As the old Chinese saying suggests, it takes three generations for people to develop a proper sensibility for fashion and cuisine. Personal taste is something that needs time to mature. The trend of slowing down could well represent the abandoning of speed and the search for the true original taste in life.
Obsession with life in the fast lane can lead to imbalances in the nervous system, hormones and the immune system. It is the main cause of many chronic diseases and speeds up the aging process. In my many years of medical experience dealing with anti-oxidants, I have realized that while medical care is important for our daily health, our lifestyles have an even greater impact.
Healthy food comes with ample time
Japanese food and wine programs take their viewers around the country in the search for legendary food ingredients. Viewers see activities such as the making of traditional miso, trawling for sea urchins from Hokkaido whose harvesting is limited by strict quotas, and organic onion cultivation. The concept of Slow Food begins with the choice of ingredients. The modern agriculture industry uses a lot of fertilizers and chemical to increase crop yields. But can we accept the fact that vegetables are getting bigger but are more and more laced with pesticides and bereft of nutrients, that meats are pumped full of hormones and antibiotics? I think not.
Other than nutrition, there are also issues concerning flavor.
If we take soy sauce an as example, we know that traditionally it takes a few months to one year of fermentation to produce a batch. But by adding artificial colors, spices and flavors to the blend, the process only takes a few hours. Does this make it tasty and healthy? The same thing is also happening with the production of other staples like vinegar, miso and alcohol.
Old-fashioned, patient techniques of production make for foods that are nutritious and non-toxic. This is the concept behind organic food and the basis for the Slow Food movement.
Just as we have to wait patiently to harvest our food, so we also have to wait patiently for it to cook. Everyone knows for example that fast food is not healthy, but what many might not realize is that the harm goes beyond the fat and calories. Cooking with high temperatures is likely to cause cancer. It was for good reason that humans gradually arrived at the method of low-temperature coking over hundreds of thousands of years, but everything has changed with the invention of high-temperature cooking tools that suit our hectic modern lifestyles.
High-temperature coking leeches nutrients from food and, what is worse, encourages the formation of cancer-causing agents. Heating starches to temperatures of 130 degrees Celsius or more, for example, causes acrylamide to form. Exposing sugars and proteins together to high temperatures will result in melanoidins. Free radicals form when fat is heated to 80 degrees Celsius. All these toxins increase the burden on our immune system and increase the likelihood of contracting a major disease.
High-temperature cooking often creates rich aromas and flavors, and the process is relatively efficient. But this process masks food’s original flavor behind the taste of oils and charcoal. On the same token, foods processed with artificial chemicals do not taste like their original ingredients and in many case contain all sorts of toxins. On the other hand, people nowadays tend to consume the same kind of food every day, such as bread, sandwiches and milk, which over the long term causes the human body to develop allergies and leads to different kinds of illnesses. So we can see that the another meaning of Slow Food is a diet that is fresh and diverse. Preparing foods at temperatures below 120 degrees Celsius (or under 70 Celsius if vegetable oils are used) brings out original flavors and preserves their goodness.
In Japan, if a chef hangs a sign advertising “Slow Flavors” it means that he or she is confident about his or her level of cooking. This phrase could also imply another meaning, namely a style of gentle and low-temperature cooking, which means that the food is free of artificial flavors and has been given sufficient time to manifest the true colors of its ingredients. It would be wise for all of us to jump on the Slow Food bandwagon. |
In the age of speed, the philosophy of slowing down has become a new trend. Perceptions of time have changed. The emphasis on never having enough time and becoming more and more efficient are now slowly giving way to the realization that time is precious and should be treasured.
