Ireland's wild palette

In a time when food security is becoming an increasingly fraught issue, when organic growers are being pushed further into the margins and the onslaught of genetically-modified foods is growing ever more vicious, increasing our individual and national self-sufficiency is vital. The intrinsic unsustainability of so-called conventional farming as well as constant instability in oil prices could soon herald crisis which threatens the ready availability of food in our shops and supermarkets. 

As more information has become available about the health dangers caused by artificial pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers, as well as the untold harm caused by GM foods in our diets, the popularity of the movements such as organic and grow-it-yourself has increased greatly in recent years. Allotments and community gardens have once again become staple sights in our urban landscape and new concepts such as guerrilla gardening have helped to brighten up sites left vacant after the collapse of the building industry.

In addition to such initiatives, many have returned to raiding nature’s larder as a means of broadening the variety of foods in their diets, as well as recapturing the simple pleasures of gleaning mushrooms, nuts, roots and wildflowers – long-forgotten past-times to many.

For thousands of years, Irish people have supplemented their diets by taking advantage of the many types of free food that nature provides. Necessity meant that many had to turn to foraging in order to combat the uncertainty of the Irish climate which meant that food could be scarce. Poverty and strife meant that people became increasingly dependent on what they could forage from the wild. 

In early times, seaweed was harvested both as a natural fertilizer and as a nutritious food. The spring tide closest to St. Brigid’s day was known as Rabharta na Féile Bríde, and was considered the most favourable tide of the year for collecting seaweed. Dilisc and Carraigín are two examples of Irish seaweeds which historically helped supplement the Irish diet as they are full of nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, iron, protein as well as vitamins A, C, D, E, K and B12. Today, they are exported around the world for use in food and cosmetics, as well as being an excellent natural fertiliser.

Long considered the bane of well-manicured lawns, the dandelion is a tenacious foe to many gardeners and often falls victim to chemical weed-killers. However, few are aware of what beneficial aid it can be to organic gardeners. The deep roots of the dandelion also taps nutrients sourced from deep within the soil and brings them up to the surface. Dandelion tea is a wonderful organic feed which can give plants like tomatoes an extra boost. The leaves of the dandelion can be boiled or simply eaten raw in a salad. They are a natural super-food, filled with essential vitamins and minerals such as beta-carotene, vitamins A and C, iron, calcium and protein, among others. As well as being decorative, the flowers can also be eaten raw or cooked.

In Ireland, many people overlook the painful stings which nettles cause because of their healthful properties. When young shoots are picked early in spring, they can be added to water and drunk as a soothing and relaxing tea which helps calm acid indigestion. They can also be boiled in a soup or blanched to remove the sting and used as an alternative to spinach or other cooked greens in many recipes. They are a delicious source of anti-oxidants, as well as vitamins A, C and E, calcium and iron. 

Also unjustly ignored as a food source due to their spiny and forbidding appearance is the humble thistle. Young shoots can be eaten in salads, and roots can be chopped and fried. Always wear gloves and take care when harvesting as they can give you a nasty sting.

 

It goes without saying that one should only forage for food on land which has not been chemically sprayed or is located too close to roads. Be sure that you source wild foods from areas away from toxic dumping or effluent pipes. In order to safely enjoy the healthful benefits of these foods, know what you are picking. Stay away from unfamiliar weeds or mushrooms, and by all means buy a reputable guide to plants and familiarise yourself with the ones that are safe to eat. 

I recommend the seminal ‘Food for Free’ by Richard Mabey as a starter primer. It was originally limited to English plants but the new edition features Irish plants as well. From time to time, the Organic Centre in Leitrim runs courses on ‘Foraging for wild herbs and plants’, taught by Joerg Mueller. Keep an eye on their website for this and other interesting courses.

Teagasc plans GM potato trial in Ireland

Teagasc - The Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority yesterday announced its intention to apply to the Environmental Protection Agency for a licence to test GM potatoes for their resistence to blight. This should come as no surprise to those who have been monitoring Teagasc's alarmingly pro-GM stance in recent years. They are responsible for the cunningly titled website http://www.gmoinfo.ie/ (thereby ensuring ease of access through search engines for anyone using the terms 'GMO in Ireland'). It claims to be a resource which aims to 'support your understanding of the issues associated with GM crop cultivation' but scratch the surface and it is an unapologetic propaganda site for genetically modified crops.

