The story of food

baronrenfrew · Post by **baronrenfrew** » Thu Mar 31, 2016 9:41 pm

I am a storyteller by trade (a salesguy, and telling stories is a lot more fun than flipcharts and brochures).

And the story of food fascinates me: how food has changed history; how food affects us in the present; and the future of food as I can see it.

So right now I am drinking a glass of port.

Port is a fortified red wine, and its a bit more expensive than a typical bottle of red wine. Port started as barrels of cheap crappy wine that no one wanted, and since the island of Porto off Portugal was the last stop on the sailing trip to British India, so it was named. The wine was sent to India: from the temperate regions of Europe south through the heat of the equater, to the cold of the Skeleton Coast (South Africa) back north to the tropics of India, rocking back and forth all the way. There the barrels were opened and tasted and deemed to be be "crap or plonk" and no one wanted to buy it so it was sent back to Porto. Back it went, the long way around Africa, a journey taking many months by sail. At Porto the barrels were opened...and it tasted marvelous! A new drink was born, and the only way anyone knew how to make it was to send it to India and back! Therefore the high price.

cheers!

TomK · Post by **TomK** » Thu Mar 31, 2016 9:59 pm

Awesome piece of information...I like port...

baronrenfrew · Post by **baronrenfrew** » Thu Mar 31, 2016 10:04 pm

Slow Food: this is a movement of food lovers and restaurant people started in Italy and is meant to revive and appreciate old foods: pigs bred for taste not fast growth; cooking techniques long forgotten; a movement for the appreciation of a meal eaten at a table with friends, rather than at a drive thru.

This movement is also meant to rediscover flavours, textures, and foods that might otherwise go extinct. Many foods have gone extinct, and by some miracles, some have been revived. This includes the Judean date palm (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judean_date_palm) from a plant that has been extinct over a thousand years and in this case from seeds dug up by archeologists and planted and THEY GREW!

HappyHomesteader · Post by **HappyHomesteader** » Fri Apr 01, 2016 8:15 am

Good food can't be rushed. We have collectively started to opt for convenience over nutrition, and then we wonder why the rate of almost all diseases has risen exponentially in correlation.

baronrenfrew · Post by **baronrenfrew** » Sat Apr 02, 2016 10:54 am

FOOD FRAUD! I just heard CBC radio interviewing a Queens U Prof who studies food fraud. 10:45 am CBC Ottawa (you can listen by internet radio across time zones) http://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/episode-27 ... -1.3515053
I.e. Spices are sold by weight and colour. Nasty and carcinogenic industrial dies used to colour a spice to get a higher price. Big scandal: spices mixed with other things to create bulk such as cumin with peanut shells, causing illness!

SandyM · Post by **SandyM** » Sat Apr 02, 2016 7:50 pm

Baron. You're killing me!!

I wonder if there is any sort of higher integrity in organic spices.

baronrenfrew · Post by **baronrenfrew** » Sat Apr 02, 2016 8:05 pm

Spices: buy the in the raw form and grind yourself, this tastes better as well (just like coffee).

Shake hands with the people who grow your food, or the butcher, or spice merchant. Not perfect but better.

"Brands" should be better and reputable. Ya gotta do your homework. Caveat emptor: buyer beware.

Sheesh; no freakin wonder I'm so cynical.

SandyM · Post by **SandyM** » Sat Apr 02, 2016 8:18 pm

Buying most spices in raw form means bulk. We can't do bulk with Joshs allergies. I buy a lot of my spices and herbs from a US company, but also use mostly fresh when available, like basil, Rosemary, thyme etc.

I have a butcher. I buy chicken products from an organic farm, on the farm. I don't trust people easily (if at all) and follow the rule of if money is involved so is lying.

muffin57 · Post by **muffin57** » Sun Jul 24, 2016 2:09 pm

Thanks baronrenfrew for the info. Good stuff! I figured my spices were giving me trouble due to food allergies, so a couple years ago I got rid of all my spices. I now use all organic spices and fresh herbs.