive oil to make into a paste. Juice beet, carrots and celery and chinese spinach. Add curry paste to juice and mix well. Pour curry sauce into serving sauce bowl.
Part of the enjoyment of this dish is all the serving that you allow yourself. I'll explain. You have the rice mixture in a bowl. The onion/garlic mix in a serving shot glass (or something) and then you have the sauce that should look orangy/reddy/browny in a another serving bowl all on a tray. Your bowl is empty. Then you spoon in some rice and on one side of the rice you spoon on some of the onion garlic mix, on the other you spoon on some of the curry sauce and so as you eat the rice, you decide how much of what flavours you want. Then you can serve yourself some more rice and more sauces... it reminds me of the way Asians eat- many serving bowls of different interesting stuff.. and you keep serving yourself as you go along.
This stuff not only tastes good.. it looks good too!
Sea Veggie Pizza
I call this a sea veggie pizza because its base is made from Laver, a sea vegetable. Dulse, another sea vegetable is used in the topping. It is very simple, and can be prepared quickly.
Ingredients:
Dried Laver Circles (found at Asian Markets)
2 Avocados
Juice of 2 Medium Size Carrots
Dulse Flakes
Toppings:
Tomatoes, Dried Tomatoes, Onions, Bell Peppers, Zucchini, Dried Zucchini, Arugula, Parsley, Cilantro, Cucumbers, Sunchokes, Edible Flowers, Broccoli, and anything else you would like!
Mash the two avocados. Add the juice of 2 carrots, Mix Well.
Spread the above mixture on the Laver.
Sprinkle Dulse Flakes to completely cover the avocado Mixture.
Select several toppings and chop them up into small pieces.
Carefully place each topping, one at a time on the pizza.
Be sure to use your imagination, and make it look pretty!
Options:
This recipe is very open to your imagination and creativity!
The "sauce" can be a tomato paste (Sun Dried Tomatoes, fresh tomatoes and soaked walnuts), a humus, dip, a pate, or even a seed cheese!
The topping can be anything you desire, just chop it well into small pieces!
Silvered Veggie Chop Suey
Almost any vegetable works in this recipe, the secret lies in making the longest and thinnest slivers that you can manage. They will pick up the taste of the seasonings and are fun to eat and easy to digest. It is worth the effort!
2 Carrots, slivered (by hand or use mandoline)
2 stalks celery, peeled and slivered
1 Cup thinly sliced mushrooms
1 red pepper, slivered
2 Cups thinly sliced Bok Choy, leaves and stems
1 small zucchini, slivered
1 cup green beans, slivered
1 cup snow peas or snap peas
1 cup mung sprouts
1 cup sunflower sprouts
1 cup clover sprouts
1 small red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 teaspoons ginger juice, or 1 Tablespoon minced ginger
2 Tablespoons sesame oil, or more to taste
2 Tablespoons Tamari
4 pieces of Nori, cut in 1/2" strips
Toss well. Serves 6-8
What does eating mean to them?
Eating is all about nourishing our bodies. We need a multitude of different vitamins and minerals, as well as energy and fat, to answer the combination of needs that form our human need of 'hunger.' We eat then, to answer these needs in the best and most comprehensive manner. Eating is not about making ourselves feel better emotionally. It is not about getting a boost of energy to start the day. It is not about providing a quick fix. Eating is a complex process that requires thought and understanding to do in the best way. It is recognising what our body is, what our body needs and what food can do to us.
Why do they eat what they eat?
I eat living foods because they meet the purpose of food itself, to nourish our bodies, in the best way possible. They do not have any added extras. They have not had all the goodness taken out of them by boiling, roasting, processing - they are what food is meant to be. Humans are a part of the natural world and the natural world has everything required to provide for them, that's why they have evolved as they have. All the foods I eat come from nature and are kept in their natural state. As a result they nourish me in ways others foods cannot.
Does she feel good about what she eats?
If the question is a moral one, then yes I feel good about what I eat. Eating living foods is better for the planet, as it is only consuming what is already there for us. Large scale farming, particularly for meat products, is damaging our planet every day and moving towards products that are more accessible is devolving my responsibility in this. My foods are readily available and do not incur the costs, the power and the cruelty of animal slaughtering. I am happy about this, although I am not saying that I am self-congratulatory. I understand why other people may not make the same choice I have.
