Guest Author • Sep 03, 2019 •
Nathan S Consedine, University of Auckland In wealthy societies, we’ve become increasingly picky about what we eat. The “wrong” fruits and vegetables, the “wrong” animal parts, and the “wrong” animals inspire varying degrees of “yuck”. Our repugnance at fruit and vegetables that fail to meet unblemished ideals means up to half of all produce is thrown … Read More
Guest Author • Jun 19, 2019 •
Jessica C Lai, Victoria University of Wellington; Alana Harrison, Victoria University of Wellington; Hongzhi Gao, Victoria University of Wellington, and Samuel Becher, Victoria University of Wellington Unhealthy diets cause multiple physical and mental health problems. To help consumers make healthier choices, Australia and New Zealand introduced the voluntary Health Star Rating … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Aug 27, 2018 •
Food Evolution, the movie, is screening at Queenstown at the end of the month. If you’re in the area, check it out. It’s free: you just have to register at EventBrite. The screening and panel discussion is in the Clancy’s Meeting Room, Level 5, Rydges Lakeland Resort, from 7pm on Fri. 31 August. The film is narrated by well-known science communicator … Read More
Guest Author • Jul 27, 2018 •
Briardo Llorente, Macquarie University Preparations are already underway for missions that will land humans on Mars in a decade or so. But what would people eat if these missions eventually lead to the permanent colonisation of the red planet? Once (if) humans do make it to Mars, a major challenge for any colony will be to … Read More
Jean Balchin • Apr 24, 2018 •
I don’t know about you, but whenever I think of the United States and food, I imagine a heaped plate of chips, burgers and salad. Perhaps there’s a milkshake beside the plate too. I have a tremendous appetite, but even I know that I can’t eat everything. Huge plates of food leave behind huge piles of waste. US consumers … Read More
Public Health Expert • Mar 20, 2018 •
Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Cristina Cleghorn, Dr Linda Cobiac, Dr Anja Mizdrak, Prof Cliona Ni Mhurchu, Prof Tony Blakely In this blog we consider recent literature (particularly reviews) on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of dietary counselling as a health intervention. Most studies suggest that dietary counselling is effective though the benefits are typically modest and short-term. The literature on cost-effectiveness … Read More
Robert Hickson • Mar 19, 2018 •
There has been quite a lot of fascination with lab-grown meats, such as the “impossible burger” [Correction: whoops, the impossible burger is, of course, made from plants. Wired has a recent article on the lab-grown kinds]. There is still a long way to go with them to become economically and gustatorily … Read More
Guest Author • Mar 15, 2018 •
Ruben Meerman, UNSW and Andrew Brown, UNSW This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. The world is obsessed with fad diets and weight loss, yet few of us know how a kilogram of fat actually vanishes off the scales. Even the 150 doctors, dietitians and personal trainers we surveyed … Read More
Guest Author • Feb 22, 2018 •
Adam Bulley, The University of Queensland and Thomas Suddendorf, The University of Queensland This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Everyone knows smoking, consuming too much sugar and drinking too much alcohol will harm our long-term health – but many of us do these things anyway. Why? Of course, … Read More
Ken Perrott • Nov 30, 2017 •
I am deeply ashamed of it now – but at the time it seemed like an experience I couldn’t afford to miss. It was so exotic – and I was travelling. Twenty years ago I ate at a restaurant in Johannesburg, the Republic of South Africa, which specialised in meat dishes – from game animals. It was a real feast. Stews of … Read More