I definitely think there is something to this—additives, preservatives, and processing add a lot of crap to our food and crowd out more whole, unprocessed or artisanally processed foods. But I also think the environment and manner in which we consume foods makes a difference—in the US, food is often on the go, quick fuel. People are stressed, overly focused on calories, not enjoying their food. In Europe and many other places, people sit down and savor, eat slowly, and really enjoy their food and the people they are eating it with. People don’t finish in ten minutes and go back to their screen. Nine times out of ten, you are probably walking somewhere after your meal as well. I think this makes a huge difference in how much we eat, how we digest it, and how our body uses the food. 2 cents.
I had a friend from France who was blown away at "how" we eat here. On the go. People eating in their cars. He thought that was truly unbelievable. They Don't do that in most other places. You sit down, relax and enjoy the process of eating a good meal. That was 20+ years ago and I still think about that a lot. Especially as I'm eating a God damn burger in my truck as I'm rushing to work. 🤦♂️
I cook and travel a lot. I mean that when I travel, I cook. In Italy, they are seemingly not allowed to poison the food supply, which is kind of weird. Which is maybe why all the food tastes so radically different. There are some odd features to the food production... like that you can hang around the Po Valley as long as you like, but the cows will never come home. They seem to all live in buildings. Ditto the pigs. The sheep. The goats. Presumably to manage the flavour profile of the animals and products. On the other hand, in Sicily, maybe the most Italian part of Italy, is simply erupting with vigorous growth on land and sea, ruminating animals in the fields and humans bent over green patches of goodies. And nothing tastes the same. Not the bread, the cheese, the oil, vinegar, tomatoes, carrots or salad greens. I didn't mention the wine, huh? Please keep the secret that Sicily produces some of the most complex and fine wines in Italy. If your wine is Chianti, stay away from Nero D'avola unless you want to fall in love with a whole new grape. So, while I spend a lot of effort trying to make Italian foods in Canada, once in the old country, creating fine foods is like falling off a log.
When I am in Turkey with my wife, we eat AT MINIMUM 35 eggs a week (all local farmers eggs, fruit, and veggies, the soil is much richer, even in the desert regions there are still tons of healthy and very healthy fruits and veggies) I have 4 for breakfast 6-7 days a week (usually scrambled with Tulum cheese which I eat a block as big as your hand and an inch and a half thick.) My wife eats 2 hard boiled (YUCK) every morning and sometimes eggs for dinner.
When I tell some of my American friends that the food in pretty much all the Mediterranean tastes better and is more healthy, they give me a puzzled look on their face. What? How do you mean?
Just to start with Monsanto...correct if I am wrong, but I thought I remember hearing that every year whatever corn is grown on the big farms in America the farmers can't just keep growing and planting the corn they planted last year but that every year they have to return the seeds from their crops and order "new re-engineered," seeds from Mon-san-slow-death-ooh. With corn syrup in most everything are we Americans being re-engineered? (lame prepper joke.)
In Turkey every 6th or 7th store is a bakery and every 3rd or 4th store sells cigarettes. I do live in the city, Izmir is the 3rd largest city in Turkey and right on the west coast so the seafood is brand new and unmatched UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM IT'S YUMMY. It is more likely people are a little healthier due to walking more in cities. But just like Europe it seems that the people are usually 3 times more likely to be thinner than most Americans.
Second to lastly, at 45 years old (5 years ago,) I didn't know I even liked lamb and now I eat lamb almost 2 time a week, the main reason being is a cut of meat called Lamb Delight, it's "Beacon on Steroids," (not the bad kind just a figure of speech.) if you want to see what I am talking about look at the picture on this page;
I had a similar experience in Turkey. The food tastes utterly different. The vegetables, wheat, grains, fruit... different. More better. Like, better because it is more of what it is supposed to be: more tomatoey, or orangey. More better. In my experience, most places produce foods which taste different not simply due to the preparations, but the food itself is different. I have used my lifelong recipes in Istanbul with surprising results. I have tasted some American food, and generally try to avoid the tasteless fake food which lines the supermarkets. But, even the best organic food here in Canadaville lacks the sunshine required for tasty food. I'm going to make lamb delight right now. Thanks for that.
