Real Food Grows and Dies

I have thrown out many an egg, many a head of lettuce, many an apple. Perhaps I bought too much or perhaps they got buried somewhere way back in the fridge, left to wither or rot. Regardless of the reason, it always irritates me - partly because it's terrible to waste food. And partly because this kind of food - the real kind - ain't cheap.

But better to have real food going bad every once in a while, than to stock up on only food-like stuff that magically remains fresh, months after purchase (and don't just pick on the poor old Twinkie; the finger can easily be pointed a thousand other ways as well.)

Just before Christmas, I received a big can full of popcorn at work. You know the kind that's split in three sections: yellow-ish, neon orange and caramel. I put it outside of my office for anyone to eat other than me. (Yes, yes, I should have just thrown it out, but what's done is done!) It wasn't all gone by the time the office closed for the holidays (proud of my co-workers!), so the cover went on. And it sat there ever since. Un-reopened. Until yesterday. And...




...it looked exactly like it did six months ago. Didn't smell. Hadn't rotted. No mold. So I had to do it. I picked a piece from each kind that was left - orange and caramel - and popped them in my mouth. Fresh and crunchy as they were six months ago. Scientifically impressive, perhaps. But actually quite disturbing.





Put simply, if food doesn't decompose, it means our bodies can't metabolize and digest it. While my popcorn may have started out as real food (corn, at least I hope), it lost its privilege to be labeled as such after everything was added to it in order to make it last for, well, maybe forever.

Our culture has made "health" into a big, powerful industry. Nutritional claims, crazy diet schemes, magic pills and formulas. One day it's this. The next day it's that. They've made it (intentionally?) complicated to know what's right and wrong. What's bad and good. But it's actually quite simple. As often as you possibly can:

EAT REAL FOOD. The kind that grows and dies.