Stick to cooking, Pete
IWE NEED TO LISTEN TO EXPERTS – BUT ONLY WHEN THEY’RE TALKING ABOUT WHAT THEY KNOW
t’s official.
Pete Evans and I have broken up.
Not that you could say we were ever officially a couple, or anything remotely resembling one; but since 2010, when those piercing blue eyes met my nondescript hazel ones through the telly, it was on.
I never missed our regular dates where I shared the contestants’ thrill as Pete rang the doorbell of their humble abode, and I always appreciated his sharp suits, unruffled demeanour and no-nonsense critiques, the perfect foil for chaotic kitchen meltdowns, failed souffles and sauceless roasts.
Sure, he was a bit “Byron Bay hipster”, but it was easy to ignore the outrage over his paleo preferences and activated almonds.
Each to their own, I reckoned. When he spoke out about chemicals in sunscreen, and fluoride, which requires the addition of chemicals to our water supplies, he angered some health organisations.
To me it made sense – chemicals aren’t great for us, and minimising them is probably a good idea.
Everything in moderation, still a fan. Of the new MKR format? Not so much.
Then came Pete’s $15,000 “Biocharger Energy Revitalisation Platform”, which included settings for “coronavirus”. Ruh-roh.
Suggestions a $25 lava lamp would probably be as effective were funny, less so the impression that the gleaming Pete I only knew through televised dinner parties appeared to be unravelling.
Axed from the show, when his Instagram feed was peppered with unhinged rants supporting the Trump line that COVID-19 is a “hoax” or part of the Q-anon conspiracy theory so beloved by conservative men in tinfoil hats, I called “time”.
Nature is amazing, and natural therapies offer a multitude of benefits to our health.
But would you get your doctor to cut your hair?
Or allow your butcher to perform surgery?
It’s those with appropriate skills and training, steered by peer-reviewed scientific evidence, that will see us through this pandemic.
And while we wait for a vaccine, the experts advised we should get a flu shot.
Now, I don’t usually, having only had the flu once in my life, my opinion was that my immune system had been pretty effective in fighting off viruses.
“Nope, not this time, get the flu shot,” was my lovely doctor’s expert advice – so I did.
Epidemiologists say we need to reduce the incidence of flu, this year especially, which is why NRL players and their Instagrammer WAGS refusing the jab aren’t helping public health, but hindering it.
In Samoa in 2018, human error saw a muscle-relaxing drug mistakenly used with a measles vaccine and two infants died, spooking the population. Parents stopped vaccinating, so when a measles epidemic hit the island last December, it resulted in the tragic yet preventable deaths of 72, mostly young, children.
Arming ourselves with knowledge is smart, but only if it’s factual.
Pete Evans is an awesome, expert chef; but while I’ll follow his recipes without question, I’ll pass on his COVID-19, 5G and Bill Gates conspiracy theories.
So I’ve socially distanced myself from my ex-virtual boyfriend and his activated nuts.
Besides, with Brad Pitt playing Dr Fauci, I think I’ll be just fine.