Food has ruined eating for me

from the documentary Our Children Will Accuse Us

As we learn that you might get cancer from Listerene, mercury in the corn syrup, your local honey is sometimes from China, olive oil isn’t always from olives, and salmonella is in the peanut butter, we can safely say that food is not safe. I long for the days when I simply worried about the effects of corn syrup on my body, but now I worry about the effects of the mercury in the corn syrup and the effects of the corn syrup on my body. More and more nutritionists and other experts are telling parents to let their kids intuitively. Don’t make them finish everything on their plate, trust them when they say they don’t like a certain food, and let them eat in phases. There’s been a rise in food allergies and intolerances, and many kids know there’s something wrong with a food before their parents take them to an allergist. I would even go so far as to say that adults should eat like this. How often do finish everything on your plate just because it’s there? Kids are known for eating at a slow pace, which nutritionists recommend because it takes awhile for our bodies to realize it when we’re full. I know that I, for one, feel better all around when I only eat enough to feel full. I have never really ventured away from my tendency to snack rather than eat meals.

Lately my house has been occupied by collard greens. With onions, or shallots, or leeks. And butter. We fry them just long enough to make them wilt and their colors to brighten and then deepen. If you catch them at just the right moment they’re still juicy and chewy. Ohh, it’s way too delicious.  But were we children someone would likely tell us that a week of eating greens every night is enough and try to get us to eat something else. And we will, when we get tired of what we’re eating now. I don’t think I ate anything that didn’t contain a chanterelle for the entire month of November, and most summers we subsist off huge salads with avacoado and ripe tomatoes. So, why not eat intuitively? Why not just eat what looks and tastes good?

Oh yeah, because there’s fucking poison in the food, that’s why. You can’t just browse the aisles and pick up what looks tasty because who knows what’s in it. There could be corn syrup in a loaf of bread or a ton of Olestra in a bottle of salad dressing. You definitely aren’t safe by keeping to the produce. Exactly which pesticide could be in this head of broccoli? How much of any pesticide or herbicide do these fruits and vegetables contain? Do you think bags of spinach will ever get E coli again? Oh yeah, and which of these fruits and vegetables was zapped with radiation. As someone I used to work with once said, I’m exhausted.

I just want to eat. No wonder we live in a time when a book called What to Eat is so popular. We’re all tired and scared and ready to just eat. The closest I’ve come to this is the Farmer’s Market. Portland has an incredible Farmer’s Market (with branches in many neighborhoods) so, you can go to a Farmer’s Market almost every day of the week. But Saturday is the best. Saturday has a market that stretches for blocks and contains everything. When the honey scare started John and I took a deep breath because we bought our honey from the woman who raises the bees. The Farmer’s Market is a place where we feel the most comfortable walking around and just picking up what looks good.

But you know what? I am always a little suspicious now. You say your fruit is completely unsprayed? How am I ever going to know for sure? Unless I secretly creep up on your farm at just the right time. And when you say that you use organic flour and raw sugar for your bread and pastries, how will I know? So, even as the Farmer’s Market is my best chance for safe and intuitive eating, the rest of the industry has ruined it a little. They’re like that one kid at the birthday party who keeps playing mean pranks on everyone until no one is having fun and the whole group is paranoid. But damn that kid sure seems to be having a fine time.

Safe, healthy food should be a right. If you can’t trust your own Food and Drug Administration to check things out (or even let you know when something is contaminated) than who can you trust? I guess your local, small time farmers are your best bet. They’ll know you by name.

Now, what do I eat until the market starts up again in March?