What does food mean to me? When asked this question at the beginning of this semester I said food was the comfort obtained from eating it and making it. It also said that it was a necessity to help keep my body going at top capacity. I got this viewpoint from my love of cooking, my family traditions, and from being an athlete. However, I didn’t think much beyond my viewpoint of food when it has such a profound impact on health, society, and the environment. Over the course of the semester, as we looked a numerous contemporary issues in food science. My understanding of food has broadened significantly. Food is an important factor in how our world operates, deals with numerous challenges, and how we define ourselves and our individualities.
My viewpoint on food has changed a lot this semester One of the most significant changes in my perspective has been how much food impacts the environment. Before this class, I had a general understanding of food production and environmental impact, but this class showed me how much bigger the issues of sustainability, hunger, food waste, and limited resources to use are. The numerous discussions on making food more sustainable and the environmental costs of food production have really shown me how critical it is to address the problems, and come up with new solutions to improve the way we grow and consume food. These problems range from the amount of water used to grow certain crops, the number of pesticides used on food, how to improve nutritional value of food, and the amount of carbon emissions tied too transportation, packaging, and the animals themselves. These lectures really opened my eyes to the issues the world faces and how food itself from production to consumption is more than just a tiny thing in our lives.
I also gained a deeper understanding of how important food is towards health. Prior to this course, I was very aware of how certain foods could promote or hinder health. That was something I had to know when competing in numerous sports to make sure my body got what it needed. However, the discussions on functional foods, gut health, and health claims really made me reconsider what I thought I already knew. The science of gut health, particularly, was a topic I had not given much thought to before. Learning about the microbiome and how it influences digestion and immunity really fascinated me. Especially the stuff on how yogurt has shown to help with type-2 diabetes, which my dad has. This section really made me realize that the foods we consume don’t just provide energy, but it actively interacts with our bodies in complex and important ways.
Another topic that caught my attention was food allergies, as it was another topic that I had some familiarity with. Even though I don’t have any food allergies tons of my family members and friends do. Because of this I had a pretty good understanding of allergies and how they worked. Even though I already had knowledge on this topic during the lectures I ended up learning a ton I didn’t know. Especially on how food allergens are regulated, how allergies are constantly tested, and how company’s make different ways for people to enjoy things they are allergic to. Like Peanut butter, Dairy products, and red meat for people who have alpha-gal syndrome.
Over the last few months, I have learned that food is not just something to eat and to define my personal experiences. It’s a building block that helps and causes tons of problems in the world every day. It’s also a combination of numerous different factors and has no language barriers. That’s what makes food so great. That’s what food means to me.