Me: 'What's in season?"
Waitress: "This is America: Everything's in season." (Italics hers.)
I wasn't as surprised by this as I was the portion that arrived at the table shortly thereafter. It was enormous and I marvelled at the abundance. I also ate all of my huge meal because I was raised to eat everything on my plate. ("There are people starving in Africa!")
To say I marvel less now would be a monstrous understatement. Time was when a meal out in Britain was a sordid, limp and entirely unwholesome affair. We were not known for our food tourism and we had the added burden of the Mad Cow. So when I arrived in the US in 1998 I thought I was in gastronomic heaven, but the tables have turned.
GM foods have been steadfastly resisted by Europeans since their advent but America has swallowed them whole. They are almost impossible to avoid, especially if you eat out. They are foods that have had their genetic material altered, usually by splicing said material with genes that resist pesticides. This allows the crop to be completely doused in chemicals and toxins to say nothing of what the genetic manipulation does to one's own genes. It's very troubling that the World Health Organization says these toxins are safe for humans only because we've been eating them all this time:
Insect resistance is achieved by incorporating into the food plant the gene for toxin production from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (BT). This toxin is currently used as a conventional insecticide in agriculture and is safe for human consumption.
Nobody knows how dangerous they are, but until we do here is a list of top genetically modified foods in the United States (with the percentage of the whole of US food quoted). Organic food is expensive, but it may save your life or afford you a few more healthy senior years.
It's ironic that I cannot give blood here in the States because of Britain's Mad Cow Disease, but who's to know what genetically modified foods have done to my blood after almost ten years?
In future posts, I will detail how I weaned myself off genetically modified foods, but it has taken me about two years. It's almost impossible because I like to eat in restaurants and I also exclude animals that may have eaten GM foods. It's particularly heart breaking if you like Mexican food, I've discovered. Food is where I bash the bank account with gay abandon. I spend more on food than anything else apart from my mortgage because I want to eat well. It's unfortunate that healthful food remains a necessary luxury.
Top GM Foods
Soy (91%)
Cotton (88%)
Canola (88%)
Corn (85%)
Sugar Beets (90%)
Hawaiian Papaya (more than 50%)
Zucchini and Yellow Squash (small amount)
Tobacco (Yikes!)
Soy Lecithin is literally everywhere: processed foods, bread, vitamins and diet products. So if you want to lose weight choose organic vegetables.
Canola Oil is easy to avoid with sunflower, safflower, olive and almond oils.
Corn is almost impossible to avoid. It replaces sugar in most products so you have the choice of avoiding sugar or choosing real sugar.
Cotton is the most dangerous because you're wearing it all the time against your skin. Choose cotton products *not made in India* to ease the effects a little. Bt cotton is a registered pesticide and has been proven to kill animals that eat it. The only alternative is organic cotton.
Resources:
The Non-GMO Project
Greenpeace
Food Democracy Now
Non-GMO Shopping Guide
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