From 7 to 9 November 2018, Lyon hosted a coming together of science and the fruit and vegetables industries. Organised by the French inter-professional organisations Aprifel and Interfel, the discussions for a time managed to lift the veil of mysticism. For a few hours, beliefs and manipulations gave way to objective data. The three days of talks and discussions on nutrition and on fruits and vegetables above all served as a reminder of one thing: consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables is fundamentally, and unreservedly, beneficial to human health. Organic, conventional, local, from afar, round, square, green, yellow,… fruits and vegetables are superfoods across the board, whatever the cropping system used to grow them. And in addition, they lift our spirits (speech by Prof. Saverio Strangtes)!
Unfortunately, dinner time nowadays seems to be a militant action for health, and of course for the planet. By dint of rationalising food, we boil it down to the most basic functionality: providing the quality and exact number of nutrients required to replenish our strength and safeguard our lineage. And there is no point in blaming a given population because it does not eat what we think it should eat. This food nannying is doomed to failure. It does nothing to change the behaviour of those who need to do so the most. Worse, it fans food fears in the rest.
The dinner plate is not an apothecary’s practice, still less the poison factory that some would have us believe. It is first and foremost a source of pleasure. Rather than avoiding “no-no” foods, or prescribing “must have” foods, let’s opt to purchase for pleasure! In a word, perhaps it is quite simply time to bring back the thrill to the table.
8th EGEA Conference
Nutrition and Health. From science to practice.
www.egeaconference.com
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