Food In Ancient Times Versus Food Now: WTF Happened?

Once upon a time, grape-sized peaches existed, corn was even smaller, bananas were oval-shaped not famously phallic and watermelons were only a bit bigger than a 50c piece – probably cost as much, too. So, what happened? 

A: science and humans. 

Which got us wondering about GM foods and food evolution at large. Like, where’s this all going? Everything seems to be getting bigger but are we breeding the nutrition out of our food? Is it all water weight? What do we mean when we say ‘organic‘? What’s next, #TBT ???

Food breeding is what happens when a carrot pokes a mandarin and a whole bunch of NSFW stuff happens leading to a cross of the two being produced. Not really, but kind of…

Croplife Australia CEO Matthew Cossey says farmers have been using plant science to breed “larger, tastier, higher yielding, more pest and stress resistant crops as far back as 10,000 years.” What began with us naturally selecting the biggest and healthiest crops to re-sow and grow more of the same, now encompasses a whole host of scientific techniques and technologies. We’ll spare you the lab chat, but essentially we can now select and transfer specific genes to breed new varieties of crops with desirable traits (a modern process referred as genetic modification) and ultimately speed up a process that used to take generations.

“This has allowed the human population to skyrocket as food supplies become less marginal,” says University of Sydney plant breeding faculty professor, Richard Trethowan.

One downside of food breeding has been that there’s now less genetic diversity of crops on farms. While this isn’t ideal, it’s not necessarily a bad thing either, because technically, the crops we’re cultivating are also more edible now. E.g. a wild apple that was nasty sour in the past and wouldn’t have been eaten is now a modern apple that’s juicy, crisp and tasty.

Asked directly if we’re breeding the nutrition out of our food, Professor Trethowan says “to some extent, yes.” He explains there’s been something of a tradeoff between quantity/market quality AND nutritional quality. “Higher yields of grains and plants tend to have more starch to protein ratio,” he says. But Cossey, of Croplife, advises that farmers do have the option and opportunity, with modern food breeding techniques, to increase the nutritional traits of their crops.

GM foods are controversial but ICYMI, they’ve already being consumed in over three trillion meals. According to the Genetic Literacy Project, over 3000 foods that we eat everyday have been “lab created”. And when we buy ‘organic’, what we’re really buying is something that may very well have been grown naturally, but is the modern incarnation of a plant or crop that’s been selectively bred over millennia. So, what we’re really saying is, you’re already eating it and the future happened.

Cossey adds: “GM crops are the most tested and scrutinised food source in human history [and..] there has not been a single report of any negative health impact related to the GM characteristic.”

One of the big things in plant science atm is finding ways to manage the increasing food demand for a projected world population of 9.6 billion by 2050. We’re growing, and so too will our food supplies. (Hopefully.) But both experts also agree that nowadays there’s a strong focus on increasing the nutritional value of our food.

Some of the fun new things currently in development include: potatoes and bananas with edible vaccines, soybean and canola with healthier oils, and allergen free nuts. Alhough, Professor Trethowan says it could be a hard sell to improve the nutritional status of food, because consumers ultimately buy based on appearance and price, and these factors may win out over premium-priced more nutritional GM foods.