I was thinking of blurting out a 1000 word Jeremiad, but thought better of it.
Instead, this year ahead should be regarded as to what will disproportionately influence this country and as a consequence sooner or later, affect the planet.
2025 won’t have an outsized effect on food, though maybe on the lives of millions should the bird flu virus mutate and those in charge choose not to prepare.
2025 will not see less subsidies in corn (1800 products) and soy (10 000 products), which are partly responsible for vast monocultures and unhealthy ingredients in ultra processed foods.
2025 will not see a strong decline in the monopolization of the food industry, as four major food corporations control around 80% of various grocery items sold in supermarkets. This includes companies like Kraft Heinz, General Mills, Conagra, and Unilever, which dominate many categories from snacks to cereals.
2025 will not see a strong decline in food additives, as an estimated 3,000 of the 10,000 approved additives have not undergone thorough safety reviews by the FDA.
2025 will see a raise in hunger because of further opening of the pay gap between rich and poor. We will see more farmers and artisans throwing in the towel because of monopolization. We will see a decline in qualified chefs as the last Pandemic drove out many food experts into new, better compensated jobs.
Artificial intelligence will play an outsized role in every aspect of our lives, save for real food. ’Tis because besides optimizing fertilization, watering and harvest of vegetables, besides outsized progress in milk and meat production, we still are able to consume food without additives and cook for ourselves.
The larger effect I see on food this year is education through social media.
We witness an increasing influence from politics and changing patterns in media consumption as most users obtain the vast majority of information by scrolling through bite size clips.
This leads to food influencers promoting beef tallow, moringa, Keto and Paleo products. Many succeed by fear mongering. Most self appointed experts sell products of dubious benefits while they talk night shades and seed oils. Registered dietitians, scientists and educated citizens are left wondering what to do about polarizing food clips. Not that there is a simple solution. Impartial education is harder to come by. We also see billion dollar foundations aiming at a change in consumer behavior, to little effect.
Consumers enjoy cheap, convenient food and they are not easily swayed into activism to change the status.
What we can do is remain free of Cynicism and soldier on promoting in depth education on nutrition, on home cooking and the obligation to engage as a citizen in a democracy.
We should shop more locally, because every dollar spent makes a statement.
Home cooking helps on many ends, from increased social interaction, better quality ingredients to cheaper meals. We consume less additives and ultra processed meals when cooking, plus we have fun with others.
In terms of self education, I turn to local non profit organizations specializing in your needs or national think tanks and groups like #foodtank plus government run platforms like the National Institutes of Health, #nihgov
On Instagram I admire #danielleshine.dietitian, #scientist _with_ a_ board, #dr.andrealove, #caulfieldtim and #amysnutritionkitchen.
Most important, I occasionally strive to maintain an open and kind heart to anybody who doesn’t look like me, thinks like me or needs help. Because in the end, love conquers everything.