Back to the Future
for all Food Warriors
"What's for dinner?"
The age-old problem.
But what if it's the stoneage-old problem?
Picture this, two stoneage people - we'll call them Fred and Wilma - and Fred asks The Question.
Now, Fred and Wilma are Hunter Gatherers, well named as it happens because they hunted and they gathered. All day. Hunting for edible food and gathering berries and nuts. There was little time for anything else. So I guess the answer to Fred's question very much depended on Where They Were and The Time Of Year. The Where They Were would be constantly changing as they were entirely nomadic and followed the herds of wild animals - and some fish maybe. Whilst travelling, the good places for nuts and berries would be noted and The Time Of Year would determine their fortune. In good times - again seasonal - they might come across a bee's nest and use some honey to vary their diet.
And that's about it. A few grains maybe.
Homo Sapiens evolved around 200,000 years ago but early humans were using fire from 1.5 - 2 million years ago, so it would have been possible to cook their food in some simplistic way. Wrapping with clay to bake in the fire perhaps. By hanging their meat up out of the way of marauding animals some of it may have been naturally smoked by the fire. Pouring honey over the berries would have been prevented from spoiling by the exclusion of air and these simple processes led to the realisation that they may not need to hunt and gather every day. This was around 11,000 years ago so it had taken a while for the penny to drop but this meant they could stay put. They could share knowledge and form the first communities with other Hunter Gatherers.
They could share chores, children could be looked after collectively while individuals went to gather or cook the food. ( nothing changes! )
“Incidentally berries preserved in honey have been found in pots secured in the pyramid tombs of the Egyptian Kings and Queens from a mere 2,400 years ago, still perfectly preserved and edible today.”
The first rudimentary farming evolved - possibly by capturing a wild animal that wasn't needed for food immediately so it was kept and looked after, perhaps milked. And so, The Dawn of Civilisation - and all because they learnt to preserve the food that they had to provide for the future. Incidentally berries preserved in honey have been found in pots secured in the pyramid tombs of the Egyptian Kings and Queens from a mere 2,400 years ago, still perfectly preserved and edible today.
Without the skills of the preservation of food our civilisation today would not have been possible.
We have seen recently the unprecedented effects of various disasters around the World - at one point it seemed that there was news of a hurricane, tsunami, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and not to mention the terrible fires in the US - almost daily. Floods in Europe, aeroplane crashes along with various illnesses courting new pandemics. Yet, with all that we have, all that we know, how well would we fare if we had to hunt and gather due to some catastrophic disaster, if only for a short space of time? Fred and Wilma, by comparison, had almost nothing, least of all knowledge, there were only rudimentary cooking pots and utensils, yet they survived well enough to start, and develop, a whole new way of life on Earth. Our modern knowledge of the preservation of food starts with them - and actually has hardly evolved beyond very basic principles because it has no need to as it works so well.
It is not cooking - it is science. To grow and thrive all organisms require an optimum level of moisture, including organisms such as yeasts, moulds and bacteria. Deny them that moisture - lower the moisture content of foods - and the food will not spoil so quickly. The lower the level of moisture the longer the food will keep. Think: herbs, mixed fruits, meat jerky. No need to dry the whole way - add any combination of Nature's natural preservatives - sugar, salt, vinegar - and the food will last for years without refrigeration. Think: jam, chutney, mustard.
This has gone on undisturbed for millenia until the last two weeks of this timeline when we have decided - bizarrely for reasons of 'health' - to mock the tried and tested and substitute a cocktail of chemicals. We suppose that they will be better for us because we have been 'told' so by those that will profit from our careless actions. Pay no heed to the hurricanes etc, we are here in the midst of our very own disaster, made for us, by us, with no thought for the consequences.
A friend, who worked in the food industry gave me this advice. "If you buy something to eat that is in a box, you are better off eating the box."
I am a Food Warrior and I am looking for my Army
Explore with me the World of Preserving - let us go Back to the Future, when food was made of real ingredients, people were nourished not sick all of the time, elderly people just got older not demented and children may not have had every electronic gadget devised by man. They were, by and large, healthier, fitter and able to get through the length of a school lesson without looking at their phone or needing a 'vape break.' It is not too late to turn things around, but it will require Action.
Homework
Watch the Royal Society Christmas Lectures with Prof. Chris van Tulleken
Read his book Ultra-Processed People ISBN 976-1-529-90005-7
( no promotional fee sought or given )Take one product from your food shelves, find one ingredient that you don’t recognise and google it. What is it? What does it do? Are there any harmful affects? Report back here
Check your preserving supplies before the season really gets going - jars, lids, ingredients
Resources
https://www.instagram.com/thepreservingschool
https://recipes.rosiemakesjam.com/
https://www.lovejars.co.uk/
https://pressurecanning.co.uk/
I’ve been getting my canning supplies sorted and checking how many jars of different sizes and lids I have. I’m still in the early days of canning but I managed to can quite a lot more in the last twelve months. I’m thinking of canning some more pulses before the growing season gets going properly. We have a largely plant based diet. I’m not the cook so my job is really just to provide the ingredients from my allotment and very small home garden. Although I would say that summer for us was absolutely terrible, NW England, rain, grey skies and cold, think slugs, I’m amazed that we’ve still got plenty of home grown produce to go at. One of the things we’ve loved has been the roasted down tomatoes, frozen into 60ml freezer moulds and stored in the freezer. They are really rich and when you only want a small amount they are perfect.