Holy Vegans! Locavores Divine! Rise of the Food Radical!

We’re back in the States! Things have evolved: there is the deification of vegetarians, the church of the locavore and truly frightening yogurt packaging. What gives?

We’re back. Our re-entry into the U.S of A., into NYC, into Soho is  exhilarating, and more than a little dis-orienting. You come back into the ‘hood’ with fresh eyes, wanting to see what’s new, what’s still the same. 

Last year when we came back, blueberries were the new “lose weight, anti-oxidant, liberated radical foodstuff that will keep you young forever”.  The year before that is was pomegranates. I suppose the  jump the shark moment for pomegranates came when the POM people claimed drinking their POM juice would cure erectile dysfunction. Maybe they thought licking the sticky juice off of body parts was a natural cure?

This year it appears to be the deification of vegetarians presided over by those high priests The Vegans.  One of the silliest things I’ve read in promoting veganism was about the agony of a chicken laying an egg. Honey, get a grip. Go to a hen house. They cuddle up. They lay an egg. They go get something to eat. They’re chickens, there is reason they are called bird brains.

Another fringe cult that has blossomed into a full blown religion is the Holy Locavore. Has it crossed a sainted locavore’s mind that one of the earliest factors in civilizing our prehistoric selves was the creation of trade routes? Use some common sense, grow things that are native to your area, and trade for the stuff you can’t grow locally.

And what the hell is up with Stonyfield and their scary yogurt packaging?? They use Uncle Sam to scare us into eating organic?   The label ‘organic’ has been so abused, it’s literally meaningless, so I don’t appreciate being bullied by my yogurt carton first thing in the morning.

Let’s face it, nutritional science is a moving target. Once upon a millennium ago, sugar was considered a cure for the plague. More recently, margarine was the cure for high cholesterol, now it’s evil incarnate. Just a few months ago, a NYC bureaucrat decided we need to eliminate salt from our diet. Then he recants and declares he only said it for the publicity.
 
I’m not saying I’m anti-organic, anti-vegetable, anti-locavore; even though I just might be anti-vegan. All I am saying is let’s not get militant.

Is there a way to scale down this rhetoric or am I just being a naive rube? Do we have to vanquish someone who doesn’t hold the same opinion as us, or can we respect our differences?  Can’t we all just get along?  OK. I get it. I’m a naive rube.  Welcome me back.