Aunt Vida in Lozice

Today I had a series of talks about a weird system of the society for the protection of animals. Not only did I discover that it is misleading the consumers but apart from that, small farmers and producers are being discriminated as due to their scale they cannot participate.  The protectors of animals prefer producers which  cooperate with large slaughterhouses or meat packers and the like. Is this beneficial for  and livestock? Is this really better for animal welfare... We are working on further actions but unfortunately we have to hold our cards in our sleeve for the moment...
During these calls my mind wandered off to the late aunt Vida in Lozice (Slovenia). Her whole life was dedicated to food and eating. Till her death she was primarily occupied with food. With her sister she drove a household which was nearly self sufficient. There was a patch of forest which supplied the wood for the stoves and the furnaces, they grew their own wheat, walnuts, figs, had a large vegetable garden and so on. At a certain moment I pitied her for the fact that she had so little spare time and such a small focus. But than I started to think again. Where she dedicated almost all her time to food, we on the other hand dedicate hardly any time at all little time to food and loads of time to things which are utterly insignificant. Cooking and eating even seems to have become an obstacle which stands in the way of our great works (the consolidated balance of the outlet in Poohkeepsie) and activities that give our lives and that of others meaning, depth and color (visiting the gym, watching a rehearsal of CSI Miami and visiting birthdays to discuss mortgages).

And when we do discuss food, food rarely is a means to an end but primarily a vehicle. It helps us to become healthy, to show how suave or we are or how committed to the fate of the world. But then, are we able to cope with this as a species? How about our natural predisposition, in other words isn't a life like that of aunt Vida securely anchored into our genes?

Since the origin of our species every single minute of every single day was dedicated to collecting and consuming food. We knew - like aunt Vida - all about food but it was never presented on a silver platter. We had to club it to death, dig it up, climb into trees, inspect it, touch it, smell it and make it fit for immediate or postponed consumption. All of this with painstaking attention to detail as small mistakes could be fatal in a mortal sense.

And all of a sudden - on the scale of a species - there was the microwave, the eat before date, convenience food and herds of people who only wish to consume meat that does not resemble meat and cannot tell a zucchini from a artichoke..

Food without labels, without plastic, cardboard or known brand... we haven't got a clue what it is and we are certain a slow and painful death awaits us if we try eating it.

May be this is too much of a shock for a species and the question is if we should return on our tracks, back to the moment where food was a means to an end and communal meals we the standard. Maybe this would be the solution for many health and related problems.