The UN breakfast - new and improved!

Whilst travelling on buses, trains, and planes on my way to Amsterdam today I had several pleasant encounters with fellow foodies from around the world. Somehow we instantly recognised each other which made it very easy to strike up a conversation and get straight to the topic we love: food, glorious food! None of these people work in the food industry, food is just their lifetime passion and hobby. It made me realise once again how fortunate I am to be able to live in Italy and to spend my days learning about food in an in depth way that I could never have achieved if it were to be a mere past-time. 


I also met a very interesting lady from Eastern Europe who works for one of the security agencies of the UN (I can't tell you which one, it's top secret, hehehe!) This woman works so hard that she even has to cut her vacations short to speed off to some distant destination to dutifully fulfill her job requirements. Inevitably the subject got to food and she told me that she has no time to eat. She has no time to shop for food, no time to prepare it and no time to think about it. Even though she likes to eat well, food is fuel to her at this point in life. Nevertheless, she's not happy with the way she eats and she would like to make some changes. 


Today I will devote my blog to this lady as I have promised to help her with some easy ways of eating well and nutritiously. You see, she is not the only one out there who tries to balance a busy job with a happy and healthy life style. So, while she and so many others are out there devoting their lives towards doing incredibly important work, it is time for this Slow Student to give back a little and share a secret or two about food.


We decided that the first thing she could improve on was breakfast. She used to eat a wholesome savoury breakfast in her home country, but in her new Southern European place of residence she has to contend with capuccino and a brioche. Not bad, you may think, until you have to have it every day. Lunch is usually something quick on the go, often of the unhealthy sort. By the time she finally finishes work she's too exhausted to cook. It would be unrealistic to expect of people like her to change their entire diet, but much progress can be made by doing it one step at a time.


Before we begin, I should mention a few things. I am neither a nutritionist nor a dietitian and this is not a diet or regime. I have merely spent considerable time studying food and I use my own common sense to determine what works best for me and my body. Everyone is different and your age, gender, genetic predisposition and habits will determine how your body behaves and what it needs in terms of diet. This is not a menu aimed at weight loss. The goal is to eat well and feel well. All I can do is give you a few pointers and help you find ways to figure out the best eating pattern for yourself.

So here goes! OrganicSassy hereby officially launches the UN breakfast! The letters U and N standing for Unadulterated Naturalness. I will publish a breakfast menu on this blog, which can be prepared either in advance, for instance on Sunday or on a weekday morning on the spot in less than five minutes! I will take you on a trip to the (super)market to help you buy the things you need, show you how to prepare it and how to enable you to have a sit down breakfast every morning! 

See you soon! Maybe I'll wake you up with breakfast in bed! ;-)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: between the evils of raw milk and the goodness of chemical additives

Raw milk is dangerous! It has to go through a heating process called pasteurisation in order to be safe for human consumption. At least that's what most policy makers in Westernised countries say. Raw milk also isn't what the consumer wants. Consumers want model products; pretty and predictable. It has to loose weight to become skinny and it always has to have the same consistency and nutritional values all year around. That's what the dairy industry says.


What do consumers say? Huh?! Who? Yeah, you! The one who's reading this either for fun or professionally, but who will quite likely at some stage this week be in front of the dairy section of a supermarket making consumer choices. Unless you are lactose intolerant of course. I mean, have you ever been asked by a diary producer what your preferences and opinions are? In fact, have you ever tasted raw milk? Have you ever been to an old fashioned dairy farm where you were given fresh milk straight after the milking of the cows? Have you ever had to shake a bottle of milk because the fat had separated from the watery part? Did you know that milk tastes differently all year around, depending on the season, the type of food the cow eats and the health of the animal?


You wouldn't be the only one having difficulty to answer yes to at least two of these questions. Most people in westernised countries aged under fifty can't. We are too far removed from food production to occupy our minds with such questions. We trust the food industry and policy makers to take care of our food safety and supply. If they say raw milk and raw cheese should be banned, then so be it. Despite the fact that half the world has been consuming raw milk products for centuries without entire populations being wiped out. So how did they get to that decision? Who are these people anyway?


What's concerning is that these same people, the policy makers, allow the food industry to put a myriad of chemical additives in our food. And this is where it gets tricky. As the world chemical already implies, this is not a natural part of food and therefore not part of our natural eating pattern. What's interesting is that many of these additives have not been sufficiently tested in order to guarantee that long term and cumulative consumption is not harmful to our health.


Let's have a brief look at food history. Since about the fifties of the last century the food industry has increasingly stripped raw ingredients of its natural goodness, substituted natural ingredients by adding cheap chemical components and to add value they fortify foods with the exact vitamins and minerals that are now lacking in many processed foods. If the food industry was anything like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory we may not have much reason to worry. However, since the bottom line is that of making ever growing profits and pleasing the share holders I'm afraid that Charlie has little to do with it.


At the same time, there has been an impressive increase in diet related diseases. These may not have as much to do with chemical additives as they do with sugar and fat intake, but the occurrence of many types of cancer, depression, allergies and behavioural disorders is also rising. Now, I'm not a scientist and even if I was, there is no data at this point in time which can help me substantiate my premise, but my common sense tells me that in two or three generations we will find out what the actual effects of continuous, accumulative consumption of artificial food additives will be on human health. 


So I'm not a professor, but I did study commerce and I learned that there's a golden rule that one can apply to various areas of life: everything has its price tag. Cutting costs by the food industry leads to several hidden costs we prefer not to think about. But as long as we keep buying what the government and the food industry tell us to and stay the hell away from the evils of raw milk we can keep on living in our happy world of make believe. Now where's that damned Charlie? I want my daily fix of magic and a fortified chocolate bar!