I forgot to add when you mentioned grains, I try not to eat grains but in Turkey there are all kinds of different grains including some ancient ones that aren't used in other Western countries. When we do buy bread it's usually sourdough.
Not sure if you ever had Buckwheat, which is Not a grain/wheat but if you grind it into powder you can make pancakes. They will come out dark and it's almost like you are eating chocolate pancakes, but the best part is Buckwheat is loaded with protein and very healthy even though it looks like a dessert. Some fresh preserves/jam and honey (honeycomb even better,) on top...MMMMMMM.
We go to a specific Butcher close to our crib in Izmir and they have a gigantic black and white cow and a smaller lamb outline with numbers and sections showing where the cut is. I think that is cool.
I have a small summer garden and I can tell you what you buy at the store vs what you harvest your self have such a different value in taste it’s hard to say they are the same thing. It’s a good thing to not have to worry about starvation, but we have lost something from farming at such a large scale.
The issue is just about every food in the US (especially grains) is fortified with nutrients, additives, etc. And with all the nutrients, fat gets stored. As for prices, explaining it gets political so I'm steering away from that bombshell. But outside the US, just about all food seems......Lighter..
Seeing all of your photos is giving me the itch to travel. To stop and smell the polenta... LOL Thank you, Daniele.
I travel to Ireland frequently and have experienced the same thing. I eat a million calories and often lose weight. I do a lot of walking wherever I am, the only variable is the food.
I might be wrong but the first thing that came into my mind as I read your story was : sugar. From what I heard the amount of sugar which is put in almost every industrial food in America is way over what it is in Europe.
I have a totally left-field and *somewhat* gross theory.
First, many people become uh, “stopped up” when they travel. The plumbing works differently. And in that state, there is no “usual” way that food interacts with you.
Second, I think there is some very solid evidence that the microbiomes in other countries are vastly different. And that might…I’ve run out of steam on this comment, I’m hungry.
Great post! This issue is dear to my heart and I feel very strongly about it. Food, obviously, is of central importance to health and wellbeing, and I have been to Italy several times and can attest to what you say about their food. But I think it's not only the food itself, but the food culture there, and by that I mean sitting for a while, eating slowly, enjoying it in the company of others, etc. (like Blue.Bird76 says here as well). That's important and culturally defined and different from the frenetic U.S. where people eat too much in general and too much fast food, and don't take lunch or eat at their desk for fear of losing valuable productivity to something as banal as eating, etc., just to give a few examples. We have an insanely ridiculous relationship to food.
It's also about, as A L Boudreaux notes, industrial farming. Simply put, the vast majority of Americans don't eat real food. They eat super or ultra processed food that has for decades now had all the nutrients leeched out of it. It's quick, cheap, and available. It has produced a disgustingly lazy food culture and, as you mention, has ruined the gut biome for many and contributes daily to the chronic illness epidemic in the U.S. "Big Food" is a real problem. The Farm Bill is a joke and perpetuates mass farming that is actually not nourishing us, but simply making us sick and making money for giant food corporations. I could go on, but this is all well documented.
A quick internet search will show you headline after headline over many many years now urging people in the U.S. to be healthier by eating a "Mediterranean diet," i.e., the kind that Italians eat. The bottom line is that Italians eat real food -- you know, the type that is largely unadulterated such as fresh meat, fish, dairy, fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats like olive oil. And they take time to enjoy it when they do -- not only the eating of it, but the making of it and sharing it with others too. It's not rocket science, and I really wish the U.S. could figure this out. Okay, rant over.
