Absolutely brilliant thank you for sharing such a depth of knowledge. Like you my parents grew plenty of food in the garden,and the larder was always stocked up.The powers that be have tricked us we plant based foods. We better learn to grow and to all things practical,as we really don’t have a clue what’s in food bought outside.I’m all for home grown,cooked and sharing in a community.
Thank you for this heartfelt piece. One issue is land ownership and the cost of land. Also, if you consider the way the UK economy has developed (say, since 1066) what's happening now is a natural outcome so until working people can get land (back), we need, at the very least, to be able to retain the choice to buy and eat what we want to. The real problem is the creeping totalitarianism of Big Tech and decreasing democratic nature of our nation's state which threaten to remove our ability to choose. Fascism means the end of freedom for the masses.
Amazing! thank you for lighting on the fact of this change we all are unconsciously or consciously accepting it to become a strange way of life! My dream is to plant my own food in this crazy going world!
Thanks. It was already too long so one of the things that didn't get in were points about eating right for your type. Not compatible with top-down prescriptions!
Thank you Alex for such an excellent piece of work which pulls together the multitude of aspects of food and its production. It is really informative and important. I have shared it with friends who have an interest in local food production. We are part of the Open Food Network which is a fantastic platform for selling local produce.
I can relate to your own experience of food in your childhood. I, too, remember the new supermarket Sainsburys which I named 'Saintsburys' much to my mum and dad's amusement.
It is most concerning the way food production is going, we certainly need to raise awareness of this. An acre of land now costs in the region of £10000.
I would be really interested to hear your thoughts regarding eating foods identified as being the those to suit you best. The importance of our gut microbiome is very much on the agenda with Prof Tim Spector being a driving force. I was concerned to read his quote in the Sainsburys future food document.
Brave New World and 1984 both painted the dystopian picture I could not have imagined embracing when I read them 45 years ago but so many are here, embedded and operational in our world. We are led to believe that all these things are for our security, safety and health. We are given SO many other things to worry about and keep us concerned that our focus on the basic necessities of life can get lost, we need to be more aware, so thank you for this excellent essay.
The foods that suit you best? Years ago I was impressed by the book 'Eat Right For Your Type' which explained so much to me about my own system and how it seems to run off regular doses of meat. A couple of years ago I happened to be in a small group of nutritionists and asked them about it. They agreed that humans' dietary needs vary on an individual basis and that some people really do need to eat meat. So the message seems to be 'listen to your body'!
The idea of cutting back on or obstructing farming is insane. There are reports that the home growing of food is being discouraged.
Unfortunately, supermarkets have almost completely taken over from independent food shops. One now has to travel to go to independent farm, or other shops, which needs a vehicle. Independent food outlets are too few, and too scattered. I feel it unlikely that there will be a resurgence anytime soon. Although I don't eat meat, it has been reported that laboratory produced meat is being produced by Big Tech and is less efficient to produce than meat from livestock.
I find the increasing surveillance in our lives offensive, in having to prove our identity all the time. It can waste time and even incur extra cost. It feels increasingly as if we're living in a huge open prison.
Alex, I agree with what you say about transhumanism. Smartphones were perhaps the first step, followed by wearable tech.
I think it's likely that we'll end up with the world being run by a few sociopathic mega-corporations. Political parties may still exist to provide the masses with a circus, and try to fool us that democracy is still with us. Most of the Western world appears to be suffering from very poor governance by weak, self-serving, hypocritical politicians. They appear to be "owned" by multinational corporations.
Your last paragraph is spot-on. That in itself would not necessarily be a big problem if more people realised that and started behaving accordingly. The default view in the West seems to be that the mere existence of elections somehow protects us, but manifestly that's not the case. We're on a big learning curve and in the process of deciding whether we really believe in self-governance - or not. But that's another Substack!
Valuable and honest piece of writing with some sound human innovation at the end . Good stuff we need more of this out there. Your piece on Sainsburys went out to all my farming friends. Send to anyone unaware of our perilous plight in teh food stakes.
