Narda Lepes "Little decisions and 20 minutes"
Eating is the only thing that brings us pleasure three times a day for the rest of our lives.
And the only reason why we, the ones who can, put our hands in our pokets three times to decide.
But when it comes to food there is too much confusion,
we are told again and again about what is healthy or not.
what we should eat and shouldn't eat.
Triglycerides, Omega 3-6-9, cholesterol, trans...
genetics, it's all mixed up and we don't really know the truth.
There's a contradiction, there's never been so much talk about healthy food and so many food-related problems.
Also, processed food consumption never stopped rising.
We can't see food just as fuel,
food is much more than that.
It's a cultural fact that defines who we are.
It's the closest relationship we can have.
We all eat, or at least we should, and those little choices on what we eat
have an impact on us, on our health, body, family, community. Such impact is bigger
than we think.
They make us. Literally. Bit by bit.
Feeding ourselves is a biological fact that can involve our tradition, which is inherited,
and above all the culture we live in and make up day by day.
Breaking bread, sharing a table create and strenghten bonds,
build relationships with others, your neighbors, your friends.
Flavors join us together and create a sense of belonging
with the land, the customs, the neighbors.
And they even create patriotism.
Not long ago, I had the idea to make on TV a dish called beijú and said I had tried it in Brazil.
The Paraguayan twitter community
wanted to choke me, claiming their authorship of the dish,
by calling it "mbeyu",
and cursing my entire family so to speak.
And what I tried to remind them very kindly,
is that first, cassava grows in a climate, not in a country,
and in many cases when we talk about food, we have to see the physical map not the political map.
In our case, in Argentina, we can see that in the asado we have every Sunday,
in the most delicious milanesas, the ones from grandma's,
the croissants we like best, the ice cream of our childhood...
The yummiest food is always from childhood, or at least this is what we think.
What reminds us of home, the familiar things.
This attracts us, makes us feel good.
It's impossible to refer to a people's culture without it's food.
I don't mean you need to eat asado to be Argentinean, but when coming from abroad the first thing you want is asado with friends.
Food comes from trees, joins us, we make fire, eat more protein, our heads grow,
we grow food, use tools, gather, exchange,
rapid fast-forward, industrialization gets to the kitchen, to the food.
Mass production begins, with uniformity and above all durability.
Today, although we are not aware, we eat what they give us.
We eat what we are told, we eat what the market dictates in terms of profitability and production.
The easiest to do and the cheapest.
The standard global offer gives us the illusion that we are choosing,
we believe that we have many options,
but in fact it is no like that.
We eat the same five ingredients in different ways.
For example, we go to a supermarket, we get to the yogurts section,
and we have 7 meters long of fridges on one side
and on the other, all with cereals, blueberries, Greek, liquid,
with this, with that, light, regular, to poop, to whatever...
A great variety, but in the end, all the choices are still yogurt, and it has 5 more fridges
that consist of dairy products around, and it´s all milk.
If we want to buy fresh or staple products in a supermarket we will have to go to the back or sides,
or on the corner so we have to walk through the aisles
and the things we have at the eye level, that are within reach
are the things that have the highest added value, the most profitable items and have more money for marketing
beacause this shelf costs a lot.
We should eat the things we have to bend down for.
Barley, lentils, all things that don't have added value, the ingredients, are not within reach, you have to bend for them.
We eat the same five ingredients, try to remember
how many times, or more than once, last week you ate
meat, flour, potato, cheese and tomato and add a carrot, lettuce, spinach, pumpkin,
but no more than that.
As milanesa, meatball, steak with purée, tomato salad with baked chicken,
baked chicken with potatoes, asado, ham and cheese quiche, ham and cheese sandwich,
pizza, we eat the same food, we are not aware of that.
Think about the ingredients, not the dishes.
We eat the same thing with different smell, the packaging changes but the content doesn't.
If we add culture to an ingredient, we have a dish,
if we add added value to an ingredient, we have a product.
We are eating products.
The market seeks for one flavor,
one that should feed the masses and be easy to make just because is more profitable.
That you go to a place and eat the same burger wherever you are.
That you go to a place and find the same french fries, the same cheese, the same yogurt, the same chocolate, the same drink, the same juice.
A flavor, a hybrid, neutral thing, a least common denominator.
They want us end up having the same, the same five ingredients.
The search for a flavor is just like that, a search and it intends cheating on us a little.
Home flavor is unique but a sole flavor doesn't mean you are home.
This sole flavor erodes who we are culturally.
It makes you a little bit more anonymous.
Marketing is fueled by this flaw in belonging, in memory,
and only encourages the consumption of the most profitable items, and it's ok, laws of the market, it's all right.
