The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada
Where Has The Flavour Gone?
For many years I spent my summers, filling 3 freezers with foods directly grown in our own soil. What wasn't frozen was preserved. Potatoes and carrots and onions were put in the root house to keep all winter. When I cooked meals I knew there would be flaours in the food.
Sadly, because times do change, I am forced to purchase produce in the stores.
So I ask the question, Where Has The Flavour Gone? Tomatoes are in the stores, half ripe, and even if you let them set for a week they are tasteless and tough. Potatoes are a disaster. They are nothing more than fillers. Onions, used to bring the tears immediately to a person's eyes. On occasion you get an onion that will bring a slight watering, but I repeat only slight.
I try to purchase Ontario produce. It doesn't matter what store, it's all the same. I often buy from roadside stands. Same thing----no flavour.
Is the soil depleted? Is it the very seeds themselves, which have had the good bred out of them? Have our vegetables become just a fillers? Is this why so many spices are being used in foods?I know my conversation thread will offend some, but I am serious and I find it alarming as our Ontario farmers compete with USA and other countries. How can we return to good old fashioned Ontario farm produce that was second to none?
Frances
Views: 371
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Bristow on
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The transport and store chains have decided for you like it or leave it. Old cultuvars have a shorter shelve live, and its all down to profit over taste. Santos and others have decided what you like through promotion and properganda.
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I think you said it very well when you stated "it's all down to profit over taste." Is this why fields of onions and tomatoes are sprayed so they can be harvested at one time, instead of staying in the fields till they mature and ripen. Or is it because much of the seed has been modified? In other words, it's hopeless from the time seeds or plants are put in the ground..
Frances
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Permalink Reply by Joe Dales on
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Have you visited some of the Farmers' Markets and talked to the farmers operating some of the stalls?
Many of them are growing some of the heritage varieties of vegetables and picking them the day before so they keep their flavours.
Many in our mostly urban society love the low price of food so the Walmart driven industrialization of food is not likely to end soon for the bulk of the market.
I do think if you do some searching, you can find some local food from some great local farmers.
Joe Dales
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All the seed is modified either by gene implant this is generic food eg corn, or cross bred selection, the old way to get the requirement or tracts required either for taste, growing in the envoriment, or end purpose. The problem is polution from these gene modified plants to original cultiars though plant's pollon. As what is happening with corn and cannola with these genes. Santos likes this when it happens because they can sue, because you are using their pattent gene in the plant material without a licience, as they are doing to farmer in the USA. Reseach have been done on pigs that have been feed this corn and it has been shown the birth rate in production on farms have fallin. I watched a documantary by a German on Santos not a very nice company. As for your question about spaying, that is for pests, weed control or fertizing.
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Joe Dales said:Have you visited some of the Farmers' Markets and talked to the farmers operating some of the stalls?
Many of them are growing some of the heritage varieties of vegetables and picking them the day before so they keep their flavours.
Many in our mostly urban society love the low price of food so the Walmart driven industrialization of food is not likely to end soon for the bulk of the market.
I do think if you do some searching, you can find some local food from some great local farmers.
Joe Dales
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There are many many people who do love the low prices in stores such as you named in your reply. Many living in cities and towns do not know what good food tastes like. We have a generation of young people who think for example those half ripe, tough- sknned tomatoes selling for low prices in chain sore groceries are the norm. Even worse is to see, USA produce selling cheaper than Ontario produce. It isn't difficult to guess where the majority are picking up fruits an veggies. .
Yes, I do go to farmers markets, when I can get to them. I also shop at a store specializing in local produce. After purchasing tomatoes I still ask Where Has The Flavour Gone?
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Frances, the business world does not wait or cater for the concerns of the little guy. There is a reason or agenda behind every action they do. If enough people are heard which is a direct theat to profit, a person's position or authority then things change. The corprate world have had 100 years or more to develop their spin. Recyling, global warming, war on terror, the list goes on. Add the media and hollywood for more distraction and you can bullshit anyone your product is good for you. Just add doubt. As you said the youth don't know the difference, which is fine by Wallmart.
