Don’t Panic. It’s Just Food.
lion worldwide in 2014, up from $11.5 billion in 2010.
When people avoid foods for no reason, “it makes food scary,” Mr. Carroll wrote. “Food should be a cause for pleasure, not panic.”
Fear of genetically altered food, so- called “Frankenfoods,” is also irrational, Jane E. Brody wrote in The Times.
Farmers and scientists have been genetically engineering foods for centuries through breeding. Modern genetic engineering splices specific genes into a crop; sometimes these genes are from an unrelated species. A gene that creates frost tolerance in a plant like spinach might come from a fish that lives in cold water.
Although about 90 percent of scientists believe G.M.O.s are safe, two-thirds of consumers disagree. Without evidence, they fear changes in nutritional content, the creation of allergens and toxic effects.
Robert Goldberg, a plant molecular biologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that these fears persist despite “hundreds of millions of genetic experiments involving every type of organism on earth and people eating billions of meals without a problem.”
There is evidence that varying our diets — and what wine we drink — is beneficial to health, and the environment.
For years, the global wine industry embraced monoculture, with local grapes ripped out in favor of more profitable, mass-market types. There are 1,368 known varieties, but nearly 80 percent of the world’s wine is made from just 20 kinds of grapes.
Wine enthusiasts are discovering these neglected grapes, aiding biodiversity and sustainability.
José Vouillamoz, a geneticist and botanist who co-authored the encyclopedic “Wine Grapes: A Complete Guide to 1,368 Vine Varieties, Including Their Origins and Flavors,” said wines are subject to the whims of fashion.
“People became ashamed of the old-time grapes, the grapes of grandpa,” Mr. Vouillamoz told The Times. “They began planting the so- called noble grapes, and they would disregard the rest.” (“Noble” grapes include chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and pinot noir, which made Bordeaux and Burgundy famous and are now grown all over the world.)
Most people forgot grapes like braucol and négrette and tannat. Bordeaux’s power kept the indigenous wines of southwest France secret for 500 years, until wine geeks rediscovered them.
“Every new grape you’ve never tasted before offers the chance to experience a new flavor — not to mention the environmental benefits of a more diverse and sustainable industry,” Jason Wilson wrote in The Times. “In this increasingly globalized, homogenized world, that’s not just a matter of snobbery.”