The reality is that a lot of modern folk knowledge around nutrition carries a legacy of the essentialism characteristic of 20th century science because that's both when "food science" was born and when advertising and consumerism changed everything about kitchens and dining tables.
Scientists during that period naively distilled hugely complex food traditions and foodstuffs to a conveniently quantifiable, finite list of essential "nutrients". Meanwhile, product designers began to call themselves food scientists and formulated consumer products that could be honestly said to deliver these nutrients and their marketing teams took that vision straight to the bank. Science figured out what all you really needed, and Nestle (et al) had product that gave it to you with the most convenience and flavor.
That sweeping and extensive cultural reprogramming, which came at the expense traditional food practices and the generational transfer of them, doesn't just shake off again because a few research studies suggest that gut biomes matter, or that whole foods matter, etc
It took 2-3 generations for it to normalize processed food and it'll likely take at least 2-3 generations to meaningfully recover. Hundreds of millions of households now exist without someone who even knows how to cook being a part of them. Trying to convince those households to give up on cans and boxes of convenient, tasty mush in favor of food that they have to actually handle and prepare is a big big task.
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The reality is that a lot of modern folk knowledge around nutrition carries a legacy of the essentialism characteristic of 20th century science because that's both when "food science" was born and when advertising and consumerism changed everything about kitchens and dining tables.
Scientists during that period naively distilled hugely complex food traditions and foodstuffs to a conveniently quantifiable, finite list of essential "nutrients". Meanwhile, product designers began to call themselves food scientists and formulated consumer products that could be honestly said to deliver these nutrients and their marketing teams took that vision straight to the bank. Science figured out what all you really needed, and Nestle (et al) had product that gave it to you with the most convenience and flavor.
That sweeping and extensive cultural reprogramming, which came at the expense traditional food practices and the generational transfer of them, doesn't just shake off again because a few research studies suggest that gut biomes matter, or that whole foods matter, etc
It took 2-3 generations for it to normalize processed food and it'll likely take at least 2-3 generations to meaningfully recover. Hundreds of millions of households now exist without someone who even knows how to cook being a part of them. Trying to convince those households to give up on cans and boxes of convenient, tasty mush in favor of food that they have to actually handle and prepare is a big big task.