Does your grocery store sell food?

The photo above made the rounds on Facebook recently. It made me cringe then and it makes me cringe now. I am sure many people would look at this and think “What's the big deal? It's just a picture of a grocery store.” However, when I look at an image like this, I think…”Where's the food?” I am sure there is Real Food hidden among these shelves somewhere (dried beans, rice, etc.) but for the most part, this picture epitomizes our industrial food system. Would our grandmothers or great-grandmothers recognize these items as food? Michael Pollan (author of In Defense of Food and Omnivore's Dilemma) states “Instead of food, we’re consuming “edible foodlike substances” — no longer the products of nature but of food science.”

There is so much talk right now about organic food, natural food, genetically modified food. etc. It can really make your head spin trying to sort it all out! Well, you know what? Our great grandmothers just ate FOOD. They did not have to wade through this world of confusing descriptions when it came to providing nourishment for their families because their food WAS organic and natural. In an article by Robyn Obrien, she lists criteria used by the USDA for organic food. Organic food can not contain or be subjected to:

“antibiotics

artificial growth hormones

high fructose corn syrup

artificial dyes (made from coal tar and petrochemicals)

artificial sweeteners derived from chemicals

synthetically created chemical pesticide and fertilizers

genetically engineered proteins and ingredients

sewage sludge

irradiation”

Um, sewage sludge??? What I take from this is that conventional food CAN (and most usually does) contain/be subjected to these things?!?! Yikes! I think I will stick to Real Food, thank you very much!

Once you start reading labels, you will be amazed at how little ‘food' the grocery store actually sells!

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