Re:The food industry’s new favorite protein source: peas
by forgotmypw on Wednesday May 15, 2019 @07:18AM
(#19918281)
The difference between natural and artificial is the difference between substances we've been exposed to, and thus evolved to deal with, for millions of years, and ones which are completely new to us, and we are essentially beta-testing on our bodies.
Of course, the official meaning of the world "natural", as it relates to the list of ingredients on a package, has been diluted to be meaningless, as you say.
Re:The food industry’s new favorite protein source: peas
by TeMPOraL on Wednesday May 15, 2019 @07:34AM
(#19918359)
> Of course, the official meaning of the world "natural", as it relates to the list of ingredients on a package, has been diluted to be meaningless, as you say.
It's been restricted to be meaningless, IMO. If we go by your definition of artificial, then a lot of what doesn't qualify as "natural" on food labels isn't artificial either. Many "chemicals" added to food are substances that we've evolved to deal with. GMOs in particular aren't artificial by this definition, as they're mostly about making some food contain stuff that was previously found in other food.
What matters is (lack of) toxicity, harmful, LD50, food safety. 'Artificial' however does not and should not imply any of that.
As for
> Is it only me or is this whole preprocessed food stuff the most American thing ever?
I wouldn't say so. There's innovation regarding this throughout the world.
On top of that, cutting down on meat saves the environment. Is saving the environment an American thing...?
I'd wager that fast food is mostly an American invention, but it got picked up throughout the rest of the world. Like preprocessed food it isn't good or bad per definition.