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Everything you need to know about what's new in health and wellbeing

Friday, 4 November 2022 07:00

By Mary Goodsell

Join Sara Whatley at the dinner table as she talks about food culture, food trends and food awareness.

We all need to eat. Food gives our bodies energy, helps it to grow, keeps it healthy and also brings us pleasure. Food is one of life’s great joys. 

Over the years, but especially in the last few years, our interest in food and nutrition as a nation has grown and grown. Health conscious and environmental choices like cutting down on meat, going vegan and eating locally sourced food is now taking more priority on many people’s shopping lists.   

Plant Based Diets

A big movement to eat healthy, plant-based diets is in full swing, and many people have adopted this way of eating. It’s never been easier to find meat and dairy alternatives that are truly delicious and nutritious too. Moderation is the key: you don’t have to totally cut out entire food groups or deny yourself anything if you don’t want to, just adopt a ‘flexitarian’ approach: eat meat only occasionally and the rest of the time enjoy plant-based meals and explore protein alternatives including lentils, beans, nuts and seeds. 

New technology is also adapting to our dietary choices. Meat and fish substitutes have evolved to a new level with lab engineered products now available that are similar in taste, texture and look to the real thing. Alt-protein and cell-cultured food are the food industry’s new buzzwords.

Food sustainability

Hanni Rützler, a renowned food analyst and ten times author of The Food Report, has suggested that food sustainability is a huge issue to tackle now and into 2023 as well. “Sustainability has clearly become an important differentiating factor in the fiercely competitive food industry,” she writes. She talks about Future Food Resilience, living in a sustainable society and how the food industry is adapting to our changing eating habits with new technologies. Watch this space.

Food trends

People commonly describe themselves as foodies and our social media feeds are filled with tempting photos of mouth-watering things to eat. Indeed, recipes on social media frequently go viral and make everyone drool over the latest Buddha Bowl or tofu seaweed wrap.
Cooking is no longer the domain of the housewife only; young and old, male and female, everybody is at it. The purpose of food is no longer seen as simply to fill a gap either. Nowadays it’s more an art form to see how many delicious and interesting flavours one can squeeze into a dish, how many nutritious ingredients can be added and how beautiful and pleasing to the eye a meal can look.    
 

So, what’s your take away from this article? Eat sustainably where you can, locally where you can, be aware of where your food comes from if you can, but most of all enjoy food for all the nutrition and happiness it gives to our bodies.  

See more health and wellbeing features here.

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