The biggest reason our food is not healthy is that it’s been bred for durability in shipping and long shelf life rather than flavour and nutrient content. Tomatoes are the poster child of this phenomenon. Compare backyard-grown heirloom varieties to store bought tomatoes and the difference is night and day!
There’s actually a pretty high correlation between flavour and nutrient content. This makes sense when you consider the purpose of taste and smell in the first place: to help us discern healthy food from poor food, to gauge ripeness, and to help us avoid poisonous or rotten food.
Of course highly processed food such as Doritos abuse this feature by targeting only the specific compounds responsible for great taste and leaving out everything else. This is why they’re so bad for you: highly tasty and addictive yet nutritionally empty apart from calories.
The biggest reason our food is not healthy is that it’s been bred for durability in shipping and long shelf life rather than flavour and nutrient content. Tomatoes are the poster child of this phenomenon. Compare backyard-grown heirloom varieties to store bought tomatoes and the difference is night and day!
There’s actually a pretty high correlation between flavour and nutrient content. This makes sense when you consider the purpose of taste and smell in the first place: to help us discern healthy food from poor food, to gauge ripeness, and to help us avoid poisonous or rotten food.
Of course highly processed food such as Doritos abuse this feature by targeting only the specific compounds responsible for great taste and leaving out everything else. This is why they’re so bad for you: highly tasty and addictive yet nutritionally empty apart from calories.