In any given household, there is that one dish that makes a roast dinner. I’m not talking about the meat — that’s too obvious. I’m talking about a dish — usually a side — that is always on your table, even though its status may be less than canonical. It’s the dish you missed when you attended your fist Friendsgiving or Christmas lunch at your in-laws. It’s the one you didn’t realise wasn’t a given in every home. For me, it is the humble corn casserole.
We eat a lot of ultra-processed food, and these foods tend to be sugary and not so great for us. But the problem isn't necessarily the fact that they're ultra-processed. This is a weird and arguably unfair way to categorise foods, so let's take a look at what "ultra-processed" really means.
Picture a wholesome meal: lots of veggies, maybe some pastured meat or free-range eggs, lovingly cooked at home from scratch. Do a quick count of how many of your meals from the past week looked like that. Close to zero? You're not alone.
Every creature, no matter how noble, is eaten by microbes in the end. It's the circle of life! So how do we explain the bits of plants and animals that make up a McDonald's burger, or a Twinkie? Why don't they rot? It turns out they're not as immortal as viral Facebook memes would have you believe.