This appears to be the latest step in the Irish government's recent campaign to reverse the 2009 ban on the growth of GMO crops and the commitment of the previous Fianna Fáil/Green Party coalition to preserve Ireland's status as a 'GMO-free country'. Early in 2011, two weeks before leaving office, in a craven sleight of hand, Fianna Fáil Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith announced that Ireland would now support EU proposals to introduce GMO products into the foodchain.

In December 2011, Fine Gael Ministe for Agriculture Simon Coveney highlighted the fact that GMO products had been effectively sneaked into the Irish diet through animal feed for years, and emphasised the importance of a wider public understanding of the role which GMO food played in Irish agriculture. This may have been merely a prelude to this latest police action by Teagasc - an attempt to foster apathy and acceptance in the public.

This action by Teagasc is the boldest move yet by an Irish government body to foist this untested and potentially dangerous product of Frankenstein science onto an unwilling public. In their press release, they even cynically envoke the Irish Famine as a valid reason for embarking on the trial:

"After decimating the Irish potato crop in the 1840s and sparking the Great Famine, the organism (Phytophthora infestans) which causes late blight disease remains a very real threat to Irish potato growers. As new, more aggressive strains of the pathogen have arrived in Ireland over the last 4 years, farmers have had to adapt by increasing the amount of fungicides applied but this is not sustainable; especially in light of new EU laws designed to reduce the amount of chemicals that are applied on our crops."

This is an emotional ploy, similar to the unconscionable claim that GMO foods will feed the starving of the world. The Irish Famine was caused in part by an enforced monoculture and deliberate destruction of biodiversity and food culture. Wherever the disastrous experiment that is genetically modified food has been attempted, a similar destruction of biodiversity and enforced monism of agriculture has followed.

The horrors of GMO have been most clearly demonstrated in India, among which is the recent epidemic of suicides among farmers due to the devastation done to their lives and traditional farming methods by globalization and the imposition of GMO. The damage being done by genetic engineering in agriculture has been courageously brought to light by the pioneering work of campaigner Dr. Vandana Shiva.

 
With this attempt to introduce genetically modified potatoes to Ireland, it appears that Teagasc, hand in hand with the GM lobby is taking the most brazen and deliberate step to enslave our farmers to Monsanto and other giants of genetic engineering.

Food Sovereignty: what it means for Ireland

During Latin American Week in 2009, I attended “The bittersweet taste of globalised food” - a day of talks and workshops run by the Latin American Solidarity Centre. One of the speakers was the Mexican agrarian campaigner Alberta "Bety" Cariño Trujillo - a year before she was tragically assassinated by paramilitaries in Oaxaca, Mexico in April 2010. During a workshop we were asked to brainstorm ways in which food sovereignty could be applied to the Irish context. Through an interpreter, Bety suggested adopting the potato as a symbol in the same manner as maize has been used in Mexico. 

The potato is, of course, not indigenous to Ireland but originates closer to Bety's own homeland. However, it occurs to me that her suggestion was the seed from which this blog developed. Her dedication towards campaigning for agrarian movements and maintaining the integrity of indigenous food in the face of corporate dominance was an inspiration that drove me to think about the whole area of food culture. Bety believed wholeheartedly in food sovereignty - a topic which has received scant attention in public discourse. By its nature, it is a nebulous concept, defined thusly by the Declaration of Nyéléni:


"Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems."


It is the democratic essence of this concept that poses such a threat to corporate interests. It should be of no surprise that food campaigners, particularly in Latin America, live their lives under constant fear of violence. The global food industry is predicated on the notion that consumers must have as little control as possible over where their food is sourced. By distancing populations from food sources, the supermarket chains which now dominate the market demand dependence from their customers and in turn, from the producers who rely on them.


In Ireland, the topic of food sovereignty has barely been mentioned amongst the debates about Peak Oil and the mass return to the soil predicted in the wake of recession. Like concepts such as food culture and the Slow Food movement, it is a concept that few are familiar with. Perhaps this is due to a belief that such concerns are removed from the lives of ordinary people - a foodie fad that has little place in our current straitened times. However, as an island nation we are at the mercy of rising oil prices and other threats. Farming and rural life in general are now held in disdain by many - the vestige of a poverty-stricken past. The move away from agriculture has spelled disaster for many rural areas, but the increasing reliance upon supermarkets has also sounded the death knell for many artisanal and family-run businesses which formed the backbone of small communities.

