The daily menus of many North American households have certainly changed over the years not only due to availability of certain foods, but also in the fact that people are more informed about the effects food has on our minds and bodies.
There are all sorts of diets out there that cater to all sorts of people and personalities in every sort of profession and professed life style and philosophy .
There are the diets of the omnivores and the carnivores, the vegan, the vegetarian, the gluten free, the carbohydrate limited, fat free, sugar free, dairy free, and caffeine free. There are diets that contain only food that is either raw, fermented, or organic.
Many of these diets are exclusive to any other and often the consumer relies on their own understood definition to guide them in their choice of food in a manner of rigidity reminiscent of Aunt Heddie in Canada's favourite television program 'Anne of Green Gables'.
Some foods of these diets are a more expensive than others , particularly during certain times of the year here in the Great White North. Some foods of these diets are completely foreign not only to to the country but also to the palate and the plate. Some foods could never even enter the country along with some of their citizens in years past due to political issues around the world.
My parents would have found it strange to have many of these foods and diets as options on their weekly household menus. Living and working in a culture to produce food primarily to sell to others for distribution and consumption locally and around the world, our definition of a foreign meal was Spaghetti Os and Pizza, with a semi yearly treat to the local Chinese Restaurant where one could order 'Canadian' and get a hamburger or the Combination Special of rice, chicken balls, and stirred fired vegetables with the most exotic ingredient being almonds.
The Point? The Reason ? The Nail? for all this blither you query?*This does NOT apply to those who have Medical /Religious reasons for their diets.
There is something about a society where people have the power and are allowed the self important indulgence of successfully following a self prescribed diet that implies an actual choice of which food to overtly and overly consume, that I find unctuous and dangerously decadent; especially as very few of these palate preferred consumers can not resist the temptation of loudly judging those who do not prescribe to their particular brand of food consumption.
It is worrisome, I think, to have so many facets of our society self identify by what they EAT, instead of self describing their attributes in terms character, values and ethics.
Is it perhaps because the former is easier to attain than the latter?
An Example of a Day's Menu 50 years ago.
Breakfast: Puffed Wheat, Brown Sugar, Whole Cows Milk (when we had it, otherwise it was skim milk from powder).
Lunch: Lipton Chicken Noodle Soup, Salted Crackers, Bread/Jam
Velveeta cheese sandwiches (or) Spam sandwiches. Tang for juice.
Supper (Dinner in other parts of the world): Elbow Macaroni with canned tomatoes over top, boiled wieners or fried baloney, and canned peas. Tang or skim powdered milk if there was any left from breakfast.
Dessert: Canned fruit with real cream or rice pudding with raisins.
Pancakes and syrup were a treat. Bacon and eggs for the whole family a rarity. Pot Roast and Chicken were for days when men were at the table depending upon the time of year.
No one dared to declare in those days they were 'chicken free' for the same reason people in third world countries today who dig through the garbage finding rats to eat don't become 'rat free'--they'd all go hungry
There are all sorts of diets out there that cater to all sorts of people and personalities in every sort of profession and professed life style and philosophy .
There are the diets of the omnivores and the carnivores, the vegan, the vegetarian, the gluten free, the carbohydrate limited, fat free, sugar free, dairy free, and caffeine free. There are diets that contain only food that is either raw, fermented, or organic.
Many of these diets are exclusive to any other and often the consumer relies on their own understood definition to guide them in their choice of food in a manner of rigidity reminiscent of Aunt Heddie in Canada's favourite television program 'Anne of Green Gables'.
Some foods of these diets are a more expensive than others , particularly during certain times of the year here in the Great White North. Some foods of these diets are completely foreign not only to to the country but also to the palate and the plate. Some foods could never even enter the country along with some of their citizens in years past due to political issues around the world.
My parents would have found it strange to have many of these foods and diets as options on their weekly household menus. Living and working in a culture to produce food primarily to sell to others for distribution and consumption locally and around the world, our definition of a foreign meal was Spaghetti Os and Pizza, with a semi yearly treat to the local Chinese Restaurant where one could order 'Canadian' and get a hamburger or the Combination Special of rice, chicken balls, and stirred fired vegetables with the most exotic ingredient being almonds.
The Point? The Reason ? The Nail? for all this blither you query?*This does NOT apply to those who have Medical /Religious reasons for their diets.
There is something about a society where people have the power and are allowed the self important indulgence of successfully following a self prescribed diet that implies an actual choice of which food to overtly and overly consume, that I find unctuous and dangerously decadent; especially as very few of these palate preferred consumers can not resist the temptation of loudly judging those who do not prescribe to their particular brand of food consumption.
It is worrisome, I think, to have so many facets of our society self identify by what they EAT, instead of self describing their attributes in terms character, values and ethics.
Is it perhaps because the former is easier to attain than the latter?
An Example of a Day's Menu 50 years ago.
Breakfast: Puffed Wheat, Brown Sugar, Whole Cows Milk (when we had it, otherwise it was skim milk from powder).
Lunch: Lipton Chicken Noodle Soup, Salted Crackers, Bread/Jam
Velveeta cheese sandwiches (or) Spam sandwiches. Tang for juice.
Supper (Dinner in other parts of the world): Elbow Macaroni with canned tomatoes over top, boiled wieners or fried baloney, and canned peas. Tang or skim powdered milk if there was any left from breakfast.
Dessert: Canned fruit with real cream or rice pudding with raisins.
Pancakes and syrup were a treat. Bacon and eggs for the whole family a rarity. Pot Roast and Chicken were for days when men were at the table depending upon the time of year.
No one dared to declare in those days they were 'chicken free' for the same reason people in third world countries today who dig through the garbage finding rats to eat don't become 'rat free'--they'd all go hungry
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