Late Sunday evening — very late — a woman sitting at a neighboring table turned and urged me to follow an organic diet with no genetically modified ingredients.
This occurred at a restaurant in the Phoenix airport as I tried to fritter away three hours of layover before a red-eye flight. It’s a refrain I’ve heard many times over the years, and one not without merit. Firmly held food causes, for the most part, begin in a sincere desire that others share in habits the person (or group) in question associates with a healthier and happier life.
And they are so pervasive we butt up against their advocates, even while sneaking away for a few days of vacation.
Seasonal fruits and vegetables indeed carry brighter flavors. Buying local produce bulks up the local economy. Treating farm animals in an ethical manner — free range, natural diet, stress free slaughter — leads to better quality meat. Sustainable practices soften the blow of cultivation on the land. Organic foods mean fewer chemicals.
All good.
Yet there are always caveats. Farmers have for millennia modified plants to increase yield or combat the ravages of nature. To many people, however, the shift from grafting and breeding in the field to injecting — or whatever they do — in a New Jersey chemical lab seems more disturbing.
In the 1990s opponents of genetic modification labeled the resulting crops “Frankenfoods.” They bring up a list of fears too lengthy to review in this space, but often worth serious consideration. Proponents meanwhile pointed out that introducing vitamin A to rice would offset vision issues affecting youths in one place. Drought tolerant characteristics molded into grains would ensure basic flour for hunger stricken people in another, with the added bonus of flattening out the financial roller coaster experienced by farmers.
And so it goes.
Also in the 1990s famous California chef Alice Waters bemoaned the lack of support for organic farms. The culinary star who once plated freshly picked cherries (with no sugar, heat or any handling by kitchen staff) for guests — at $10 or $20 a pop.
OK, so I can’t remember the price. I do, however, recall Waters’ insistence that people need to pay more for fruits and vegetables, ensuring organic producers could turn a profit. Fine, but thanks to the ready availability of cheap, out of season — and, yes, tasteless — produce, the poor and lower middle class can access healthier foods. And that may be one of the reasons people live longer, on average.
Yeah, it may be oversimplifying to point out the value of different sides in an argument. If some time-traveler managed to set up a McDonald’s in 1880s wild west Cheyenne, cowpokes would have flocked through its doors — especially if they added a line of hard liquors. Imagine the draw of efficiency in a world where the preparation of dinner took hours. But that doesn’t make McDonald’s a model restaurant. They just do a few things rather well.
I’ve never been inclined to side with any food zealots … unless they call for the consumption of more cured meats, fine cheeses or aged Scotch. Remember, wine was at one point in time considered a no-no, until scientists discovered health benefits from red wine. Coffee turned all horrible tricks on the body, until they found all those antioxidants.
I could conjure up other examples, but I am on vacation.
If I have a food manifesto, it involves eating for flavor and enjoyment first. Fatty meat means more flavor. Glutenous bread is best when slathered with good butter. Whole milk trumps 2 percent. Fresh vegetables reach new heights dressed by extra virgin olive oil, aged balsamic and crackling sea salt. Free range chicken reveals the bird’s true savor.
Of course, those concerned with true flavor also tend to care more for the welfare of land and livestock. And that’s living well, all around.
