At last, the conversation around the impact of ultra-processed foods on the health of the nation is gathering momentum. I’ve written before about how we are sleepwalking into a health crisis of gargantuan proportions. It has crept up on us so rapidly and stealthily that it has almost gone unnoticed.
Ultra-processed foods now make up over half of the average diet in Ireland. To be precise, 54.9% according to research published in The Journal of Public Health Nutrition. Ireland tops the poll in 19 EU countries, contrast that percentage with 10.2% in Portugal. Ireland is now the second most obese country in Europe with more than a quarter of the adult population classified as obese.
For some time now, it has been altogether easier to find what used to be called fake or junk food now called UPF’s, than real food…
Plus there’s huge confusion amongst the general public about what exactly constitutes UPF’s, ultra-processed food.
These are foods that are mass produced in industrial systems, purposely engineered to be irresistible and hyper palatable, cheap with a long shelf life.
Foods that you couldn’t be made in your home kitchen with ingredients you would never find in your pantry.
Packed with artificial flavourings, colourings and preservatives, emulsifiers, stabilisers, flavour enhancers… Often with a long list of ingredients, many unrecognisable to the general public. A chicken curry on the recently introduced Free School Meals menu had over 50 ingredients – where are our priorities…?
These foods are highly profitable and are aggressively marketed to both children and grown-up’s. In the UK, only 2% of advertising is on real food, 98% is spent on ultra-processed food. I’ve no doubt it’s similar over here.
The reality is, our food system is built for profit not to nourish the population. New research links harmful ultra-processed foods to the alarming rise in obesity, Type 2 diabetes, metabolic and inflammatory diseases, cancers, even early death….
So why, knowing what we know is it legal to sell these foods? What will it take to reverse this trend and break free but reverse it we must.
We may think we actually have a choice in what we eat, but the reality is an immense amount of money, thought and research goes into making these foods utterly irresistible and addictive and super cheap. UPF’s have quietly taken over the food system and they are unquestionably making us sick. Is it possible that the manufacturers are unaware of this?
About 10 major food corporations control 80% of the food supply on our supermarket shelves. Meal Deals, Takeaways, Grab, Gobble and Go, Deliveroo and its many incarnations have become a way of life…
So, what to do?
In the words of Michael Pollan, “Eat nothing your grandmother wouldn’t recognise as Food”. kind of sums it up simply…
Chris Van Tulleken’s excellent book ‘Ultra-Processed People’ published by Cornerstone Press draws a direct correlation between high levels of ultra-processed food consumption and the rise in both physical and mental health issues.
Should the production companies not be required to pay for the ill health they are causing?
How long before the Irish government will no longer be able to fund the health service?
So, what to do? Time for bold and coordinated action and a huge rethink about how to tackle the decline in national health.
This will not be an easy matter, many of the major food corporations are wealthier and more powerful than governments.
As the grandmother of 11 grandchildren, the UPF food situation is keeping me awake at night. We need a coalition of parents, teachers and citizens to demand action.
We urgently need to reexamine our priorities – after all, what could be more important than the future health of the nation, our children and grandchildren. This is no easy task to tackle. but what could be more important, what could be more urgent? After all, the wealth of the nation depends on the health of a nation and the health of a nation depends on the food we eat…time for action!
Many of the foods we take for granted are ultra-processed. Here is an alternative to the bottled tomato sauce which has become a staple for so many. Avoid the majority of breakfast cereals, with a few very rare exceptions like real porridge, most are ultra-processed…Here too is a super simple recipe for homemade fish fingers, make a little homemade garlic mayo to go with them and whizz up a few homemade breadcrumbs, they take just a couple of seconds to make, a brilliant way to use up leftover stale bread.
Win,
win all the way…
Two Breakfast Cereals:
Apple, Blackberry, Strawberry, or Raspberry Muesli
This is right up there with porridge as the best and most nourishing breakfast ever. It’s also super delicious, can be made in minutes, even when you are semi-comatose in the morning. Choose ripe eating apples for this recipe. The proportion of apple to oatmeal should be equal, taste and adjust as you wish. During the soft fruit season, we crush strawberries, raspberries, loganberries or tayberries and fold into the oatmeal instead of almonds. A few blackberries are delicious added to the muesli in Autumn.
Serves 4
Ingredients
3 heaped tbsp organic rolled oatmeal
110g dessert apples, preferably Worcester Pearmain or Cox’s Orange Pippin
approx. 1 tsp honey, depending on the tartness of the fruit
single cream and soft brown sugar, to serve
Method
Measure out 6 tablespoons of water into a bowl and sprinkle the oatmeal on top. Let the oatmeal soak up the water while you grate the apple. A stainless-steel grater is best for this job; use the largest side and grate the apple coarsely, skin and all. I grate through the core but watch your fingers when you are coming close to the end. Pick out the dark pips and discard.
Stir the honey into the oatmeal and then stir in the grated apple, taste and add a little more honey if necessary. This will depend on how much you heaped up the spoon earlier on and how sweet the fruit is. Serve with cream and soft brown sugar.
Ballymaloe Crunchy Granola
A toasted grain cereal. Use organic ingredients where possible to really nourish your family.
