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Is that sumthin you eat?

A little while ago there was a news article that staggered me with its extraordinary nature. It was about a yogi in India who had not eaten or had any water for almost 70 years and yet continued to exist! It is an extreme case and a normal human being cannot fathom not eating for even one whole day. Yet, it made me wonder whether we consume too much? It has been normalized, by dietitians and medical professionals that it is essential for our well being and our health. We are told that we must have all kinds of vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates etc. Must have certain servings a day of fruit, minimum eight glasses of water, and so on and so forth. I wonder if all of this is essential? The yogi's story tells us that it is not! Okay, we may grant that he probably spent his days in meditation and did not do much physical work and did not need much food but 70 years without any water and food? Let us also, for argument's sake discount his tall claim and grant he had at least a glass of water a day, maybe one meal a day yet are we still not consuming too much? And our obsession with food just knows no bounds. If one thinks a little seriously it is almost disgusting. We do not just talk about food, we talk about cuisines, it is an art and a science. Food has nationality. There is Chinese, Indian, French, Italian, Japanese, Ethiopian, food. Tt is known by regions, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean. It is known by speed, fast food. Recognized by body organs, finger food, and so on and so forth.What does that tell us about ourselves? Other than the obvious, that of our recognition of the other, does it not say that we have a fixation with food. Our life revolves around it!

What is the problem with that? I know I would be asked that and I do not pretend that I have the best answer but rather a feeling. It goes like this: the most basic instinct of human beings is to eat and drink to satiate and quench. Underlying all our actions is our struggle to be able to find food. We find jobs because we want to provide food for ourselves and those we are responsible for. We plan ahead to see how long we will be able to support this need and we expect it to last our lifetime. But what if our needs become bigger than our means? And that is what I am pointing to. Food is a basic need and can be satisfied with minimum fuss but we are expanding it and adding more and more items, making it so fancy that it is now becoming vulgar.

It is not only the amount of food we eat, which is substantial, but also tied with this is the twin problem of waste. Our food comes packaged in fancy bottles, glass and plastic; it is wrapped, in plastic and paper; it is tinned; in short all our food comes in disposable packages. These cannot be reused in most cases and in rare places some can be recycled but in most cases it goes right into the bin! Even our organic waste, like peels, seeds, fat, skin is simply put in plastics and thrown into bins. That could at least have been prevented from being trapped in plastic and allowed to become a part of ecosystem but our obsession with fanciful life prevented it!

I feel it is not the multinationals, not the government, corporations, supermarkets, media but rather us who are responsible for creating this messy life due to our ignorance and laziness, our allowance to others to chart our 'spiraling out of control needs' that will see us in deep straits and we are definitely on our way!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Seventy years, you serious? Wow!
You're right!

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