Posted 15 Aug 2010
Raw food recipes from the best recipe books call for using food products that have not been treated with chemicals, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, preservatives, or extensive processing.
Most food products found in grocery stores are highly processed, artificially treated, laboratory tested and come with clever marketing. Selling those unprocessed foods in their natural state sounds pretty evil right? That's why there are lots of laws against selling food in its natural state.
Of course advocates of raw food claim that they would prefer to consciously risk the potential hazards of raw food recipes rather than consume their processed counterparts. Citing massive food contamination, and reduced nutritional values, among many other things, raw foodies prefer their more labor intensive, organic and natural products. Mass consumption of Twinkies, Coca Cola and McDonalds just isn't for everybody.
Fortunately, there are modern day Elliot Nesses there to shut down illegal milk bootleggers selling milk right from the cow or tomatoes right from the garden. From raids in Venice California, to shutting down pot luck dinners in Wyoming, pretty soon aunt Sally will get fined for taking her nieces and nephews to the farm and giving them some fresh milk from her own cows and apple pie from her own orchard. We can't have her doing that, now can we?
It is mostly the oddly powerful milk lobby and other similar interests who are influencing officials to leverage assets in the fight against food in its natural state. So what can you do to help keep the stores where you shop for your raw food recipes from falling victim to the big milk industries of the world? You can learn a bit from the music industry.
The music industry and the food industry can't stop the production of high quality, natural, and satisfying products. Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and tons of other bands in other genres are processed, artificial, laboratory tested, highly marketed and mass consumed music that has been stripped of most of its nutritional value. A few people will simply not want to consume that kind of product.
Some fringe elements will want music produced by labor intensive talent, organic followings and natural expression, even if the product is more rough, less polished, not easily mass consumed and maybe even more dangerous than their well oiled counterparts. Unfortunately, there is no one to save us from Andy McKee or Eric Johnson.
The ideas are spread over Youtube and other platforms on the internet. Eventually, just about everyone who likes Andy McKee will know that he exists. And their Lady Gaga diet will be partially replaced by an arguably healthier and more satisfying product. Raw food recipes will spread.
The real problem is not the spread of the idea, but access to unprocessed food without harassment by the power elite. The spread of unprocessed food products, like the spread of music products, can be facilitated by peer to peer networks like Napster and other encrypted networks.
I do not advocate breaking any law in the process. Music and other files that are subject to copyright and other intellectual property should never be illegally shared over peer to peer networks. Unprocessed food providers need to comply with the various regulations and laws applicable to them. But these regulatory laws are being passed and enforced largely because the bigger fish see the problem, can identify the source, and can physically intervene in the situation.
What if these raw food distributors maintained an encrypted network to combat being seen, identified and preventing physical intervention. Napster, Tor, and Freenet are examples of the technology that raw food fans can utilize to continue to prepare their favorite raw food recipes.
Unprocessed food providers and customers can legally arrange for private sales at private locations unseen by competitors, unidentified, and at any location they choose. They do not need a storefront sign. Ronald McDonald and the friends will have a very difficult time figuring out which new regulatory requirements to impose.
Plus their cost to enforce would go through the roof. The costs can be increased by using cash instead of credit cards to avoid having the transaction be recorded in transactional databases.
Conclusion
Food, like music, can be highly processed, formulated, cleverly marketed, and mass consumed even when the product is unwholesome, unnatural and void of nutrients. Quality products require time, energy and can be highly nutritious, even though their shelf life might be short.
The same phenomenon affecting the music industry can help you get the products in your raw food recipes by using the same techniques. Tools like encrypted calls, and other encryption technologies should become common place. And remember the next time your aunt Sally tries to make you drink milk right from the cow, you cuff her and take her in to jail because there are laws against that you know.