The triumvirate of Tesco, Supervalu and Dunnes Stores dominate the Irish food market, which in itself demonstrates how divorced Irish people have become from the rural backbone of the food industry. Tesco alone rakes in a wider profit margin in Ireland than in any other country in the world, according to analysts. Oddly, Tesco - like its main rivals - does not disclose its profits in this country.

An example of how active and aware the people of Latin America have become concerning food issues is seen in the Peruvian government's recent ratification of a 10-year moratorium on the import of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs). On the other hand, the Irish government has shown itself to be characteristically meek in the face of big business. In 2009, the cultivation of GMOs was banned and a 'voluntary' label for non-GM food introduced. Despite this, GM products continue to be imported from countries such as Argentina, Brazil and the U.S   in the form of animal feed. We have Bertie Ahern to thank for engineering the pivotal vote which allowed Monsanto corn to be imported into Europe, after being aggressively lobbied by members of the U.S. congress during the 1998 St. Patrick's visit to Washington. I queried the Department of Agriculture about their advocacy of GM products and received this reply:

"The marketing of GM crops within the EU is strictly controlled by legislation which has been jointly adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. Any company wishing to place on the market a food or animal feed containing a GM ingredient must go through a robust assessment and authorisation process involving the European Feed Safety Authority."


It's likely that most Irish consumers are unaware that the meat products they consume are fed on genetically modified feedstuffs. The Irish government has clearly decided that it will sneak these unwelcome products into people's diets my hook or by crook. Proponents for GM claim that it is a necessary measure for feeding the world's hungry. 'Suicide genes', inserted into crops to prevent them from reproducing (a twisted form of copyright protection) deny farmers the right to save seeds - a freedom they have enjoyed for centuries. Farmers who adapt to genetically modified crops are forced to buy GM seeds, fertilizers and pesticides in perpetuity. Author Raj Patel, author of 'Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System', argues that investing in rural workers is the key to ensuring self-sufficiency. Encouraging and fostering the independence and self-reliance of farmers and small holders everywhere is the only way to ensure that food remains an inalienable right enjoyed by all.     

In recent years, Irish organizations like Grow it Yourself have sprung up as a means of support and information for people eager to take control of their own food supply. However, what is missing at the heart of such movements is a philosophy based on an indigenous Irish food ethic. In Mexico, the Zapatista Agrarian Indigenous Movement is known by the acronym MAIZ. The driving force behind this grassroots campaign is maize and its importance to the diet and food culture of Mexico.


In Ireland, we cannot point to the potato as our indigenous food as Bety Cariño suggested. We can, however, rediscover a vast tradition of food history all but forgotten in our collective struggle for cultural amnesia. Centuries of deprivation, war and famine have stunted the development of a food culture, preventing its evolution to the same level of sophistication and artistry seen in other European countries. We have lost our love for simple fresh ingredients, preferring to look for convenience, or else to imitate the styles of other cultures. Luckily, Irish Seed Savers, a seed bank dedicated to conserving native Irish strains has managed to rescue many unique varieties which would otherwise have been lost. Their commitment to maintaining the integrity of Irish food species and continuing a food tradition which is centuries old runs contrary to the prevailing ideology which states that Irish people must look outward for validation in all matters, including food matters. Surely eating - the most fundamental of all human functions and a ritual which helps affirm social bonds like none other - is more vital than this? 
 

Raw milk: the latest battle line in the war on food

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland, self-described 'statutory, independent and science-based body, dedicated to protecting public health and consumer interests in the area of food safety and hygiene' has recently recommended that the government reinstate a ban on raw, unpasteurized milk, previously rescinded by the EU in 2007. Pasteurization is a process promoted by French chemist Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), involving heating milk and rapidly cooling it as a means of slowing microbial growth. It also extends the shelf-life of dairy products, but has been widely adopted due to claims of health benefits, including preventing diseases such as tuberculosis, brucellosis, diphtheria, scarlet fever and Q-fever. 

Though milk contains relatively few bacteria, it is susceptible to contamination from other sources. Anyone who has left a carton of milk open in the fridge overnight will know how readily it absorbs food flavours. In addition, cows can transmit a wide variety of diseases to humans through their milk. However, pasteurization has become a controversial subject, partially due to the fact that, as well as removing dangerous pathogens, it also destroys beneficial enzymes. Furthermore, many campaigners have asked why the public should not be allowed to choose between raw and pasteurized milk. Surely basic health and hygiene precautions would prevent many of the illnesses potentially linked to raw milk?

