have you noticed how people introduce
themselves nowadays if you go to a party
or someone new arrives at work you walk
into a room and say something like hi
I’m Astor really into snowboarding and
vegan or hello I’m Carolyn I’m from
Singapore I’m a graphic designer and I’m
paleo this is my girlfriend Judy she’s a
free diver and she’s pescetarian already
you are making judgments about these
people based on what they eat just like
we wear name badges a conference like
this our food choices our label we use
to show people who we are so today I
want to ask how should we eat how should
we introduce ourselves to the rest of
the world I’m really interested in food
and the impact I have on the planet so I
know what we shouldn’t eat we probably
shouldn’t eat too much meat I’m sure
those of you who watch a lot of TED
talks on the environment have seen this
slide before it shows that the
proportion of the world’s global
emissions from livestock that’s the
energy used to raise a cow as well as
the methane that comes out the front
back ends makes up more than all the
world’s transport put together as an
environmental writer this concerns me a
great deal if I want to save the planet
and I do
I should be vegetarian right it’s a
no-brainer
but I’m also a farmer’s daughter and I
see a lot of people I love raising
livestock with care for the environment
and for the welfare of those
I’ve also seen examples where animals
would be controlled like Red Deer to
allow the regeneration of the forest I’m
happy eating what I consider to be
ethical meat like that so I decided I
only want to eat meat like that and the
best way to make sure is to only eat
animals I’d kill myself I’ll give you a
minute to take that in the pretty
radical move I did it for two years and
I learned a lot I learned what it’s like
to shoot and skin and gut and eat a
rabbit and I learned what it’s like to
sit in a wood crying because you’ve
caused the death of an animal and to
take responsibility for the meat we eat
the biggest animal are killed with a
stag with my father and I learned a lot
about myself about my relationship with
nature and about my dad too
I also visited farms around the country
in Europe to see how we raise animals
and I visited abattoirs to see how we
slaughter analyst and there’s no nice
way to describe that but that’s the
reality of where our meat comes from and
I felt people ought to know at the end
of all all I wrote a book called the
ethical carnivore and my conclusion was
we should all be eating less and better
meat I think it struck a chord it did
quite well people do want to know where
their meat is from and then this strange
things started to happen people started
coming up to me and saying please
how should I eat and I’m like I don’t
know I’m just happy I’m a journalist a
nutritionist I’m gonna share I’m not
even a particularly good cook and some
dishes but you know and I realized
they’re frightened
they’re scared it’s a scary world food
is the only thing you can control so I
thought maybe I can’t think of some
labels things like weekday vegetarian
displays itself with G cetera you’re
reducing your meat or flexitarian as she
packs of heard of but I just don’t feel
comfortable with labels how many
students you know who don’t get up
before 11 a.m.
okay quite a few but it can’t be all of
them because some of you are here today
we rarely conform to labels in real life
so why should we in how we eat I start
to think about the real reasons we eat
what we do and in the digital world it’s
often your phone how many times have you
been in the supermarket and seen someone
looking at their phone and buying
asparagus or something recommended by a
celebrity chef rather than what’s in
season or reading the feed of a footman
fitness guru even though they’re not a
qualified nutritionist or how many times
have you been in the restaurant and
seeing people choosing a dish because it
photographs well increasingly with
choosing our food relying on the
appendages in our pockets it here’s the
thing Instagram can tell you what looks
good but it can’t tell you what tastes
good
Twitter can tell you what’s fashionable
but it can’t tell you what’s nutritious
MyFitnessPal can tell you how many
calories are in fish but it can’t tell
yet increasingly that’s what we use and
again I can understand that dudes like a
new religion where do we go on Sunday
and go to the farmers market or a
restaurant we’re constantly looking
around us to see what other people are
eating what’s the most common post on
Instagram food and the most common photo
you’ve got it
Ricardo on toast I’ve done it myself and
I can see why people do that a lot of
young people today aren’t gonna be able
to afford their own homes the struggle
to pay off their student loans dudes the
one thing you can afford to show off
about lots of new trends of emerged
things like clean eating plant pests
vegan vegan before six in high carb low
carb I could go on all day and that’s
fine if it suits you if you do a little
bit of research and make sure you’re
getting the right nutrients but it is
