At no point before in what we call civilization and the first world has our collective health been in such turmoil. Many of the foodstuffs imparted to us via large corporations should have government health warnings in the same vein as cigarette warnings. Indeed, heart disease is now the biggest killer, not due to smoking or lack of exercise, but due to the shit we eat. And it is shit. I often think (and this is not America!) when gazing at some of the labels and contents (most of which are cleverly concealed) of ready made meals and the like that they should be illegal, or at the very least their producers should be closed down and prevented from ever touching food (and food labels) again. All manner of dodgy tactics are used by these corporations to sell you this stuff, tactics that reveal an ethical and moral vacuum in their CEOs. Nowadays, it's like walking through a minefield trying to find that piece of fruit that has not been sprayed and infected with all manner of chemicals, or trying to find a loaf of bread that is really brown and not just brown on the outside! It's appalling what people will do to each other in order to have that fourth Rolls Royce, or that third holiday home on the Algarve... Greed is now a virtue in our over-whacked society, and if you do not aspire to be rich (in the poorest sense possible, that is, financially) then clearly there is something not quite right about you. Our economy seems to positively encourage the tricking of the consumer, whether it be through downsizing products without telling you, or telling you that it's fat-free when clearly it ain't. I'm all for personal responsibility and eating and drinking responsibly, but that door swings both ways, and if our producers and corporations themselves are not responsible, then what hope is there?
We are being slowly and horribly brainwashed via these over-chemicalised and over-worked foodstuffs. Food affects the brain like no other, and if you spend your days eating nonsense, then your brain will spout an equal amount of this nonsense. Never trust a fat philosopher, goes the old maxim.
So, buyer beware... no take-aways, no ready meals, no kebabs dripping with all that lovely fat...
and go easy on the wine....
and of course always remember the Upanishads:
First, know food...
By food all things live
Towards food all things move
Into food all things return....
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