Finding Passion

For years we have been told by doctors, dietitians and the media that fat is the enemy. Fat will make you fat and will clog up your heart. Entire industries have been build on this simple idea, there are low fat versions of every kind of food and drink imaginable available on the market and yet people are getting bigger all over the world. We have tried to blame it on the fast food industries, the food producers, the frozen food markets and just about anything that would stand still long enough for us to pin the blame on it.

Then came the BIG news, science now tells us that it is not fat but sugar that is too blame for the growing obesity problems all over the world. While the food industries were removing fat from the food they were adding loads of sugar to make the food taste acceptable, so now once again, we are blaming the soft drinks companies, the fast food industry, the food producers and everyone else around us for adding all these hidden sugars to the food we eat and making us all fat.

The food industries have responded by flooding the market with new low-sugar and sugar-free products and giving us even more 'choices' when we shop, and yet somewhere along the way, between all the brightly coloured jars and boxes in the supermarket isles, I have lost my love of food. I have become bored with cooking, and eating has become something I do just to give my body some fuel to run on. I often skip meals as I am just not bothered to even go into the kitchen anymore and most restaurants leave me cold as I struggle to find anything exciting or different on their menus.

I use to have a passion for food, a desire to try new things and create meals to serve to my family and friends. Sharing the joy of discovery with the people I love, exploring new flavors and learning new ways to combine texture and taste. Watching people take that first hesitant taste of a new meal and then seeing their expression change with delight as they discover a new love affair with food.  

I want it back.

I want to stop listening to the industry 'experts' telling us what to eat and what to avoid. If I have learned one thing from the 'experts' it is that they don't have a clue either and in a few years time, when they find something else to blame the obesity rate on, we will all jump on the bandwagon again ready to blame the food industries for giving us the wrong information.

It is always so much easier to blame someone else than it is to take responsibility for our own actions.

Well, this is me taking responsibility. I want to rediscover flavour. I want to challenge my senses and wake up my taste buds. Life is too short to eat bland food and live without passion. It is time to try new things, see new places and eat real food.