difficult for some people the nhf have
reported a rise in anorexia in the
under-19s the Royal College of
Psychiatrists acknowledged a link
between viewing a lot of media and the
risk of eating disorders so here I am in
a position where people are asking me
how should I eat and I’m thinking it’s
not just lay that labels a restrictive
it might be dangerous so I thought I’m
gonna be something radical again I’m
gonna tell the truth about what I eat
and I thought about my own food history
I thought about being a child and 80s
and eating butterscotch mousse into the
lights and fingers kiss me pancakes all
those comfort foods I thought about
sharing a room with a girl and her
eating cheese learning crystals in bed
and hating them ever since I thought
about being a teenager and hating my
body yo-yo dieting into my twenties I
thought about recovering from that and
learning to love my body I thought about
being at university and eating nothing
but hummus on toast three years
and I thought about being a journalist
and saving money on food so I could buy
out and spend it on booze and I thought
about becoming going to Africa for the
first time and trying mangos when I was
19 I thought about falling in love for
the first time and a breakfast of fresh
walnuts and bacon and I thought about
becoming a food writer and thinking I
have to be perfect I have to eat clean
and our hungry in an adequate that made
me feel back like a thought as a
teenager and I thought about discovering
food writers who really spoke to me like
MFK Fisher and B Wilson in deciding to
embrace hunger and see food is a way to
evoke memories and make friends
I thought about cooking shortbread for
my fellow Tedder’s this morning and have
how that would make my grandmother it’s
her recipe all these food experiences
have made me who I am I don’t want to be
restricted by a label I want to use food
to express myself to explore my
environment to nurture my body to
comfort those I love and yes to try and
make the world a better place
so I don’t have a problem with vegan or
organic as I say in the ethical
carnivore if you want to reduce your
carbon footprint one of the easiest
things you can do is cut down on animal
products but I do have a problem with
defining your lifestyle your character
your very soul by what you eat you are
more than what you eat according to
research the University of Belfast taste
starts in the wound babies are more
likely to respond positively to do their
mother fate when they’re pregnant she
was pregnant it’s also about physiology
there’s some amazing research going on
it may
at the University of University College
London into the gut microbiome and how
we all have individual gut microbiomes
so if there are any identical twins in
the audience you might look the same on
the outside but on the inside you’re
different
you crave different foods in the same
way we live in different environments I
would suggest if you live somewhere
where they can only grow grass you as
well eating grass fed beef is important
plant protein will abort but if you live
in Central LA you might have I eat
amazing vegan food so I don’t know a
label that suits everyone even if I
wanted to and I don’t because I think
you should work it out for yourself
you don’t need a label you need
knowledge that’s what I tried to do in
the ethical carnival I visited chicken
farms in Devon and pig farms in Denmark
so people have all the information but I
feel fundamentally uncomfortable in
telling people how to eat I feel they
should make the choice in themselves
with the right information people say
that it’s a bit woolly we can’t make a
difference unless we unite under one
label but something is only powerful if
it’s true if you decide to make a change
because you saw it on Twitter it’s not
gonna last but if you decide to eat
free-range chicken because like me
you’ve seen the difference between a
barn red chicken and free-range and it’s
going to last a lifetime
it also need to have need to understand
labels so you need to do a little bit of
research you need to decide the labels
you trust like Marine Stewardship
Council or Soil Association I know it’s
a bit of work is much easier to tap a
button on your phone than to do all that
research but you can look at things like
compassion in world farming website
which shows you what each label means
food is complex and it’s also incredibly
exciting to speak to farmers and
and find out where your food is from
believe me I’ve just spent two years
investigating where meat comes from I’m
currently looking into our fruit and veg
it’s fascinating stuff so being honest
about your personal tastes educating
yourself and understanding your body is
so much more powerful than a label I
cannot tell you how to eat a book cannot
tell you how to eat a label cannot tell
you how to eat your phone cannot tell
you how to eat tell your own food story
because stories are powerful and they’re
beautiful and they’re complex they’re
full of joy and pain and lots and lots
of mistakes stories how we work things out and they are always unique