It’s such a
small word, ‘why’ isn’t it? Three little letters. It’s not Latin or Greek, it
doesn’t belong exclusively to any discipline. In fact it’s a rather special
relative pronoun that pertains to reason.
It is also the biggest small word known to humanity, and is rarely, if ever, a
question with a one-dimensional answer. The reasons behind our eventual choices
and actions are rarely neatly empirical and the threads linking the reasons as
complex and individual as people themselves. On that note, I want you to think
of my ‘Why’ as a tapestry. It’s a rich and detailed story-image with thousands
of individual threads. From a distance you will see blocks of obvious colour
and familiar images. If you step closer, -nose right up to the tapestry itself,
you will see tiny flecks of gold thread, a whisper of a purple that serves to
highlight, a sky-blue that wasn’t visible only a step away. You will also
notice that each thread contains further winding strands and fibres, almost
like a DNA helix. Because you know your basic genetics, you will also know
(although you won’t see this without your microscope) that this fine helix can
be further broken down on a molecular and even atomic level. So as I use the
somewhat clumsy broad strokes of language to attempt an answer to ‘Why’,
remember the tapestry and look for those intrinsic but perhaps hidden threads. Like
the mycelium in the forest floor, each thread is connected and reliant on the
network itself to produce the precise conditions for growth and development. I
am the sapling.
Let us
begin with a distant view. This is the image that is likely to be obvious to
anyone observing this tapestry. It’s all plants. Vegetables, fruits, grains,
nuts, seeds. An abundant cornucopia of micro and macronutrients in a riot of
colours and textures. This picture tells you that I am a vegetarian, or one
that follows a plant-based diet. As a freckly, spindly girl I visited my
uncle’s farm in Armidale one summer. I was excited to learn that we would be
allowed to help that day with ‘dingo-baiting’. This was in the 1980’s when
Dingoes had attained an almost mystical status in the public perception as
vicious outback baby-killers. The adults around me assured me that we must
poison these terrifying beasts in order to safeguard the new lambs and calves.
Fair enough. You don’t question authority to any great extent at 10 years old.
I think I imagined the ‘bait’ would be a bit like the plastic squares we put
down to kill cockroaches at home. I did not expect to see a calf shot
point-blank in the head and then chopped up into bloody pieces under a large
circular timber saw. I never ate meat again. The next 10 years involved a great
deal of research on my part regarding the benefits of Vegetarian diets and
their suitability for health. My food choices were questioned daily by
well-meaning elders and friends convinced I would fade away from protein, B12
or iron deficiency. Eventually, I surmised that a qualification in Nutrition
was necessary, if my informed ‘opinion’ was ever to be taken seriously. I was
also quite prepared to be proven wrong, but only by the weight of scientific
evidence!
Another
thread, and one that links every other in this picture is my genuine Love (yes,
big ‘L’) of growing, harvesting and preparing food. To my mind, there is
nothing in the world more beautiful to the senses: my eyes, my heart and my
soul than a heavily laden apple tree glistening in the autumn mist. Plucking
and biting into that red orb lights up neural pleasure pathways usually
associated with the other big ‘L’…as does walking through a verdant vegetable
garden, or spotting a knobbly heirloom squash nestled secretly beneath a canopy
of leaves. The shared pleasure and extraordinary flavour of a lovingly prepared
garden-to-plate meal is one that our industrialised food systems cannot match.
Food has become a commodity, a set of nutrients, a conveniently packaged means
of getting through each day. We have lost our connection to the soil, to its
teeming army of microorganisms and to the food we wrest from its bosom. To me,
this is not just a shame, it is a broken system. My studies scream that our
mental, physical, social and planetary health cry out for a serious system
adjustment. Food biodiversity, availability and sustainability have become
questions we can no longer ignore, and as farming practise becomes more and
more regulated and defined by corporate need, our population becomes sicker and
increasingly disillusioned with the status quo. Yes, I have a burning need to
be one of those at the vanguard of a solution.
This 'reality' makes me both sad and angry. Health: As a society, we are obsessed with it (and
its less-quantifiable sister ‘wellness’) and yet the prevalence of diet-related
disease climbs steadily with every passing year. In the 2008 Health
Impact Assessment Report, the Sydney West Area Health Service identified The
Lithgow LGA (my current home and area of future practise) as well above the NSW State
average for obesity, diabetes, hospitalization due to digestive disorders,
colorectal and prostate cancer incidence, and cardiovascular disease and urged
the Lithgow City Council to develop initiatives to protect and promote
community health1 .
The statistics say it, and I see it.
Every day. As a University trained Nutritionist I can positively affect these
outcomes. With my upcoming Masters in Gastronomy & Tourism I hope to approach food from another angle entirely, -that of the human need for pleasure/hedonism/beauty. As a gardener and qualified agroecologist, and passionate local food activist, I can pull further
threads into this tapestry via initiatives like the Portland CSAI2
Current research into the crucial composition of the gut microbiome and its
epigenetic effects shows more than ever the enormous impact of food choices and
contact with the soil/animal microbiomes on human health3,4,5. Like
most people, I want my time on this earth to have been meaningful and useful. A
career in Food, Nutrition and Public health is the picture painted by my own
personal tapestry of ‘whys’…and it excites me every single day.
1. 1. SWAHS. Sydney West Area Health Service, NSW Health
(2008). Health Impact Assessment Report of Lithgow City Council Strategic Plan
2007. hiaconnect.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Lithgow_HIA_Report.pdf
3. Konkel, L. (2013). The environment within:
Exploring the role of the gut microbiome in health and disease. Environmental Health
Perspectives (Online), 121(9)
Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/docview/1661374987?accountid=10344
4. Rehman, A., Rasuch, P…Ott,S (2016).
Geographical patterns of the standing and active human gut microbiome in health
and IBD. British Medical Journal, 65
(2)
5. Qin, J., Li, R., Raes, J. et al (2010). A human gut microbial gene
catalogue established by metagenomics sequencing. Nature, 464. Pp 59-65 doi: 10.1038/nature08821
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