Absolutely brilliant thank you for sharing such a depth of knowledge. Like you my parents grew plenty of food in the garden,and the larder was always stocked up.The powers that be have tricked us we plant based foods. We better learn to grow and to all things practical,as we really don’t have a clue what’s in food bought outside.I’m all for home grown,cooked and sharing in a community.
Thank you for this heartfelt piece. One issue is land ownership and the cost of land. Also, if you consider the way the UK economy has developed (say, since 1066) what's happening now is a natural outcome so until working people can get land (back), we need, at the very least, to be able to retain the choice to buy and eat what we want to. The real problem is the creeping totalitarianism of Big Tech and decreasing democratic nature of our nation's state which threaten to remove our ability to choose. Fascism means the end of freedom for the masses.
Amazing! thank you for lighting on the fact of this change we all are unconsciously or consciously accepting it to become a strange way of life! My dream is to plant my own food in this crazy going world!
Fantastic article
Thanks. It was already too long so one of the things that didn't get in were points about eating right for your type. Not compatible with top-down prescriptions!
Thank you Alex for such an excellent piece of work which pulls together the multitude of aspects of food and its production. It is really informative and important. I have shared it with friends who have an interest in local food production. We are part of the Open Food Network which is a fantastic platform for selling local produce.
I can relate to your own experience of food in your childhood. I, too, remember the new supermarket Sainsburys which I named 'Saintsburys' much to my mum and dad's amusement.
It is most concerning the way food production is going, we certainly need to raise awareness of this. An acre of land now costs in the region of £10000.
I would be really interested to hear your thoughts regarding eating foods identified as being the those to suit you best. The importance of our gut microbiome is very much on the agenda with Prof Tim Spector being a driving force. I was concerned to read his quote in the Sainsburys future food document.
Brave New World and 1984 both painted the dystopian picture I could not have imagined embracing when I read them 45 years ago but so many are here, embedded and operational in our world. We are led to believe that all these things are for our security, safety and health. We are given SO many other things to worry about and keep us concerned that our focus on the basic necessities of life can get lost, we need to be more aware, so thank you for this excellent essay.
The foods that suit you best? Years ago I was impressed by the book 'Eat Right For Your Type' which explained so much to me about my own system and how it seems to run off regular doses of meat. A couple of years ago I happened to be in a small group of nutritionists and asked them about it. They agreed that humans' dietary needs vary on an individual basis and that some people really do need to eat meat. So the message seems to be 'listen to your body'!
The idea of cutting back on or obstructing farming is insane. There are reports that the home growing of food is being discouraged.
Unfortunately, supermarkets have almost completely taken over from independent food shops. One now has to travel to go to independent farm, or other shops, which needs a vehicle. Independent food outlets are too few, and too scattered. I feel it unlikely that there will be a resurgence anytime soon. Although I don't eat meat, it has been reported that laboratory produced meat is being produced by Big Tech and is less efficient to produce than meat from livestock.
I find the increasing surveillance in our lives offensive, in having to prove our identity all the time. It can waste time and even incur extra cost. It feels increasingly as if we're living in a huge open prison.
Alex, I agree with what you say about transhumanism. Smartphones were perhaps the first step, followed by wearable tech.
I think it's likely that we'll end up with the world being run by a few sociopathic mega-corporations. Political parties may still exist to provide the masses with a circus, and try to fool us that democracy is still with us. Most of the Western world appears to be suffering from very poor governance by weak, self-serving, hypocritical politicians. They appear to be "owned" by multinational corporations.
Your last paragraph is spot-on. That in itself would not necessarily be a big problem if more people realised that and started behaving accordingly. The default view in the West seems to be that the mere existence of elections somehow protects us, but manifestly that's not the case. We're on a big learning curve and in the process of deciding whether we really believe in self-governance - or not. But that's another Substack!
Valuable and honest piece of writing with some sound human innovation at the end . Good stuff we need more of this out there. Your piece on Sainsburys went out to all my farming friends. Send to anyone unaware of our perilous plight in teh food stakes.
Great - yes, we really need to spread awareness.