No, says Dr Wayne Anderson, the FSAI’s Director of Food Science and Standards, referring to studies conducted in Britain which show a decrease in diseases related to raw milk in Scotland following a similar ban there. However, a group including farmers, artisan cheesemakers, restauranteurs and others are campaigning against this proposed ban, claiming that: 

"everyone has a right to choose to drink one of Ireland’s premium products which has a rightfully esteemed place in our food heritage. Informed consumers should have the right to decide for themselves what they eat and drink".

The attack on raw milk has been a high-profile one of late. Rawesome Foods of Venice California, a co-operative movement which supplies raw milk to its dues-paying members, has been raided twice in one year. On August 11, armed federal agents stormed the building, arresting owner James Stewart and leaving humdreds of gallons of raw milk to spoil. Stewart and his colleagues were availing of a legal loophole, entering into a 'herdshare' agreement with farmers, whereby they were paid to feed and milk the co-op's goats. The private nature of the co-operative by-passed regulations prohibiting the sale of raw milk to the public.

Attacks against the freedom of consumers to choose what they buy are nothing new of course. There has been a chilling trend in recent times which suggests that a war is being waged by the food industry, bolstered by government muscle. What is at stake is most basic of human rights - the right to access nourishment, as established by Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states:

"Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food."

In recent years, there has been a concerted campaign to sneak GMO food onto our plates without our knowledge, and to limit the types of health supplements and herbal remedies which we are allowed to consume. Gingko Biloba and St. John's Wort are currently available in Ireland only on prescription, despite there being no evidence that they pose a serious threat to public health. It is a proven fact that prescription medicines are a far great danger to the population. In the U.S., the number of deaths caused by prescription medication dwarfs those that result from traffic accidents.

The mooted ban on raw milk in Ireland constitutes an attack on the fundamental rights of the Irish public to control what we consume.We have to ask, do we want authorities such as Food Safety Authority of Ireland to have autonomy over our health? Are we children who cannot be trusted to make sensible choices about our eating habits (when such choices are provided of course)? Or is this yet another front on which the war against food is being fought - a subtle yet sinister ploy to further minimize out options, reducing our ability to sustain ourselves in the face of increasing corporate control over food supplies?

Rapeseed: the key to reducing our dependence on foreign oil?

Like many people, I am addicted to olive oil. Cold pressed extra virgin olive oil to be exact - golden, limpid nectar of the gods that it is. In saying so, I freely admit that I have been affected by foodie propaganda. Despite all the health benefits attributed to olive all - high levels of monounsaturates, omega 3 and 6 etc. - I doubt that any of us can honestly say that we spend all that extra money on cooking oil for the good of our health. There is a certain kudos associated with its use; after all, a salad dressing made with Spry Crisp n' Dry doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

Its apparently miraculous benefits have meant that it has been part of Jewish, Muslim, Catholic and Orthodox Christian ceremonies for centuries. Olive oil seems to conjure up images of sunbaked groves, of old widows in black shawls on their way to Mass, of the aching blue of the Mediterranean. In the midst of a schizophrenic Irish summer, even an action as simple as drizzling the amber liquid over salmon steaks evokes a pungent fantasy about a lazier, sunnier life.

However, in our quest for sustainability, shouldn't we question the wisdom of using a product which originates over 1000 miles away - even one so multifunctional and beneficial as olive oil? In recent years, rapeseed oil has been touted as a sustainable, healthy alternative. Irish companies such as Donegal Rapeseed Oil Co., Drumeen Farm and Derrycamma Farm are now producing oil for the Irish market.

Rapeseed, or Brassica napus is cultivated for animal feed, biodiesel, in addition to its uses as oil for human consumption. In its natural form, rapeseed is unpalatable due to its high levels of glucosinolates, a natural chemical compound which contains nitrogen and sulfer. Blucosinolates are found in large quantities in other brassica plants such as brocolli, Brussels sprouts and cabbage and are characterised by a bitter taste, but are believed to be inhibitors of certain types of cancer. It has been claimed that rapeseed oil contains some of the highest levels of monounsaturates among oils currently on sale, and has low quantities of saturated fats.