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Permalink Reply by Richard Hamilton on
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Have you considered another possibility? Our taste buds change as we age.
"Like all the other cells in the body, those special sensory cells that make up the taste buds eventually wear out. As we age, the taste buds begin to disappear from the sides and roof of the mouth, leaving taste buds mostly on our tongue. The remaining taste buds eventually become less sensitive. Smoking and eating scalding liquids can damage them further. Our sense of smell also decreases as we get older, and smell and taste are intimately linked."
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/do-your-taste-buds-change-as-you-g...
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Thank you Richard for your wonderful web site and medical knowledge. What I complained about in my letter about our unflavourable foods is commonly voiced amongst many.
Even at a store where I bought tomatoes this past week, I asked the clerk, what is wrong with the tomatoes. She answered me, saying she had eaten some the night before for dinner She also added her thoughts about them, and it was not complimentary.
I am not complaining about this to be nasty. To my way of thinking, the type of seed being used to grow the plants is not a good variety. Whatever they are, they are widely used. The tomatoes all have a yellow ring where they come off the stem. They are not ripe and even after setting for some time, do not improve "with age.".
Perhaps you could enlighten me as to the variety or what could be done to improve on them.
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I, too have noticed this. A difference in taste from our own family garden to vegetables bought in our grocery store in town, or any other store for that matter. As stated, the onions from our garden really get my eyes flowing, and things like beans and carrots are very flavourful. This goes right accross the board with beats and potatoes as well as sweet corn. I think that the idea of time of harvest is a major factor, being that we have the ability and advantage to pick what we want when it is ripe and eat it that night and shortly after. Another contributing factor could be the satisfaction of being able to produce from start to finish all these vegetables. So maybe a little psychological or subconcious reasoning? This way we know how much effort went into what we are eating and we are able to enjoy it that much more.
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I think it is naive in the extreme to blame this all on urban people. I see lots of farmers shopping at Wal Mart contributing to the same system that devalues our work, buying their food at M&M and so on. This is not an urban/rural situation, but the way our society in general has evolved. Lots of farmers are as cut off from the food they eat- unless they are generalists growing livestock and crops, dairy, chicken and so on as many in urban areas. I have met lots of urban people who value our work more than some other farmers too. So we need to quit blaming the urbanites and look in the mirror sometimes too.
Joe Dales said:Have you visited some of the Farmers' Markets and talked to the farmers operating some of the stalls?
Many of them are growing some of the heritage varieties of vegetables and picking them the day before so they keep their flavours.
Many in our mostly urban society love the low price of food so the Walmart driven industrialization of food is not likely to end soon for the bulk of the market.
I do think if you do some searching, you can find some local food from some great local farmers.
Joe Dales
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I agree, a urban working man or woman would love to have the time and money to support the farmer and locally grown food. But its the nature of the beast. Convience Walmat provides that. Yes some farmers markets are cheaper in most cases, but are only avalible to the public on weekends, with people having to work on Saturday and the other parent minding the kids. Getting up at 5 or 6 o'clock to get the best and cheapest bargins wears a bit thin, when you have limited time for lesure. And don't Walmart know it.
That Guy said:I think it is naive in the extreme to blame this all on urban people. I see lots of farmers shopping at Wal Mart contributing to the same system that devalues our work, buying their food at M&M and so on. This is not an urban/rural situation, but the way our society in general has evolved. Lots of farmers are as cut off from the food they eat- unless they are generalists growing livestock and crops, dairy, chicken and so on as many in urban areas. I have met lots of urban people who value our work more than some other farmers too. So we need to quit blaming the urbanites and look in the mirror sometimes too.
Joe Dales said:Have you visited some of the Farmers' Markets and talked to the farmers operating some of the stalls?
Many of them are growing some of the heritage varieties of vegetables and picking them the day before so they keep their flavours.
Many in our mostly urban society love the low price of food so the Walmart driven industrialization of food is not likely to end soon for the bulk of the market.
I do think if you do some searching, you can find some local food from some great local farmers.
Joe Dales
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