Living foods also make you feel good inside in a physical way. Because they nourish your body in a more complete way than processed meals, they give you a greater level of energy and physical fitness.
And in a mental way you feel better as well. Living foods, as many a critic might say, do not fill you up in the same way a pizza might, but this actually makes you feel better in the long run. I do not have the same mental highs and lows that come with eating an unhealthy meal - the instant satisfaction, the cravings for more, the sluggishness when I eat too much. Synthetic foods have ingredients that make us feel irrational, making as feel high when he have no reason to, and then low because of it, while natural foods do not do this. The initial sensation may be a feeling of incompleteness, of unsatisfaction, but when you realise what this means on a more sophisticated level, you realise that consuming processed food is an endless struggle to attain goals that simply don't exist. Complete satisfaction can only come through answering what the body needs for nourishment, not what we have convinced it it might want.
Does she like it?
Living foods take a bit of thought and experience to like in the traditional sense, however once you find the correct combinations and methods of serving than the taste is superior to more traditional types of food. The senses become more acute and as such the experience is at a higher level than simple eating. Fresh food smells less because it is not cooked and so the reliance is much more on taste from the palette, which is the core process in eating. There is vibrancy in eating living foods, it is all about finding interesting combination rather than the bland manufactured tastes that come with synthetic products. Although there is more effort required, this means that each meal is a new dining experience. A living food is not, and cannot be a homogenous one. Only humans can produce food like that.
Does she want to eat other things, and if not why not?
I have eaten other foods in the past. I have been Vegan, a Vegetarian and a regular food eater. The only food I have not ever let pass my mouth is junk food - takeaways, fast food - this kind of things. In that respect my decision has been a very balanced one, I have tried all of them and I know what is best for me. I do not crave other foods ever, because for me my body will feel worse for consuming them, regardless of the taste. The experience of eating is simply very different for me now and to go back to eating for comfort, or eating to replace desire, just would not happen. It would be like suddenly talking like a baby again - I understand language so I use it. I understand eating and I eat food that reflects this.
Does she think that what she eats is right or wrong?
Now that is a moral question isn't it? I guess I think it is right for me, however I don’t agree that there is any right or wrong in terms of food consumption. I think there is a right or wrong in terms of how foods are produced and the damage caused from this, but I do not agree that the morality of this necessarily passes on to the consumer. Even if I say now that this is the best way to eat, that I am gaining the most nutrients, that my body feels great for it, I am aware that things will change. Just like ordinary food, the trends in raw veganism change all the time - it used to be this that would give you the best diet, then it was this, now it is that. However, I do thing that the way I eat is right in that I am eating for what my body needs - I am not complicating the hunger issue with other things like emotions, drugs or chemicals. I would say that that is the important thing, to eat food in the right way, rather than to eat the food that is right. I hope that makes sense.
Normal Food
All very interesting. Now to counter this I have asked a friend of mine who would pride himself as having a 'normal' diet. What does this mean? What does he think I should eat?
Recipes
Spaghetti Bolognese
Onion, peeled and chopped
Vegetable oil
500g Beef Mince
Can of Bolognese Sauce
Spaghetti
Fry the onion in a pan for around for mintes
Turn the heat up, add the beef mince and cook until browned
Stir in the Bolognese sauce and turn the heat down. Simmer for around half an hour.
Meanwhile cook the Spaghetti for around ten minutes until al dente.
Serve with grated cheese
Steak and Chips
450g rump steak
A serving of oven chips
Half can of baked beans
Pour in the chips onto a baking tray and place in a pre-heated oven at Gas Mark 7 for 20 minutes
Heat 2 tbs oil in a frying pan
Fry steak for app 5 mins on each side
Heat baked beans in saucepan for app 5 mins.
Serve with tomato sauce and mustard
All Day Breakfast
Two medium eggs
Half can baked beans
Two pieces of bread
Two sausages
Two rashers of bacon
Fry all ingredient apart from beans in a frying pan
Heat beans in a saucepan
Serve with brown sauce and cup of tea
What does eating mean to them?
