[Scene —Somewhere in the Pleistocene Epoch]
A caveman crouches near a bush, squinting suspiciously at a berry. The berry looks tempting. It’s small. It’s red. It’s shiny. It’s… perhaps edible. Hopefully. Anyway, it’s either breakfast—or a eulogy.
He glances at his fellow cave-companion, and they exchange a look that says: “Rock-paper-scissors doesn’t exist yet, but if it did, you’d be tasting the terror first.“
So one of them pops one into his mouth, chews, and swallows. [Silence.]
Five seconds. Ten. Thirty.
Still hale and hearty. A cautious thumbs-up. The berry is declared mostly safe. The tribe cheers. Another item added to the prehistoric menu. Civilization moves forward.
Yes! That was the gold standard of food safety: if the eater didn’t keel over, it must’ve been gluten-free, sugar-free, and worry-free. Decisions based on blind optimism, silence, and survival—not much science. [Darwin approves.] Early humans roamed the land, sussing out whatever seemed remotely edible. There were no nutritionists, no diet charts—just gut instinct (and sometimes, quite literally, guts).
Fast forward to today—you’re standing in a supermarket, staring at bags of snacks, wondering which one is actually good for you. One says “Keto-friendly, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, cruelty-free, guilt-free” chips. Next to it is another bag claiming to be “100% natural, high in protein, rich in antioxidants, made from ancient grains your ancestors probably ate.” You blink. The pressure is real.
You flip them over, scanning the ingredients. One has words you can’t pronounce; the other lists “natural flavours,” which sounds suspiciously unnatural. Which one is actually food? Which one is a marketing scheme? Which one won’t whisper “health” and deliver havoc?
A stranger next to you sighs, staring at a “superfood” bar.
“I just want a snack that doesn’t require a PhD to understand.”
You nod. This is wellness in the 21st century—one that hands you an existential crisis, then and there.
When it becomes a revolutionary act to eat real food, we are in trouble.
Mark Adam Hyman (physician and author)
Once, food was about survival. Now, it’s a psychological thriller. Carbs or no carbs? Natural sugar or artificial sweeteners? Plant-based or processed nonsense in disguise? One study says coffee is a superfood; another claims it’s slowly killing us. Eggs were bad, then good, then bad again. Science is supposed to make things clearer. Instead, it’s just made grocery shopping feel like an IQ test. So you stand in your kitchen, phone in hand, scrolling through an article titled “10 Foods You Thought Were Healthy but Are Actually Slowly Destroying Your Body.” You glance at your plate—avocado toast with a side of Greek yoghurt. Surely this is safe? Nope. According to some nutritionist on Instagram, your toast is filled with “anti-nutrients” (whatever that means), and your yoghurt is secretly a sugar bomb. You sigh, take a sip of your oat milk latte—only to remember another study that says oat milk is basically liquid carbs. Great. Another meal ruined by science.
On a more serious note, we can’t ignore what we’ve done to ourselves—our society, our food, our environment, and everything in between. With skyscrapers soaring and science advancing at lightning speed, the one thing we should have at least figured out is what to eat. But ironically, we’ve managed to mess that up too.
You don’t really know what you’re ingesting anymore.
Carbs? Please calculate.
Fats? Better be the unsaturated kind.
Flour? Better not be refined.
Cholesterol? Less, thank you very much.
Cleared this checklist? Cute. But that was just the beginning—welcome to Round 2 of Nutrition’s Peekaboo! Here come the additives:
☐ Artificial preservatives
☐ Artificial colourants
☐ Artificial flavours
☐ Artificial sweeteners
☐ Artificial hope… (just kidding)
Still in the game? Brave of you! But hey—the hardest battles are reserved for the bold, right?
Coming up next: Chemical Combat 2.0
Now let’s talk about the stuff your veggies were marinated in before they hit your plate—pesticides, fertilizers, insecticides, and then some.
You see, your spinach didn’t just grow in a happy, Instagram-worthy garden patch. It survived a biochemical obstacle course. First came the synthetic fertilizers—just a little something to help it grow faster than your attention span. Then, the pesticides—because bugs also believe in organic living, yeah? And if that wasn’t enough, let’s not forget the charming cocktail of microplastics it soaked up from the soil or rain. Some of my earlier articles have already shed light on this.
So the next time someone smugly says, “I only eat salads,” you can smile and say, “Ah yes—salads lightly tossed in capitalism, carbon emissions, and a chemical seasoning no one asked for. Bon appétit.”
Industrial food systems have reduced food to a commodity, to “stuff” that can then be constituted in the lab. In the process both the planet’s health and our health has been nearly destroyed.
Vandana Shiva (environmental activist, ecofeminist, and food sovereignty advocate)
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