Interesting because I’ve heard similar stories from a Filipino woman who suffers with gut issues, and other health/food related issues that when in the Philippines for 3 weeks; no issues. Ditto for several other people with similar issues when they visited other countries. I think it has to be related to our industrialized farming, processing and GMO’s etc. In the US we eat a lot of ‘factory’ produce grown in other countries for export, and we eat out of season.
Yeap a tiny bit may be because there are lots of microbiome dealios; yogurts, Kefir, Kimchi, lots of pickled vegetables (NOT pickled cucumbers) and even cheeses have similar properties etc.
Especially Kefir, usually I get a commercial brand when I am in Izmir I drink 200-300ml a week of a berry flavored one i.e. blueberries, raspberry blackberry. So yummy.
I encourage you to check out another Substack channel called “ Unsettled Science” . The authors have deep insight into your queries. Another resource is the Society of Metabolic Practitioners. You won’t believe the rabbit hole you’ve gone down.
Hi Daniele. Long-time listener of your podcast. I read a book by an anthropologist called "Eat Like a Human" which really opened my eyes to how much of what we eat and how we eat it has changed since industrialization. I wrote a review of the book here: https://hipcrime.substack.com/p/eat-like-a-human-review-part-1
My wife and I are enjoying for the first time in our lives traveling in France. The first thing we noticed was the tremendous breads, yogurts, preserves, and cheese available for breakfast. This of course also included eggs and real meats.
The food is definitely delicious and taking the time to sit and relax during multiple courses during the evening meal is wonderful.
After a well in Normandy we headed south and are now in the most southern central region. Fantastic real food and no GI issues at all. The wine and beer are also delicious.
Thank you all for insight and prospective regarding food!
I definitely think there is something to this—additives, preservatives, and processing add a lot of crap to our food and crowd out more whole, unprocessed or artisanally processed foods. But I also think the environment and manner in which we consume foods makes a difference—in the US, food is often on the go, quick fuel. People are stressed, overly focused on calories, not enjoying their food. In Europe and many other places, people sit down and savor, eat slowly, and really enjoy their food and the people they are eating it with. People don’t finish in ten minutes and go back to their screen. Nine times out of ten, you are probably walking somewhere after your meal as well. I think this makes a huge difference in how much we eat, how we digest it, and how our body uses the food. 2 cents.
I had a friend from France who was blown away at "how" we eat here. On the go. People eating in their cars. He thought that was truly unbelievable. They Don't do that in most other places. You sit down, relax and enjoy the process of eating a good meal. That was 20+ years ago and I still think about that a lot. Especially as I'm eating a God damn burger in my truck as I'm rushing to work. 🤦♂️
I cook and travel a lot. I mean that when I travel, I cook. In Italy, they are seemingly not allowed to poison the food supply, which is kind of weird. Which is maybe why all the food tastes so radically different. There are some odd features to the food production... like that you can hang around the Po Valley as long as you like, but the cows will never come home. They seem to all live in buildings. Ditto the pigs. The sheep. The goats. Presumably to manage the flavour profile of the animals and products. On the other hand, in Sicily, maybe the most Italian part of Italy, is simply erupting with vigorous growth on land and sea, ruminating animals in the fields and humans bent over green patches of goodies. And nothing tastes the same. Not the bread, the cheese, the oil, vinegar, tomatoes, carrots or salad greens. I didn't mention the wine, huh? Please keep the secret that Sicily produces some of the most complex and fine wines in Italy. If your wine is Chianti, stay away from Nero D'avola unless you want to fall in love with a whole new grape. So, while I spend a lot of effort trying to make Italian foods in Canada, once in the old country, creating fine foods is like falling off a log.
Cook and Travel. 😋🤗😍😘❤️
When I am in Turkey with my wife, we eat AT MINIMUM 35 eggs a week (all local farmers eggs, fruit, and veggies, the soil is much richer, even in the desert regions there are still tons of healthy and very healthy fruits and veggies) I have 4 for breakfast 6-7 days a week (usually scrambled with Tulum cheese which I eat a block as big as your hand and an inch and a half thick.) My wife eats 2 hard boiled (YUCK) every morning and sometimes eggs for dinner.
