The tribes: Making it up as we go
Locavores
This
is my tribe. I admit that I will walk right past the Australian steaks at the supermarket. Even if they produce Australian beef cheaper and with a smaller carbon footprint, I just can’t bring myself to cheat on Canadian ranchers. Food miles are a sexy concept. The idea that local food is somehow better for the environment would seem to be a no- brainer when beef, grapes and kiwis are travelling from the other side of the planet. Sadly, even small effi ciencies in production in other jurisdictions more than compensate for the fuel expended in transit to the market. I comfort myself with the knowledge that local food has higher vitamin and antioxidant content than imported, as long as it makes it to the table quickly. But whether fresher produce results in better health outcomes — reduced risk of cancer or other serious illness — is very much in the realm of conjecture. I hope so, but that doesn’t make it so. The studies required to prove such a thing would have to last decades, so naturally, no one has bothered.
Paleolithic
Paleolithic
man ranged from almost entirely carnivorous to almost entirely vegan, a dissonance that no Paleo- dieter has been able to reconcile for me. I’m not sure if Paleo is an endorsement of seal blubber or starchy wild African tubers. But it can’t be both. This diet has become wildly popular among gym rats and graduate students, according to my entirely anecdotal survey of people that I talk to in the course of doing my job. They all appear quite slim, which is hardly surprising since they consume very little carbohydrate. Paleo appears to be the new branding for the Atkins Diet, but with cool caveman imagery. In the absence of a rational defi nition for the paleolithic diet, it is diffi cult to assess its merits scientifi cally, as it defi es study even more stubbornly than most dietary choices. Most paleos stitch together bits of science on the benefi ts of leafy greens and nuts from all sorts of sources under the unproven notion that all human disease is the result of eating “modern” foods that humans have not evolved to eat, including most grains and legumes. Never mind that modern human civilization didn’t exist until those crops were grown in signifi cant quantities. It is convenient that the Paleodiet includes both salad and steak ( Paleos don’t get hung up on the bad reputation that saturated fat has among vegans and fat- phobics). Until it includes garlic toast and pie, count me out.
No- Gluten
The
No- Gluten Tribe is probably the second- fastest- growing group of consumers in the Canadian marketplace, after GMO avoiders. People with Celiac disease have a compelling medical reason to avoid gluten, as it causes them autoimmune symptoms and general gastric distress. But less than one per cent of the population has Celiac, and far less than half of those even have a diagnosis, according to the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. However, more than 10 per cent of consumers avoid gluten, and the market for gluten- free foods grew about 44 per cent last year. The public perception — driven by a plethora of pseudo- scientifi c books on the topic — is that gluten- free food is a healthier alternative. McLean worries the opposite may be true. “I actually think there is evidence of harm from their restrictive lists,” she said. “They are eliminating foods ( such as dairy and wheat) that have been fortifi ed as part of public health measures to improve the overall diet.”