Deborah Turvey

"The great American food experiment has failed." Dr. Christiane Northrup's comment made on a recent PBS special comes to mind every time I see another morbidly obese person on the street or hear that the cancer rates have jumped from one in eight to one in three in recent years. It also causes me to reflect on the real causes for epidemic levels of adult onset diabetes and the widespread incidence of depression in our culture. For the past 50 years, America has been at the forefront of taking food from its natural whole state and altering it to fit our very mechanized, technocratic, and high-speed society. Modern day food and our newly adapted habits around acquiring and eating it have left us physically, spiritually, and psychologically bankrupt. We are estranged, frightened, and ignorant of the natural processes that comprise the growth and cooking of whole food.

It both saddens and troubles me to hear our son's preschool teacher say that one of the most difficult lessons modern day toddlers have is to sit together and eat family style. Setting the table, eating with utensils, and not rushing are new experiences for many. Most of them eat by unwrapping fast food in their car seats in a traveling car.