But before this talk, I searched once and again if there was a marketing tool to reduce consumption,
a theory or book, nothing, always about deviation and increase.
Keep on eating more of the same has a negative side reflected on the body, which shows the signs of this.
And we don't react until the doctor cusses us up and down, nobody changes their diet until the doctor says so.
And if they do, it's for a while, nobody changes how they eat.
The change is slow and cumulative changes are hardly noticeable for us.
It's difficult for us to see the impact of these little daily decisions on what we eat everyday.
With the body and food it's not the same as with other things.
If people watch reality shows, butts and soap operas and bloopers on TV the whole year,
and one day watch a couple of TED talks, then read a book during the summer...
it levels a little.
But if we eat the same all the time, and don't care, and keep on having what we are given,
the body shows the signs of this. There's no way back.
A month diet and some yoga classes don't move the needle.
We feel there is something in the air that is not Ok. There has never been so much talk on food, me here,
there has never been so many books and magazines. One of the top web searches is for recipes.
We know there's something missing.
Maybe we gave up something really basic or primitive like the relationship we have with fire.
Confusion generates opportunity, the market made the most of that opportunity, it's time we that claim it back..
So what we do: in the three meals one half of your dish has to be vegetable and fresh. One half.
50% of your dish, in volume or weight, as you like it, to start.
We have to eat according to the season. The impact of having to adapt to the natural cycles on you, your environment and community,
is huge, just eating according to the season.
Do not eat tomato when it's cold. Do not eat the idea of tomato, just eat tomato because it is nice, juicy and sweet.
Not because it is there and lasts.
If we get into this cycle, no doubt we will get variety,
we have to vary what we eat, grains, cereals,
stone fruits, leaves, cruciferous, different types of meat, some dairy products.
Seeds, roots, tubers, seafood, fish, legumes.
We need to look for more vegetable protein. It doesn't make you fart more than a hamburger.
It's true, scientific, many scientists here can tell you that. We have to eat more legumes, no more farts than a burger.
We are the country that eat the lowest amount of legumes, in Latin America the one that eats almost the lowest.
Cook more, turn off the TV for a while. The oven is not a tray storage, take the things out of it, use it.
It's a silly thing but it changes your life.
Cooking was vital for survival and it still is,
for individuals, you can't believe you are independent if you don't cook somehow.
To foster identity and sense of belonging cook for yourself, your family, friends, neighbors, encourage them to cook,
and let your children see you cooking.
The most important thing is what you eat everyday, not every now and then, not a pumpkin purée you have one day.
The most important thing is what you eat everyday.
Let's start our menu in terms of the side dish,
don't think "steak with..." anymore because you will fall into those five ingredients.
Start with "today asparagus with..." and you will fall into one of those five items, steak, potato, salad, rice, you will.
The most important thing is what we eat everyday. If you open a box, pot, package everyday,
read the ingredients, not the nutrition facts because those are useful when you already have a problem.
Read the ingredients, on the lidding, it has a blurred, tiny print that you can't read, you have to turn it,
and it's on purpose, they don't care if we read the ingredients, they have to show that but they don't care,
for example, a cookies package should have between 5 and 10 ingredients. If it has 25 and we can't pronounce 14,
google them. We google to see if Tinelli is going to have a kid but we don't google what we eat.
You don't have to worry about what you eat, you have to mind about it.
Now the "Don'ts".
Do not eat hydrogenated fats, no, straight. There are few things I am going to say "don't". Don't eat hydrogenated fat,
this is friking legal.
High fructose corn syrup is the cheap thing for sugar, which is not that good in fact.
Basic rule: if it is very fatty, salty and sweet, have it done by a human not by a machine, have it homemade.
If you eat on the dark side of the force, may that be done by a person.
(Applause)
We have to change the relationship we have with food, from scratch.
We can't keep on demanding more and returning less.
We were told a big lie. They made us think we don't have time. 20 minutes a day,
20 minutes off from screens, telephone, computer, tablets, TV, Instagram, Facebook,
watching stupid things, a kitty playing the piano.
Whatever, 20 minutes, with this time one day you buy, the other produce, cook a lot, and you will have ...
you start a chain, a working system, a wheel, the fridge in motion.
We have the supply we deserve. Let's change the demand and the market will respond. It's a basic rule,
we all know that. If the demand changes, the market obeys.
The sum of all our little daily choices have a great power,
let's use it.
When it comes to food, my buy is worth more than my vote.
Eating is the only reason why we, the ones who can, put our hands in our pockets everyday.
We still have time, let's decide.
(Applause)