Breeding techniques have reduced amounts of glucosinolates in rapeseed in order to render the taste more pleasant; however, this has the effect of decreasing its beneficial properties, in addition to those of Erucic acid, the omega-9 fatty acid contained within the plant. Since high doses of erucic acid can be toxic to humans, and has even been implicated in health scares, not least its alleged connection with autism, rapeseed oil was not consumed by humans until the 1970s.


This new strain of rapeseed oil was developed in Canada, where it is known as canola. However, the growth of canola has been mired in controversy, as much of Canada's canola has seen heavily contaminated by genetically modified crops. Drumeen Farm's Second Nature Oils pledge to produce rapeseed oil containing: 'no potentially hazardous chemicals, synthetic fertilisers or  use of genetically modified seeds'. The websites of Donegal Rapeseed Oil Co. and Derrycamma Farm contain no information about GM. The rather toothless nature of the Irish ban on genetically modified crops ('voluntary GM-free label'?) might render any GM-free promises meaningless.

Surely, the cultivation of rapeseed oil in Ireland must be a good thing. It provides a local, healthy alternative to olive oil, stimulates industry and goes some way towards encouraging sustainable product choices.

For more information on rapeseed oil in Ireland, see here.

Is vegetarianism sustainable?

According to a 2006 report commissioned by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the meat industry is "one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems". An increase in wealth has meant that more people than ever are enjoying meat as part of their daily diet, placing a larger demand on producers. This in turn puts pressure on the environment, as animals have voracious appetites and require a great deal of space, particularly thanks to modern breeding techniques which result in more meat on the bone. The consequences of these combined factors are devastating.

The breeding of livestock now takes up 30% of the land surface of the planet, including 33% of arable land being used for feed. It produces 65% of all human-related nitrous oxide and contributes to overgrazing, erosion and desertification.

In addition, the destruction of rainforest which has occured in Brazil and other Amazon-basin countries as a result of cattle farming contributes to the escalating destruction of biodiversity. With cheaper meat flooding the market, local food cultures will inevitably suffer. Add to that the impact which a protein and animal fat-rich diet has upon the body - the increased of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other heath issues - and it is no longer possible to ignore the catastrophic effect which the modern meat industry is having upon human health.
Furthermore, the consumption of antibiotic-treated meat can lead to the growth of antiobiotic-resistant bacteria that can threaten life on a broad scale.

In addition to environmental concerns, the issue of animal cruelty has caused many to rethink the amount of meat in their diet. In many countries, mass beef production has meant that thousands cattle are kept in pens and fed on grain or corn, for which their digestive tracts are not designed. Though the cruelty of industrial hen farming has led to a broad acceptance of free-range farming, 60% of the world's eggs are still produced in battery conditions. Intensive pig farming in the United States has been criticised for its impact on traditional small family holdings, in addition to issues surrounding animal cruelty, environmental damage and public health.

These considerations have led to a renewed campaign to reduce meat consumption. Vegetarian and vegan organisations, in addition to animal rights groups insist that a completely meat-free diet is the only ethical choice. However, studies have shown that meat substitutes that we vegetarians rely on are damaging to the environment. As I discussed in a previous post, soya-based products like soya milk and tofu are derived from highly industrialised cash crop which is threatening large sections of the Amazon rainforest.

Rice has to be imported from countries with high rainfall such as China and India, and because it is such a labour-intensive commodity, often low labour costs are involved. Quinoa, the Bolivian grain, has been advocated in recent years as a healthy, life-sustaining food source. It has become so popular in Europe and America that Bolivians who had traditionally used it as a staple in their diet can no longer afford to buy it. Increased malnutition has occured in quinoa-growing areas, partly due to poor people turning to cheaper, processed foods.   

In Ireland, we have a cool, temperate climate that favours the growth of grass. For millenia cattle have thrived on this limestone-rich food source. It is impossible to deny that cattle are a huge part of our indigenous food culture. Luckily for the environment, grass-fed cattle have a much smaller carbon footprint than their industrialised, grain-fed sisters, and studies have shown that grass-fed cattle produce beef and dairy with high conjugated linoleic acid, omega 3 and vitamin E. We also have a climate which is highly suitable for growing a wide variety of vegetables and grains. Our climate, geography and history would suggest that vegetarians and omnivores alike should enjoy a healthy and varied diet in Ireland, but the facts paint a different picture.

