Wholesome Cook
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The obsession with fresh produce is taking our country by storm…

So why is it that Australia, the lucky country with seemingly endless abundance of fresh and flavoursome produce available practically all year round, is the world’s most obese nation?

How is it possible that giant fast food chains are able to post huge profit increases in the region, year after year? How is it that there are so many mass produced, processed, sugar-laiden foods on our supermarket shelves? And how is it that so many kids are being diagnosed with diabetes and asthma? Is it because parents are still happy to feed their kids burgers, fries and pizza every other day? Maybe… 

Before I came to Australia, I didn’t even know anyone with asthma… I was astonished to see people carry “puffers” as I would a packet of tissues, just in case. 

Yet, we have plenty of quality seafood, domestically-grown tropical fruit, beef that has been unspoilt by Mad Cow’s and, increasingly so, chickens that roam freely and are being fed things they are supposed to be fed. Not to mention the recent proliferation of community vegetable and herb gardens cropping up around town, satisfying city dwellers’ needs for food as nature intended.  

When it comes to abundance of fresh and flavoursome produce all year round, Australia really is the lucky country!

But it seems we are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons.  ~Alfred E. Newman 

Although more and more people are becoming more conscious of their food choices, many are yet to accept that the fresh food revolution is here and now, and that it is time to embrace the wonderful variety of readily available produce we are blessed with and go back to basics at meal time.

The government and other healthy lifestyle campaigns are failing to eductate the public about the benefits of a more balanced diet based on fresh, whole foods. In fact, research by Datamonitor (here) confirms this sad trend and predicts that by 2014, obesity levels in Australia will continue to rise and affect over 7 million people…

While organic produce might be out of reach for many, there are plenty of fresh and wholesome ingredients we can all start using in our daily cooking to improve our own and the next generation’s well being. It’s not hard, it’s tasty and often, when buying in season, it is not expensive either.

And who knows, if we vote with our dollars to keep fresh produce on our tables, one day we may go back to see lemonade made out of real lemons again…

Food for thought.

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1 comment

nocemoscata November 15, 2010 at 3:52 am

Same problems here in Italy and consider that we should be the country of ‘ Mediterranean Diet’. We have plenty of fresh products, but still we have plenty of fat kids with fat parents. Supermarkets are filled with trash food of all kind and many prefer to use ready-microwave food or trash like that full of additives. It’s really a shame.

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