When I tell some of my American friends that the food in pretty much all the Mediterranean tastes better and is more healthy, they give me a puzzled look on their face. What? How do you mean?
Just to start with Monsanto...correct if I am wrong, but I thought I remember hearing that every year whatever corn is grown on the big farms in America the farmers can't just keep growing and planting the corn they planted last year but that every year they have to return the seeds from their crops and order "new re-engineered," seeds from Mon-san-slow-death-ooh. With corn syrup in most everything are we Americans being re-engineered? (lame prepper joke.)
In Turkey every 6th or 7th store is a bakery and every 3rd or 4th store sells cigarettes. I do live in the city, Izmir is the 3rd largest city in Turkey and right on the west coast so the seafood is brand new and unmatched UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM IT'S YUMMY. It is more likely people are a little healthier due to walking more in cities. But just like Europe it seems that the people are usually 3 times more likely to be thinner than most Americans.
Second to lastly, at 45 years old (5 years ago,) I didn't know I even liked lamb and now I eat lamb almost 2 time a week, the main reason being is a cut of meat called Lamb Delight, it's "Beacon on Steroids," (not the bad kind just a figure of speech.) if you want to see what I am talking about look at the picture on this page;
https://www.dreamstime.com/lamb-steak-lamb-delight-meat-remaining-cleaning-bones-fat-nerves-waist-region-lamb-lamb-steak-image235336707
And of course there are lamb chops...
https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-lamb-chops-image7534547
I had a similar experience in Turkey. The food tastes utterly different. The vegetables, wheat, grains, fruit... different. More better. Like, better because it is more of what it is supposed to be: more tomatoey, or orangey. More better. In my experience, most places produce foods which taste different not simply due to the preparations, but the food itself is different. I have used my lifelong recipes in Istanbul with surprising results. I have tasted some American food, and generally try to avoid the tasteless fake food which lines the supermarkets. But, even the best organic food here in Canadaville lacks the sunshine required for tasty food. I'm going to make lamb delight right now. Thanks for that.
I forgot to add when you mentioned grains, I try not to eat grains but in Turkey there are all kinds of different grains including some ancient ones that aren't used in other Western countries. When we do buy bread it's usually sourdough.
Not sure if you ever had Buckwheat, which is Not a grain/wheat but if you grind it into powder you can make pancakes. They will come out dark and it's almost like you are eating chocolate pancakes, but the best part is Buckwheat is loaded with protein and very healthy even though it looks like a dessert. Some fresh preserves/jam and honey (honeycomb even better,) on top...MMMMMMM.
We go to a specific Butcher close to our crib in Izmir and they have a gigantic black and white cow and a smaller lamb outline with numbers and sections showing where the cut is. I think that is cool.
I have a small summer garden and I can tell you what you buy at the store vs what you harvest your self have such a different value in taste it’s hard to say they are the same thing. It’s a good thing to not have to worry about starvation, but we have lost something from farming at such a large scale.
The issue is just about every food in the US (especially grains) is fortified with nutrients, additives, etc. And with all the nutrients, fat gets stored. As for prices, explaining it gets political so I'm steering away from that bombshell. But outside the US, just about all food seems......Lighter..
Seeing all of your photos is giving me the itch to travel. To stop and smell the polenta... LOL Thank you, Daniele.
I travel to Ireland frequently and have experienced the same thing. I eat a million calories and often lose weight. I do a lot of walking wherever I am, the only variable is the food.
I might be wrong but the first thing that came into my mind as I read your story was : sugar. From what I heard the amount of sugar which is put in almost every industrial food in America is way over what it is in Europe.
I have a totally left-field and *somewhat* gross theory.
First, many people become uh, “stopped up” when they travel. The plumbing works differently. And in that state, there is no “usual” way that food interacts with you.
Second, I think there is some very solid evidence that the microbiomes in other countries are vastly different. And that might…I’ve run out of steam on this comment, I’m hungry.
