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ORGANIC LIVING
Br
Robert Rodole
The Decline of Natural Flavor
Try this simple test. Ask yourself, when was the last
time your mouth actually watered at the thought of your
next meal? When was your last truly memorable taste
experience? If you can’t answer, you’re probably one of
the millions of Americans who have forgotten the thrill of
fresh, natural food flavor.
Take fruit, for examole. “Coming generations- will
scarcely know how a good apple tastes,” laments Fred
Lape, director of the George Landis Arboretum in
Esperance, N.Y. Sharpness and variety of flavor are
disappearing, he says, because commercial apple
producers prefer to breed for color and preservative
qualities.
Supermarket shoppers must now settle for the bland,
mediocre Delicious apple instead of the increasingly rare
Northern Spy. “As a standard of excellence, says Lape, “I
would set the Northern Spy as the best apple ever grown in
the United States. To bite into the tender flesh of a well
ripened Spy, have its juice ooze around the teeth, its rich
tart flavor fill the mouth and its aroma rise up into the
nostrils, is one of the outstanding experiences of all fruit
eating.”
Experiences like that are seldom spoken about
Dutch School
Natural Foods
LARGEST SELECTION OF
NATURAL FOODS AND VITAMINS
IN CENTRAL PENNA.
RT. 222, AKRON, PENNA.
PH. 859-2339
convenient drive-up banking
is your bag, here’s now to
carry it off-using
our new, outside remote unit
Beginning a couple of years ago,
aftei dedicating oui new main
office, we ve learned how much you 1
like dnve-up banking You like it so
much that we’\e had to add another
facihtv foi doing it
Within a feu da\s on: new le
mole unit will he fulh installed at
PNR s main office And lieies how
to opeiate it c omfcu tabh
1. At peak business houis should
\ou appioach our legulai duve-up
window and find it in use ]ust raoie
to the light This will pul vou
abieast of the iemote unit (see
photo] and in touch bv inleirom
with our dnve-up lellei (Say hello
to her l ]
2. Now push the ‘ Pi ess loi Sei
vice" button on the contiol panel
befoie you This will activate the
unit, and bring the see-thiough cai
ner to your fingeitips
3. Next, fill the (.mien with
money, voui bank book—with whiU
evei you'd hand the tellei weie you
inside Then ictuin the rnuiei to its
original place, fiom whoie nulo
matunllv it begins its trip to the
Farmers National Bank of Quarryville
Banking the'way you’d do it.
QUARRYVILLC West lomth St WAKCIILLD Rls 272 & 222
anymore. We’ve become accustomed to the sameness of
processed arid artificially-flavored foods, from super
markets and fast-food franchises. A few people still care
about flavor, but they are a minority. Disciples- of Euell
Gibbons scavenge the countryside for wild food treats,
while gourmet food fanciers patronize specialty shops and
restaurants. But the trail of good flavor is an elusive one.
The sad part is that many young people grow up
believing imitation flavors are the real thing and the real
things are the imitators. Consider these examples:
-A major food processor was recently forced to
reformulate its natural tomato flavor catsup because
consumers preferred the overcooked, scorched flavor of
more heavily-processed brands.
-Many people reject as inferior any tomato juice that
doesn’t have a tinny, metallic flavor from contact with a
can. The same prejudice prevails against fresh pineapple
juice.
-Food technologists are rushing to perfect artificial
cheeses, eggs, milk and tomatoes that will replace natural
foods. Imitation orange juice, bacon, peanut butter and
chocolate already are being marketed.
Synthetic flavor manufacturers like to boast that they
can duplicate any flavor found in nature. “Our chicken is
chickenier,” brags one company in an ad that promises
results that taste “just like grandma’s cooking.” Of
course, few people can actually remember grandma’s
cooking clearly enough to know what they’re missing.
-Incredibly-flavorful and unique natural tastes - vine
ripened tomatoes, dead-ripe persimmons and free-range
chickens, to name just a few - have never been savored by
many young people, especially in our cities. Bland,
uninspiring flavors are all they know.
“If you give someone strawberry ice cream made with
fresh strawberries, you’d have a totally unacceptable
product,” one food industry insider admitted recently.
Part of the flavor problem is that many people have lost
the ability to make subtle taste distinctions. Heavy
smokers, for example, often can’t rely on their own taste
buds to bring out all the flavor in food.
A dietary deficiency of zinc, an important trace
mineral, robs some adults and children of their sense of
tfste. In a National Heart and Lung Institute study, Dr.
Hobert I. Henkin found that a group of undersized children
with poor appetites were all suffering from a lack of zinc.
He placed the children on a month-long diet containing
zinc-rich organ meats and their appetites perked up,
teller (1 eel free, by the wav to ask
hei any questions )
4. Aftei yom liansaelion has
been completed, the teller will send
the earner back—foi vou to remove
the material and go happily on voui
way
It saves time and parking Young
Cynthia 01 Johnny can continue
playing on the seat And vom Busi
ness here has been arromphshcd
quiekly and with ease
As our slogan says, that's “bank
ing the way you’d do it"
Lancaster Farming. Saturday. Sei
along with their ability to taste and enjoy their meals.
• Assuming there’s nothing wrong with your taste buds
that a plateful of real food won’t cure, how can you
rediscover the joys of flavorful eating?
Start by serving more natural, unprocessed foods in
their freshest form. Farmers’ markets, roadside stands
and home vegetable gardens are the best sources of
supply. Stay away from heavily-salted, sugared or ar
tificially-flavored processed foods.
Try baking your own whole-grain bread. You’ll be
amazed at the hearty flavor, which spongy, white
“enriched” bread just can’t duplicate.
Seek out fresh fruits and vegetables that are certified
organically-grown, without pesticides or artificial fer
tilizers. “There’s no question whatsoever that the flavor is
40, 50, 100 percent better than foods grown other ways,”
says Roy de Groot, intemationally-known_gourmand and
food editor of Esquire magazine.
“I’m again and again stressing taste the difference,” he
continues. “Don’t try to remember from one day to the
next, but buy one kind of tomato and another kind of
tomato, buy the ordinary, the mass-produced vegetable
and the natural, organic vegetable and taste them side by
side. If you do this tasting, there’s only one answer.
Everywhere, people are realizing how much better
natural and organic foods taste.”
To savpr natural flavors at their purest, serve simple
dishes without fancy or complex sauces. If you must have
seasoning, try just a hint of herbs. “There is nothing
better than an organically-grown tomato with a bit of salt
and a tiny sprinkling of basil on it,” says de Groot. “There
is no finer food m the world.”
(Editor’s Note: The opinions appearing in “Organic
Living” are those of its author, Robert Rodale, an in
dependent cohunnmist. Rodale’s comments do not
necessarily reflect the thinking of the Lancaster Farming
editor or anyone else on the Lancaster Farming staff.)
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it. 21.1974-
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