Eating is what I do when I feel hungry. I feel a basic, human need and I act on it. It is as simple as that. I don't like to take time over it, or overcomplicate the issue, I want to keep it as basic as possible. I eat until I feel full and then I stop. I will then wait and eat when I feel hungry again, and will then eat whatever is there and available, be it a takeaway, or a simple pasta meal. I think it's a forced ignorance in a way, so I can get the job done as quickly as I can. If you keep it simple, that's the easiest way - just go on instinct.
Why do they eat what they eat?
I eat what is easy to make and quick. I'm a busy man and food is not number one on my agenda for the day. The ingredients are simple and I don't need to worry about how they are put together too much. In fact, if they are already all put together, like a pizza, then even better, it saves me a job. We live in modern times, where the preparation of food can be done for you and you can spend your time doing other, more enjoyable things. I don't go out hunting to catch my food, because I can pay for the privilege not to have to, and buying a microwave curry works in the same way. Eventually we will all think in the same way, people have just got to stop holding onto the past.
Does he feel good about what he eats?
I don't feel virtuous about my eating habits like some do-good heath freak, if that's what you're asking? But in the same way I don't feel bad either. Some arrogant individuals might describe what I eat as junk food, but I don't see that. It is food for convenience, but it's still food. I can't imagine a starving family would think of this as junk, it's just different. I would like to mention that I am not fat, not ill and I combine my eating with an active lifestyle. So if I have had a full meal after being hungry, then I would feel good. That's life isn't it? We have wants and we try and find the quickest and best way to satisfy those wants.
Does he like it?
I know my foods may have a high fat content - not that I pay too much attention to these things - but here's something you may not know, it makes them nice! As most chefs will tell you, fat is essential in making food taste good. That is why there is nothing quite like a Fried Breakfast on a Saturday morning, why it is certainly better than a boiled egg and porridge. I think my body is very clear about the food that agrees with it and see no reason to change. After a long days work a Spaghetti Bolognese always does the job and I would have no problem with eating this every day.
Does he want to eat other things, and if not why not?
It just does not interest me. I realise that my food choice may seem quite limited, but why should I vary it if I don't need to? It is easy and effective and that is why the majority of people in this country eat the same as I do. I think each country has brought up its own method of eating for the same reason - ease of supply and ease of consumption - and to change this speaks of elitism to me. Fast food is becoming more and more popular, because it enables the human race to do other, more important things, like working or thinking of new ideas. I think if I keep eating what I'm eating, then other people will see sense.
Does he thinks the way he eats is right, or wrong?
What I eat is right for me. In my eyes everyone has their own tastes and therefore what we eat is not right or wrong - there is no ethical choice about it. As I've said, it's all about going with instinct, with our evolutionary need for food. Whatever we feel we want when we are hungry, we should do our best to have. Trying to complicate that desire, by thinking about what is right or wrong, is delusional. When people start thinking like that, they will feel hungry and therefore they are not answering their evolutionary need for food. They are kidding themselves that the process of eating is something that it isn't. This is where I think there is a right or wrong, where girls don't eat to stay thin, or guys eat cold chicken and drink protein shakes to build muscles. There is something unnatural about it, about not eating when hungry. It's the same with vegans and people like that. They can't accept the truth about what they feel - hunger!
Food for Fuel
It's quite difficult to remember what normal is now. Finally I decided to ask someone with slightly different dietary requirements to the general consensus - an ultra-marathon runner.
Recipes
Fettucine with Chicken and Vegetables
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 yellow pepper, deseeded and chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
175g skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
4 button mushrooms, wiped and cut in half
1 small courgette, sliced
aubergine, diced
60g mange tout, trimmed and cut in half
400g can tomatoes
1 teaspoon oregano
a little low-sodium salt and freshly ground black pepper
175g wholewheat or non-wheat fettucine
Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Cook the onion and pepper for five minutes.
Add the garlic, chicken, mushrooms, courgettes, aubergine, mange tout and tinned tomatoes. Continue cooking over a high heat for three minutes or until the chicken is white on all sides. Mix well then bring to the boil, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes until the vegetables and chicken are tender. Add the oregano and season to taste with low sodium salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta in boiling water according to the packet instructions. Drain then add to the vegetable sauce, stir well and serve.