Perplexingly, we are largely dependant on imports for much of our food supply. This can partially be attributed to our fractured food history, but more to EU farming policies, the growing contempt among the Irish for agriculture and rural life and the virtual monopoly held supermarket chains like Tesco and Supervalu which allows them to set food prices as and when they will. Even barley, the poor man's rice, is grown almost exclusively for the brewing industry and for animal feed, if this (albeit pro-GMO) website is to believed. We find ourselves teetering on the edge of disaster, should fuel shortages or natural distasters prevent staples like rice, pasta, wheat or even vegetables from arriving on our shores. It is not the fault of farmers, who have been attacked and marginalised for decades now, with food production becoming one of the least profitable and respectable professions in Ireland. Government food policies in Ireland are so bizarrely wrong-headed as to make it almost impossible for those of us who don't want to choose between eating locally and abstaining from meat.

If we wish to eat food with a clear conscience, surely we should be concentrating our efforts towards sourcing our food closer to home. As a species, reducing the amounts of meat that we consume is essential in the fight to arrest the catastrophic damage being done to the biosphere. However, vegetarianism is not the be-all answer that we might think. Unless we begin to break the links between us and the soil we face huge problems in the coming years. Food shortages and famines on a global scale will be the harvest we reap for decades of industrial food production. We have act locally to work towards some form of self-sufficiency, for the sake of our health as well as that of local communities and the planet. 

Raw vs Cooked: the great food debate

Many claims have been made for the benefits of the raw food diet. It has been touted as a means of increasing health and longevity, of getting more nutrients from food, even of "increasing the radiance of your vital life force". Cooking, according to raw food advocates, "not only destroys nutrition and enzymes, but chemically changes foods from the substances needed for health into free-radicals and poisons that destroy our health!"

The implications of cooking are apparently so terrifying that it's a wonder the human race has survived for thousands of years of adulterating perfectly good food with fire. According to biological anthropologist Richarg Wrangham, cooking was in fact a crucial factor in our evolution as homo sapiens. In addition to the use of tools, the discovery of fire has long been believed to be the evolutionary starting gun that led to humans becoming the dominant species on Earth.

In his book Catching Fire: How Cooking Make Us Human, Wrangham explains that the application of heat rendered previously indigestible roots and vegetables edible. Time spent masticating was also drastically reduced. While other primates such as chimpanzees spend six hours a day chewing, cooking allowed evolving humans to devote time to other activities. Eating cooked foods changed the shape of the jaw, shrunk the digestive tract and allowed for the development of the brain.

Furthermore, cooking has become an integral part of the human psyche. The idea of transformation implied by cooking has compelled human beings for millenia. In his seminal work The Raw and the Cooked, legendary anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss suggested that cooking is inextricably linked with culture. In the mythologies of places as diverse as Ireland and Latin America, cooking is a metaphor for the transition from wilderness to society. In the Old Irish tale Táin Bó Cuailgne, liminal hero Cú Chulainn is sent into a seething frenzy by the sight of naked women. He is plunged into a series of vats, causing the water to boil over. He is symbolically 'cooked' in order to render him fit for society.

In addition to its metaphorical implications, Wrangham contends that cooking is essential to long-term survival. Accounts of people isolated from society, such as castaways and people lost in the wilderness show how essential fire is to health. Virtually every example of people forced to eat a solely raw food diet died, whereas those who managed to make fire had a much greater survival rate. The answer to this riddle comes from caloric intake. Among those who eat a cooked diet, there is no difference between the energy absorbed by vegetarians and meat-eaters.

However, studies have found that an exclusively raw food diet does not provide adequate amounts of vitamins B12 and D, zinc, and calcium. The Giessen Raw Food study, conducted between 1993 and 1994 found that over a quarter of the participants were underweight and women often found that menstruation became infrequent or stopped altogether. Studies also found that people who were overweight or had high blood pressure or elevated cholesterol achieved good results from a raw food diet. Such studies suggest that raw foodism can be a short-term way of achieving balance in one's health. However, the long-term affects of a strict raw food diet can be detrimental to human health.

Proponants of raw food diets have responded to such challenges to their claims. Dr. Douglas N. Graham suggests increasing the number of bites taken per meal in order to increase the elasticity of the stomach and "to gently encourage your digestive system to regain its flexibility". To those of us who don't want to spend the day masticating furiously, this might prove something of a challenge.