Serves 20
Ingredients
350g local runny honey
225g light olive oil
470g oat flakes
200g barley flakes
200g wheat flakes
100g rye flakes
150g seedless raisins or sultanas
150g peanuts, hazelnuts, almonds or cashew nuts split and roasted
70g wheatgerm and /or millet flakes
50g chopped apricots or75g chopped dates are nice too
toasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds are also delicious
Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.
Method
Mix oil and honey together in a saucepan, heat just enough to melt the honey. Mix well into the mixed flakes. Spread thinly on two baking sheets.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes, turning frequently, making sure the edges don’t burn. It should be just golden and toasted, not roasted!
Allow to get cold. Mix in the raisins or sultanas, roasted nuts, toasted seeds, chopped dates, apricots and wheatgerm. Store in a screw top jar or a plastic box, keeps for 1-2 weeks.
Serve with sliced banana, berries in season, milk or yoghurt.
Tomato Fondue
One of our favourite recipes and one of our great convertibles, it has a number of uses, we serve it as a vegetable or a sauce for pasta, filling for omelettes, topping for pizza…It will keep for four or five days in the fridge and freezes perfectly. It will be particularly delicious at this time from now on made with Irish summer tomatoes.
Serves 6 approx.
Ingredients
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
110g sliced onions
1 clove of garlic, crushed
900g very ripe tomatoes in summer, or 2 x 400g tins of tomatoes in winter, but peel before using
salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar to taste
1 tbsp of any of the following: freshly chopped mint, thyme, parsley, lemon balm, marjoram or torn basil
Method
Heat the oil in a stainless steel sauté pan or casserole. Add the sliced onions and garlic toss until coated, cover and sweat on a gentle heat until soft but not coloured – about 10 minutes. It is vital for the success of this dish that the onions are completely soft before the tomatoes are added. Slice the peeled fresh tomatoes or chopped tinned tomatoes and add with all the juice to the onions. Season with salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar (tinned tomatoes need lots of sugar because of their high acidity). Add a generous sprinkling of herbs. Cover and cook for just 10-20 minutes more, or until the tomato softens, uncover and reduce a little. Cook fresh tomatoes for a shorter time to preserve the lively fresh flavour.
Tinned tomatoes need to be cooked for longer depending on whether one wants to use the fondue as a vegetable, sauce or filling.
Variations
Tomato Fondue with Chilli
Add 1-2 chopped fresh chillies to the onions when sweating.
Penne with Tomato Fondue
Toss 450g of cooked penne or spaghetti with Tomato and Chilli Fondue.
Tomato and Chorizo Fondue
Add ½-1 sliced or diced chorizo to the tomato fondue five minutes before the end of cooking, great with pasta.
Tomato, Bean and Rosemary Stew
Add 1 x 400g can of haricot beans or black-eyed beans and 1 tablespoon of chopped rosemary to the above.
Yummy Fish Fingers with Garlic Mayo
The hake stocks are in good shape, fresh hake is a superb fish, sweet and flaky.
Serves 8
Ingredients
8 pieces fresh haddock, hake or pollock cut into fingers 11.5 x 3cm approximately
salt and freshly ground black pepper
white flour, seasoned well with salt, freshly ground and pepper and a
a little cayenne or smoked paprika (optional)
egg wash
2-3 beaten free-range, organic eggs and a little milk
panko or dried white breadcrumbs
To Serve
crunchy Little Gem lettuce leaves
Garlic Mayo (Aioli)
225g homemade mayonnaise (see recipe)
Add 1-4 crushed garlic cloves (depending on size) to the egg yolks as you start to make the mayonnaise. Add 2 tsp of chopped flat-leaf parsley at the end and season to taste.
Method
Heat the oil in a deep fry to 180˚C.
Season the fingers of fish with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Then, dip the fish, first into the well-seasoned flour and then into the beaten egg and finally coat evenly all over with the crumbs of your choice. Pat gently to firm up…!
Heat some olive oil or clarified butter in a wide frying pan over a medium heat. Cook the fish fingers until golden and crispy on the outside and cooked through into the centre. Drain on kitchen paper.
I
love to wrap them in crunchy Little Gem lettuce leaves, add a dollop of garlic
mayo (aioli)/mayo of choice and enjoy.
Homemade Mayonnaise
Ingredients
2 egg yolks, preferably free range
¼ tsp salt
pinch of English mustardor ¼ tsp French mustard
1 dsp white wine vinegar
225ml oil (sunflower or olive oil or a mixture) – We use 175ml sunflower oil and 50ml olive oil, alternatively use 7/1
Method
Put the egg yolks into a bowl with the salt, mustard and the white wine vinegar (keep the whites to make meringues). Put the oil into a measure. Take a whisk in one hand and the oil in the other and drip the oil onto the egg yolks, drop by drop whisking at the same time to create an emulsion. Within a minute you will notice that the mixture is beginning to thicken. When this happens, you can add the oil a little faster, but don’t get too complacent or it will suddenly curdle because the egg yolks can only absorb the oil at a certain pace. Taste and add a little more seasoning and vinegar if necessary.
If the Mayonnaise curdles (splits), it will suddenly become quite thin, and if left sitting the oil will start to float to the top of the sauce. If this happens, you can quite easily rectify the situation by putting another egg yolk into a clean bowl, then whisk in the curdled Mayonnaise, a half teaspoon at a time until it emulsifies again. Alternatively, if you catch it just as it begins to curdle, you can sometimes rescue the situation by whisking in 1-2 tablespoons of hot water.