Stir-fry Indonesian Prawns in Peanut Sauce
1 tablespoon olive or sesame oil
225g green beans, cut in half cross-wise
450g large peeled prawns
85g chunky peanut butter
150ml unsweetened canned coconut milk
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons curry powder
a handful of spring onions.
Heat the oil in a wok over a moderate to high heat.
Add the beans and prawns, stir-fry for three minutes.
In a bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, coconut milk, soy sauce, curry powder and 175ml of water. Pour over the beans and prawns. Add the spring onions.
Stir and cook for a few minutes until the mixture is warmed through and the sauce has thickened.
Serve with noodles or rice.
Pan-fried salmon with vegetable rice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 yellow pepper, de-seeded and sliced
1 red pepper, de-seeded and sliced
125g sugar snap peas
225g basmati rice
800ml vegetable stock
a little salt (or low-sodium salt) and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 x 150g salmon fillets
a handful of rocket
Saute the onion in the oil over a moderate heat for five minutes.
Add the garlic, peppers and sugar snap peas and cook for three minutes.
Add the basmati rice and stir over the heat for a further two to three minutes.
Add the stock, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 25-30 minutes. Season to taste.
What does eating mean to me?
For me, eating is a pleasure and a means to an end. As a marathon runner I spend a lot of my time hungry, so eating the day after can feel exquisite. Unlike many people if I feel hungry, I can eat a lot of food and not feel any shred of guilt. Exercise gives me a great liberty to eat what I want a lot of the time, without doing anything stupid. It is simple, I can eat when I'm hungry and then I can eat what will be good for my body. As an athlete I have an excellent inner-knowledge about what is good to eat and what isn't. A lot of cake the night before a run is not good, although would be good in a way afterwards. This much pasta the night before a run is how much I need. Then this much breakfast, then that much afterwards. I eat what my body tells me it wants. Most of the time, it is more right than my head is. We are hungry so we eat.
Why do I eat what I eat?
I eat a lot of carbohydrates for energy. I consume sugar for quick energy replacement and because my muscles need glucose to grow. I eat fruit because it supplies me with vitamins and keeps me healthy. And then there is meat for protein and it makes me feel up. But mainly it is the carbs that dominate. I eat to give myself the best feeling when running, so I can quicker, longer and better.
Do I feel good about what I eat?
Yes, because I can never eat enough. There are not many feelings better than eating when you are really hungry and because of my lifestyle choice I am almost always hungry. Running 10 miles a day burns more calories than you can usually eat so I need to eat a lot. There is also quite a fantastic feeling about being completely empty of energy, and being able to feel the different ways foods affect me. I think it gives me a deeper understanding of food from a base level and makes me realise just how important it is. Food is treated as a bit of a sin these days, so it's nice to feel its true benefits.
Do I like what I eat?
If you are hungry enough you will like almost anything, so I guess I treat food in a different way to some people, who will be more discerning, because they won't have the same insatiable need. I love having brown bread and cereal the morning after a hard evening's exercise, because that is when my hunger is at its greatest. I don't enjoy the carb loading so much, as it makes you feel quite 'bunged up.' I guess the way I determine what food I like, is by how it makes my body feel when digesting it, rather than the taste that hits my mouth at the start. Fine dining wouldn't mean much to me, so I don't think I'd have such an appreciation of these things. Taste would always be overtaken by running potential. I guess runners are not the greatest food critics, they will eat almost anything!
Do I want to eat other things?
I have craving for fatty foods, like Fish and Chips, that are know will do me no favours when running, so I eat them very rarely. I would also like to eat different foods - your body can get very bored of pasta and brown bread, but head doesn't allow me - it knows that these work. Other than that, a few more cakes occasionally maybe, but that's about it. I don't want for much. I know what makes me feel good in the long run (no pun intended) so I am happy to eat that.
Is what I eat right or wrong?
For my lifestyle choice its right. Is that right? I'm not sure. There is a certain lack of variety to it, but there doesn't have to be. I am happy to eat almost anything I think that's very important. Being picky about food is one of the Western world's most embarrassing traits, and it only when you are REALLY hungry do you realise how superficial it all is. Try running a marathon and then having the only offer of food for an hour after to be, I don't know, Marzipan or sprouts, whatever food you despise most and see of you don't take it.
