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There are a lot of other interesting food facts out there, especially how our food has changed dramatically in the last few thousand years. People consider vege
by matznerd 12y ago
There are a lot of other interesting food facts out there, especially how our food has changed dramatically in the last few thousand years. People consider vegetables and fruits as healthy because they fall under those categories, yet we have completely altered the levels of sugar and other factors to make them more marketable and desirable. For example, wild bananas required a machete to open and had such large seeds and low sugar content that no one really ate them. Another example is corn, the original corn had 5-12 kernels per cob and was in a hard shell as hard as an acorn, it was high in starch not sweet at all, around 2% sugar and 20% protein. The corn in the store today is 2-4% protein and up to 40% sugar. So just because you are eating a vegetable doesn't necessarily mean it is healthy.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/07/10/195592468/eating-on-the-wild-side-a-field-guide-to-nutritious-food http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/07/10/195592468/eating...
http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/11/29/2013/eating-wilder-foods-for-a-healthier-diet.html http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/11/29/2013/eating-wilde...
- oofabz 12y agoYou can see a striking comparison between corn and the wild plant it was bred from on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maize-teosinte.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maize-teosinte.jpg In the old world, the cabbage family is a similar example. Starting from wild mustard, humans created broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, radishes, rapeseed, turnips, and more.
- digi_owl 12y agoAnd now i am hankering for some popcorn...
- seanmcdirmid 12y agoBroccoli, cauliflower, kale, which are actually the same species. Radishes, however, are just in the same family, while rapeseed shares the same genus.
- caf 12y agoEven today the starchy, non-sweet variaties of banana are a majority of those grown - in those areas they're a staple like potato is in Europe.
- seanmcdirmid 12y ago> For example, wild bananas required a machete to open and had such large seeds and low sugar content that no one really ate them. Bananas, not the dessert Cavendish kind, are actually staples in many parts of Africa. Corn and bananas are not really staples in the west; they are more like sweeteners. Corn is supposed to be a staple, you should never treat it as a vegetable, and, its not even a very good staple today (though other kinds of Maize are).
- sangnoir 12y agoFor disambiguation: it is better to say "plantains are staples in many parts of Africa" since they are cooked.