Food homologation: the diets of the peoples of the world are increasingly similar

    The paradigms of the food industry and globalization are making the food styles of the peoples of the world more and more similar. The differences in diets, between East and West, have been gradually disappearing in recent decades, especially with regard to industrialized countries. And it is precisely Western diets, based on packaged products and monocultures, that prevail.



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    The paradigms of the food industry and intensive agriculture and the globalization they are making more and more similar the eating styles of the peoples of the world. The differences in diets, between East and West, are gradually disappearing, especially as regards industrialized countries. And they are right there Western diets, based on packaged products and monocultures, to prevail.

    To confirm it is one study recently published by the magazine Pnas, with the title of "Increasing homogeneity in global food supplies and the implications for food security". Until now the phenomenon had appeared quite evident, but it had never been subjected to scientific studies. The results obtained are probably more dramatic than expected.

    Over the last 50 years land the diets of the different countries of the world have become more and more similar. Western eating habits spread like wildfire, easily reaching Africa and Asia. Local and regional diets have undergone ainvolution, crushed by the weight of the proposals of the food industry and supermarkets.

    This process of homogenization led much of the world to rely primarily on 3 food resources grown intensively: wheat, but e soy. It should be remembered that much of the soy and corn production will go to farms, in the form of feed.

    The loss of variety in agriculture and the dominance of monocultures can cause serious risks, such as the appearance and spread of plant diseases, which in the past have caused severe famines. THE'Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century it was an emblematic example, due to the infestations that affected the crops of potatoes, which held the dominance in national agriculture.



    Over the last few decades, the world diet has been enriched in particular with ingredients and products derived from soy, sunflower seeds andPalm oil. At the same time, the contribution to the diet of the local crops, such as millet, sorghum, sweet potato, and cassava (also known as tapioca or yucca).

    It would now be a consolidated trend which needs to be addressed, before the planet finds itself at any moment to face a severe famine like the Irish one. There modern dietin general it is less and less rich in fresh food, of local production and zero kilometers, while to prevail, as we know well, are the packaged products and a small circle of cereals.

    Food homologation: the diets of the peoples of the world are increasingly similar

    Furthermore, the indiscriminate use of palm oil is already causing serious environmental damage, starting with destruction of the ancient ones Indonesian forests. Follow a 'richer and more varied diet of locally produced foods therefore means supporting an agriculture that is not based exclusively on monocultures and gradually detaching itself from the homologation imposed by the food industry.



    Food homologation: the diets of the peoples of the world are increasingly similar

    Furthermore, a diet based on fresh and seasonal products, which is rich in different foods and not too repetitive, represents an important contribution to maintaining a good health. Once again we can be the first, with our food, purchasing and self-production choices, a stimulate profound change.

    Marta Albè

    Photo source: naturallysavvy.com

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