Again, I haven't been on here for a long long time and I'm sad that I have neglected this project that I was so excited about starting. I still am making lots of lovely food all the time but haven't had time to post about it, and also looking on things like Instagram my food seems a bit run of the mill, but that doesn't reduce my passion however.
Today's post is about something different. I watched a programme about Clean Eating with Grace Victory investigating the explosion of veganism and the concept of 'wellness'. It really got me thinking and I just wanted to make a few comments on it really as someone who definitely gets a lot of my inspiration from social media and as someone who has been interested in the concept previously.
Here's the programme and I would recommend watching it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b07r1hnj/clean-eatings-dirty-secrets
I found this programme so interesting, firstly because I am a person who was duped into the whole concept of 'clean eating' previously (as seen in posts from last year) and had a go at eating that way because I thought it would be healthier. I think perhaps I have been naive about the impact of clean eating on people. I have definitely taken an interest in people like Deliciously Ella really because for me it was a new way of cooking, using ingredients I wouldn't normally use. For example, I would never have thought to use medjool dates and ground almonds to make a brownie (which is also delicious). I was thinking it would be a good addition of cooking methods I could add to my kitchen, but not that everything she says would be taken as gospel. I do think that these bloggers and people promoting their way of eating should be more responsible for how they market themselves. However, I also think that, as a consumer and user of social media, it is my responsibility to read a bit further into these statements, ways of eating and types of food. If someone told you to eat a certain way in person, you wouldn't take their advice would you? You would question them perhaps, be sceptical about what they were saying but because these people are coming through a screen it seems to give them this air of superiority or knowledge that they don't have.
Also in this programme, I have to say I was disappointed by Natasha Corrett's appearance. As a follower of her on social media and an owner of one of her books, her lack of response to some of the questions that were being asked of her was pretty poor. In my opinion, if you start this sort of business and if you really believe in what you're doing I would assume that you would be able to answer all questions regarding that sector, especially if you market yourself as an 'expert' in it. Refusing to answer questions regarding the basis of her diet I thought was really shameful as she must have answered those questions on her website, in her books, through social media just by promoting her diet, she should have had an answer.
One other thing I realised while watching this programme was that food for these people seems quite one dimensional - a controlled aspect of their lives where only this undefinable concept of 'well-being' is the main focus. I've always said I am obsessed with food, but I am going to stop saying this from now on. I am not obsessed, I don't think about it all the time and it doesn't take over my life. I don't think people are good or bad for what or where they eat. I believe in balance and trying new things but I wouldn't belittle someone for not liking something (if I did I would not get on with my own child very well.....). I will now say that I am excited by food. I feel this portrays food to me in a much better way. I make sure I am excited by what I eat - not only is it the food itself but the company I am eating it with; when my boyfriend tells me about what he's done that day over dinner; when I talk with my friends over coffee and cake; the memories evoked by certain dishes, flavours or aromas; the fact that when I bake something I think of my grandmother and know she would be proud of me for making something so simple as a chocolate brownie. There is so much to food that if you demonise something, it loses it's special aspect, it's meaning.
I will finish here as I just wanted to make a comment on what I saw as it really did touch a nerve. I am going to end recommending an article by Ruby Tandoh's written for Vice (find here http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/ruby-tandoh-eat-clean-wellness) and with this section from the article where Ruby quotes a conversation she had with Nigella Lawson about the issue:
"I despair of the term 'clean eating'......though I actually like the food that comes under that banner. ['Clean eating'] necessarily implies that any other form of eating – and consequently the eater of it – is dirty or impure and thus bad, and it's not simply a way of shaming and persecuting others, but leads to that self-shaming and self-persecution that is forcibly detrimental to true healthy eating." Nigella Lawson
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