When I was in the UK, I watched a TV programme on E numbers.
Part of the programme talked about how some additives like simple acids and food colouring are listed as E numbers. They went on to say how not all E numbers are bad because they have a simple chemical function like helping canned / preserved foods retain an attractive colour or improve the keeping quality. So E doesn't always have to stand for Evil, E is for Essential. I bought the chemical argument in terms of what they were able to do but I didn't buy the argument that they were necessary.
If the argument was true, a large part of the world would be eating a lot of drab looking, tasteless, natural and organic food a lot of the time. I know this is not true because I have eaten nothing but delicious and irresistible looking food in farms - fresh, cooked, aged or cured, sometimes for several years. In fact, what amazes me more is not the absence of any chemicals but how only a few ingredients are used to make a great product.
In this allergy ridden phase of my life right now, eating is suddenly easy and a joy. I hardly feel deprived of variety and of taste. Most importantly, it is easy to know what I am putting inside of me. But I admit, I have had the opportunity to eat simple and chemical free foods because I have put myself in places where access is easy. It will be impossible for me to live like this when I return to a normal urbane life.
The problem is simple. The problem is access.
The products are out there, knowing where to look makes it a lot easier. To add to the many food brands I want to startup, this one will be based on a different set of numbers and it will be called
"Less Is More". The range of products will be listed according to the number of ingredients it has, so there will be 2s, 3s, 4s and so on.
Health benefits aside, I think people will try it because they'd get a chance to try the real taste of food; not food laced with so many other things it becomes difficult to tell what it ought to be. Most of all, I think they will be blown away by the incredibly great things that can be made out of an incredibly small number of ingredients.
I know I was.
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| Ingredients : Low fat curd, cumin, salt |
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| Ingredients : Cow's Milk, Rennet, Salt |
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| Ingredients : Goat's Milk, Rennet, Salt |
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| Ingredients : Lard, salt, pepper, spices, garlic, aromatic fresh herbs |
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| Ingredients : Black elderberries, quince, sugar cane |
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| Ingredients : Grape must, wine vinegar |
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| Ingredients : baked beans, potato flour, canola, sunflower oil, paprika |
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| Ingredients : Flour, water, sourdough, sea salt |
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| Ingredients : Sugar, butter, cream, vanilla |
