Several years ago the new Nordic cuisine emerged, with the inspiration cooking and innovative ingredients bought to the world by the likes of Rene Redsepi. There followed the MAD organisation with its bringing together of inspirational community of chefs, farmers and cooks. This gathering has taken the subject of food to all levels of what it means, does and can do for everyone at a level that it socially and culturally creative at the highest level.
At a more governmental level there is growing understanding of obesity as a problem that has to be tackled as it absorbs significant proportion of national health service budgets.
At the Food Matters Live conference one seminar described the principle problem of the recession as not being money but being more down to happiness. A lack of happiness can trigger a desire to treat on foods that are comforting. Sugar and fat often come into this and the food manufacturing industry clearly needs to look to its responsibility for providing consumers with processed foods that may be convenient but do not contribute to a balanced diet. Of course food needs to go together with physical exercise to provide a healthy body but clearly politicians have an issue in that government diet advice just does not seem to be heard.
Maybe though food and exercise are not just the only issues. The Nordic countries have come together again with another initiative. The New Nordic Nutrition plan make two interesting statements – it wants its food to be just food – by which one has to assume pure ingredients, and utilised in a way that takes their qualities through to the consumer without degrading. But the second comment is that nutrition is a narrative of health; environment; society and culture.
Food on the go does not inspire social activity. It allows a fast multi-activity lifestyle or commitment to work. Ruminants graze but that is done slowly and continuously without rushing from pillar to post. Processed foods are constructed by others and may have a relevance to culture and tradition but they do not involve much understanding nor commitment by the consumer. Is this important? Maybe superficially it does not because it allows people to get on with keeping up with a busy lifestyle, but maybe that is the issue. Food is not just a fuel. It comes from an environment that needs to be kept healthy or else its soils will become less and less able to deliver without the use of more and more intervention to provide plants with artificial fertilisers and chemical controls on pests and diseases. The impact of intervention on biodiversity might seem trivial. Within all environments there are symbiotic relationships between species that we just do not understand. We destroy these for short term gain and there is no going back.
The Nordic nutrition statement includes the social issue because there is a huge value in people interacting with each other. Giving each other time. Time that shares respect, love; problem solving, pressure release – slowing down. Something that we are encouraged to ignore in the modern world.
Culture we are told is important. In the UK we have our heritage; our cities of culture; our regional identify. all these do inspire people, but many of these are big issues that do not actively involve the individual. Food involves people. Making good food for someone else is more than just a routine to maintain the system – or it should be. Food involves collecting good ingredients that are chosen because they have taste and quality in order that the final dish is good – or it should be. Food has a local or regional, or even national identity. We can probably all relate to food that our parents have cooked for us. All these are part of our culture. They make up what we are. That our adage of – we are what we eat.
Maybe we should all be following the Nordic nutrition principles.
That is a whole blog without mentioning sea buckthorn – but then sea buckthorn itself has many cultural attachments across Europe and Asia. Its nutritional roots are what make it intriguing. Turning it into fine dining dishes is what the Nordic cuisine has achieved but its attraction is in its wide diversity of use that drives us at Devereux farm.