I also always finish what is on my plate and take pleasure in every mouthful. Nothing is wasted and I am never gluttonous. I do have a large appetite though, and I guess that can seem quite embarrassing. I also constantly cajole people into not worrying so much about what they eat, which I understand is easy for me to say.
I guess I believe in eating what you need, but not being too picky about it. I like food and need food, and therefore I am a big food fan, and I think people who disdain different types are food are just incredibly arrogant toward those who are truly hungry.
These are three very different views on what to eat, and a great polarity of ideas of why we should have the diet we do. It would seem that there are an incredible number of factors as to how our diet is created, perhaps more than I realised in making my choice. Firstly what comes first, a choice of lifestyle or a choice of diet? My Raw Vegan friend would certainly state the latter, while my Normal associate would vehemently advocate the former. There is certainly something to be said that food has variable levels of significance in some lives, and our lives also dictate how much food we require and what types of foods we need. In this respect, can there ever be an answer to the question of what diet I should confer to?
Well, I should think the answer to this is no, and in this respect my two dogmatic friends would perhaps be proved wrong. Firstly it cannot be right that there is a normal way to eat and an abnormal way to eat. All human beings are hungry to some extent, but there is such a variety in choice of products in the modern world that we cannot say that one way is right and one is wrong on the basis of normality. It would seem that my friend enjoys eating Spaghetti Bolognese, because he likes it and he sees no reason to change. As he admits, he is purposefully ignorant, but I would not agree that anything else is being 'overcomplicated.' Trying new things is adding sophistication to your tastes, not complicating them, so I would feel it that trying to sample as many products as possible, must lean itself to eating better food, or certainly finding out what I like the most. Therefore we could suggest that finding out what you like the most, to the most sophisticated level you can, is what having a 'best diet' is all about.
Perhaps, but then if we look at my marathon running chum then surely this ethic would fall down immediately. What he 'likes' is not based around what he necessarily feels tastes good, but what will enable him to achieve the most in his chosen profession, of which food is an essential part. Food choice is therefore not necessarily about what tastes the best in terms of flavour, but rather what tastes best to you as a person, with flavour of course a part of this. In this manner ironically, I feel that my Raw Vegan has things about right. We all seem to approach from three different ways: a dogmatic view - we choose to eat some things and not others, a taste view - we like some things and not others, and a health view - we want to be healthy, or we are militantly unhealthy. Either way we have an opinion. The correct way to eat would seem a way that takes all these three potential choices into account. My 'normal' food consumer is that he has no interest in other types of food, and in this respect he is limiting his approach in all three of these categories of best eating. The word normal just does not seem applicable in the world of accessibility of food types that we live in and his ignorance feels obtuse as such. Just because you are busy does mean you have to be ignorant. My marathon running friend seems to have completely ignored any issue of taste or flavour, his opinion is entirely manipulated by what he feels is right to his lifestyle, rather than any concession to the individual nature of what is on his plate in front of him. However, and this does surprise me somewhat, my Raw Vegan friend has made a decision based on all three factors. She has considered her dogmatic view on why she feels the need to eat what she does, she has considered the health benefits of her diet, and what she might be losing out on, and she is certainly trying to eat what tastes the best. Some might suggest she is being incredibly limited in her perspective of what she eats, but in comparison to my 'normal' food eater friend, she has come to a long and thought out decision. One thing you have to be in living the life of a raw vegan is open minded.
So perhaps I am not about to go out for a wild berry and nut salad tomorrow for lunch, but maybe I'll think about it. I certainly won't dismiss it before I've even tried, although I am well aware I cannot try everything. What I will do is try and figure out how I feel about food in terms of how I want to live my life. I will then think about the health concerns I have, and how much I need for this, and not of that; and then finally I think about what I like, about what flavours are good for me. It might take me a while, but at least it's an approach. And when I manage to figure that out, I'll write a letter to Gordon Brown and tell him what I've done, and then maybe he'll stop telling me how much salt I am supposed to eat per day and how many units of drink is in my pint of beer. Food, after all, is much more important than that.
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