Great post! This issue is dear to my heart and I feel very strongly about it. Food, obviously, is of central importance to health and wellbeing, and I have been to Italy several times and can attest to what you say about their food. But I think it's not only the food itself, but the food culture there, and by that I mean sitting for a while, eating slowly, enjoying it in the company of others, etc. (like Blue.Bird76 says here as well). That's important and culturally defined and different from the frenetic U.S. where people eat too much in general and too much fast food, and don't take lunch or eat at their desk for fear of losing valuable productivity to something as banal as eating, etc., just to give a few examples. We have an insanely ridiculous relationship to food.
It's also about, as A L Boudreaux notes, industrial farming. Simply put, the vast majority of Americans don't eat real food. They eat super or ultra processed food that has for decades now had all the nutrients leeched out of it. It's quick, cheap, and available. It has produced a disgustingly lazy food culture and, as you mention, has ruined the gut biome for many and contributes daily to the chronic illness epidemic in the U.S. "Big Food" is a real problem. The Farm Bill is a joke and perpetuates mass farming that is actually not nourishing us, but simply making us sick and making money for giant food corporations. I could go on, but this is all well documented.
A quick internet search will show you headline after headline over many many years now urging people in the U.S. to be healthier by eating a "Mediterranean diet," i.e., the kind that Italians eat. The bottom line is that Italians eat real food -- you know, the type that is largely unadulterated such as fresh meat, fish, dairy, fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats like olive oil. And they take time to enjoy it when they do -- not only the eating of it, but the making of it and sharing it with others too. It's not rocket science, and I really wish the U.S. could figure this out. Okay, rant over.
agreed 100%. thank you
Interesting because I’ve heard similar stories from a Filipino woman who suffers with gut issues, and other health/food related issues that when in the Philippines for 3 weeks; no issues. Ditto for several other people with similar issues when they visited other countries. I think it has to be related to our industrialized farming, processing and GMO’s etc. In the US we eat a lot of ‘factory’ produce grown in other countries for export, and we eat out of season.
Yeap a tiny bit may be because there are lots of microbiome dealios; yogurts, Kefir, Kimchi, lots of pickled vegetables (NOT pickled cucumbers) and even cheeses have similar properties etc.
Especially Kefir, usually I get a commercial brand when I am in Izmir I drink 200-300ml a week of a berry flavored one i.e. blueberries, raspberry blackberry. So yummy.
yup. that's exactly the same experience for so many people
I encourage you to check out another Substack channel called “ Unsettled Science” . The authors have deep insight into your queries. Another resource is the Society of Metabolic Practitioners. You won’t believe the rabbit hole you’ve gone down.
Do you have any links to the specific articles in question? Thank you!
My best recommendation is to visit Garytaubes.com. Probably his best known book in “Good Calories Bad Calories “
Ninateicholz.com wrote “Big Fat Surprize”
Both discuss how the US went sideways in its pursuit of “good nutrition” with ill conceived guidelines for how the masses should eat.
Bottom line, real, whole foods with minimal processing is best. Factory highly processed foods is less best.
Truly food for thought.
Hi Daniele. Long-time listener of your podcast. I read a book by an anthropologist called "Eat Like a Human" which really opened my eyes to how much of what we eat and how we eat it has changed since industrialization. I wrote a review of the book here: https://hipcrime.substack.com/p/eat-like-a-human-review-part-1
My wife and I are enjoying for the first time in our lives traveling in France. The first thing we noticed was the tremendous breads, yogurts, preserves, and cheese available for breakfast. This of course also included eggs and real meats.
The food is definitely delicious and taking the time to sit and relax during multiple courses during the evening meal is wonderful.
After a well in Normandy we headed south and are now in the most southern central region. Fantastic real food and no GI issues at all. The wine and beer are also delicious.
Thank you all for insight and prospective regarding food!
Time for breakfast.
Which will include coffee of course.
Industrial amounts of cheese. Love it.
No GMO's.