Let's Get "Back To Basics" of Food! - Blog inspired by Xtina's album "Back to Basics" and her hit "Candyman"

          I used to live in Seoul, South Korea. I lived there for about a year and a half and taught English there with a top language institute. I chose South Korea primarily because I have roots there, wanted to pick up a second language (and I had always wanted to be able to learn Korean), and experience the culture and eat the food (and of course see family and make some new friends too)!! Ironically, one of my most memorable experiences is seeing Christina Aguilera in concert at the Seoul Olympic Stadium in June of 2007 for her Back to Basics Tour.

          I'm sure most if not all of you are familiar with her album. The title, "Back to Basics" and the music video for one hit in particular, Candyman, spoke to me in a rather profound way recently as I was reading a book titled, "Food Matters: A Guide To Conscious Eating" The Food Matters Cookbook By Bittman, Mark (Google Affiliate Ad) (I really like his recipes by the way.  I recommend giving them a try) written by Mark Brittman.

          Over the course of the last two months, I've been discovering more about the unsound practices in food production, the effects on our health, and really and truly that cooking is not as difficult as it is made out to be in the media and food market. And the overarching theme I've found in all my reading and cooking during this time correlates with getting back to the basics of food, cooking, sound methods of farming that have been the source of survival since the beginning of time. We have moved the basics to the factory. We have removed the basics with GMOs, synthetic substances,and preservatives. And the most upsetting fact I came across thus far is that 90% of the world's soy production goes to feeding animals destined to be slaughtered for marketing.

         Why is this so alarming? Because that is farmland that could be used for other food production and the farming practices are at best not sustainable and likely to be destructive. Because those are resources that could be used for feeding the hungry. Because farming of grains fed to animals is linked to deforestation. Because meat consumption is at an all time high and expected to go higher and it's contributing to many of our health problems. And because, according to Brittman, the meat farming factories are "hellholes and these conditions affect the meat we are consuming and thus affecting us. This is evidence that we have ignored the basics and are steadily forgetting they ever existed. And honestly, 60-100 years ago none of this was in sight.  We are better off in many ways than we were 60-100 years ago but worse off in a way that is very critical to a thriving existence and that is our food.
          This is somewhat of a brief isolated discussion on the evolution of the food industry and unethical business practices which is also kind of ironic considering that I majored in international business marketing in college and dreamed of a corporate executive marketing position with companies like Proctor and Gamble, Samsung Electronics, or a high end fashion retail company (Express, Limited, etc.) or a career in the financial services industry and even have started MBA studies (which have been put on hold due to financial constraints and other personal reasons). But to be honest with you, these are not my dreams anymore. And here are the reasons why: 1)I was highly disillusioned with these dreams and had a misconception of the corporate reality. 2) I've had experiences in the corporate world that have left a bitter taste in my mouth. 3) After the economic downturns we have faced since 2001 (and 911) and corporate and political agendas and greed, I'm completely and thoroughly disgusted.
          Now hear me out please. I'm not a hippie who wants to move to a self-sustained commune or anything. I'm just a 31 years young woman who's learning more about who she is as a person and what fulfills her in life. To be honest, I wouldn't trade my job now for a company (who is destroying the environment and poisoning its consumers) who pays me a six figure salary unless I was able to contribute to a new strategy for more sustainable and greener practices.

         So in short, I am learning what my true passions are in life and I can only hope opportunities to live out those passions present themselves to me in the future. Of course, I have to be practical about survival. We all do. This is not aimed at us "little people" but the big corporate giants operating greedily and carelessly despite all current levels of activism and information out there purely out of greed. I do not agree with their business strategy or ethics, or philosophy and want to do all I can to reduce the effects of these social and environmental atrocities aimed at only benefiting CEOs and other top executives and corrupt government officials.
          Wow, this blog entry is turning out to be really long. Well, thanks to you for continuing on!  ^o^ Despite the lengthiness, I needed to provide that disclaimer there for what's coming in the second part.
          I wonder what was going through Xtina's mind when she created that title, "Back to Basics." And Candyman? Was that just a homage to an era of "greats" in the entertainment world so we would be reminded of music's history and what music really is? Is that what she meant by the title, "Back to Basics?" Wouldn't "Back to Our Roots" be more appropriate if that were the case? Maybe that just doesn't quite have the same ring to it so "Back to Basics" had to do.

          But I sat reading my latest book and this memory of her concert and the album and song sent a flood of thoughts along these lines through my mind. Things like not losing sight of how food is made, what goes into preparing dishes, and the process of changing food from its rawest form into a tasty dish our loved ones love to eat!
          Manufactured food is almost an insult to the actual dish and its heritage. When you prepare foods from scratch you gain a real appreciation for the women of the "old days" and all the work that was put in to feeding the family. And I especially developed a fondness for the farm family. I used to think that farm life must be the pits but now I have a new found respect for the farm family that I didn't have before. So gardening is definitely something I intend to master in this lifetime. Raising cattle and pigs? Not so much. Maybe chickens though. For the eggs only of course. Sure it's not convenient the most convenient thing to do. Sure it takes a little extra work to be able to eat and eat well at that. But thinking about the amount of work that went into feeding themselves and their families in the past, I can only laugh at the challenge!

           If we change our food mindset, not only will our health vastly improve, but the environment will benefit greatly too and who knows, we might even be able to put a dent on world hunger. It doesn't require farming our own land. It doesn't require massive overnight and impractical changes to your lifestyle. But with a little TLC when it comes to food, we can make some very real shifts in market demand that will leave these corporations no choice but to supply what the market demands. We all have to work together and cooperate with a common goal.
          Some shifts are already in the making such as delivering certified organic produce right to your door. If we work together, we can bring down the prices of quality food and make green and clean eating more affordable for everyone. Let's get back to the basics, ya'll! Thanks for reading! Hope this was helpful, informative, enlightening, inspiring and not too terribly long!