Great biodiversity is the key to great taste and great nutrition
Tom and I love nature and wildlife. We also love great food. These are not opposites, in fact they are synergistic. Great food requires great ingredients rich in taste and nutrition, which we can only have with great biodiversity.
In our quest to eat a healthy, tasty, and sustainable diet, we realized that biodiversity is the core idea that connects these three qualities. This key insight underlies how we changed our approach to food and our choice of ingredients in Fivemile Hill cuisine.
The connection between human health, the gut microbiome, and planet biodiversity
Biodiversity is not only out there, but also within us. Restoring biodiversity starts by restoring the biodiversity of our gut microbiome, which requires restoring the biodiversity out there.
Biodiversity matters not only for planet health, but also our own human health. There is a fascinating connection between our health, the foods we eat, how they are grown, and overall planet health.
Recent medical research has uncovered that many, many good microbes live in our gut, especially our large intestine and colon, and play an important role in our physical and mental health. What we eat feeds our microbiome and can increase (or decrease) its biodiversity. A healthy well-fed microbiome has a high number and variety of good bacteria. Notably, nutrients from a variety of plants, fiber, and fermented foods are beneficial to the microbiome, whereas highly processed foods are detrimental.
Overall, the biodiversity of the human microbiome has significantly declined in the past 75 years with the explosion of industrial agriculture, processed foods, and a massive shift to urban lifestyle with an unhealthy diet, leading to polluted air, soil, water, as well as overuse of antibiotics. The decline in microbiome biodiversity leads to poor gut health which is now strongly suspected to be a major driver of the rise in metabolic, auto-immune, and brain diseases.
The decline of the human microbiome biodiversity has mirrored the drastic decline in overall species biodiversity on the planet in the past 75 years. The decline of biodiversity and degradation of natural ecosystems everywhere has led to a decline in the nutritional and taste quality of most human foods. It turns out that we are indeed connected with all living things on Earth in a much deeper and more direct way then previously thought.
These findings come from rigorous scientific peer-reviewed studies conducted by highly respected researchers at major research institutions in the United States and other countries. To learn more about the microbiome, I recommend these two books by Dr. Emeran Mayer (UCLA): The Mind-Gut Connection and The Gut-Immune Connection.
Therefore, in order to restore our microbiome biodiversity and health, we need to restore the biodiversity and environmental health of our planet. We need to embrace plant foods. We need to move away from industrial agriculture and fishing in order to restore the soils and natural ecosystems, as well as the biodiversity of species that depend on them.
Key takeaways
- To be in good health, we need to eat a variety of foods, especially plant foods.
- The most nutritious and healthy foods come from plants and animals growing in healthy farm or wild ecosystems with rich biodiversity.
Taste and nutrition are two sides of the same coin
The taste and nutrition of the food we eat comes from the taste and nutrition of its ingredients.
Quality ingredients have high nutritional value and great taste. The nutritional value of an ingredient is defined by the amount and variety of nutrients and healthy compounds that it delivers when we eat it (fiber, vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, polyphenols, etc). A highly nutritious ingredient has lots of different nutrients and healthy compounds (and little or no unhealthy compounds such as saturated fats). Taste comes from compounds that give flavor to the ingredient. Taste-full ingredients offer deep flavors when we eat them and are the opposite of taste-less ingredients which are bland or have no flavor.
Recent scientific research has discovered a significant overlap between the compounds providing taste and those providing nutrition. In other words, the compounds providing nutrition and those providing taste are the same in many cases. For example, the polyphenols contained in extra-virgin olive oil (considered high-quality olive oil) are a major source of its health benefits and also the source of the peppery and pungent notes characteristic of great olive-oil taste. This means that we can taste great nutrition. Great nutrition and great taste are one and the same (not opposites).
The nutritional and taste quality of the foods we eat, from plants or animals, depends on the foods they eat and the environment in which they grow.
Key takeaway
The foods that provide the best nutrition also provide the best taste.
Growing tasty and nutritious plants requires biodiversity
The nutritional and taste quality of plant foods we eat (vegetables, fruits, grains) depends on their varietals and how they are grown.
The most nutritious and tastiest plants grow in a healthy soil with a richly diverse soil microbiome (micro-organisms such as bacteria and fungi). Plants get the nutrients they need from the soil and its microbiome, and in turn transfer these nutrients to us when we eat the plants. To grow well, plants need to be surrounded by other species (other plants, pollinators, predators) who help with pollination, protection from pests, soil regeneration, and ecosystem balance.
Unfortunately, this is not the conventional way of growing the plants we eat. For the past 75 years, the industrialization of agriculture (which means large-scale farms) has focused on maximizing short-term yield (producing more on each unit of space) and achieving economies of scale (producing more and cheaper).
Industrial agriculture has embraced large mono-cultures (only one species in large spaces) because they are easier to harvest by machines and require less labor. However, large mono-cultures have led to significant biodiversity loss, damaged soil, and the proliferation of pests. In turn, this has led to the extensive use of chemical pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and fertilizers to maintain agricultural yields. However, these chemicals damage the soil and biodiversity further, creating a negative feedback loop and eventually a death spiral. Grains, fruits, and vegetables grown in depleted soils using chemicals have little nutrients and taste, and may contain harmful contaminants. The desirable alternative to industrial agriculture is organic (no chemicals used) and regenerative agriculture (using practices to help the soil recover, such as rotating crops).
In addition, industrial agriculture has replaced most traditional varietals of common grains (wheat, rice, corn), fruits, and vegetables with hybrid varietals engineered for high yield and fast growth, not taste and nutrition. These high-yield varietals, now used across the world, are universally less nutritious (think empty calories) and poorer in taste (think watery strawberries). The desirable alternative is to grow and eat more heirloom varietals (such as heirloom wheat, heirloom tomatoes) which were bred for taste and nutrition over millennia. They are more nutritious, tastier, and are better for the soil (for example, heirloom wheat has longer roots than modern high-yield varietals which helps retain water in the soil).
Key takeaways
- Tasty and nutritious plants require a healthy soil with rich biodiversity of micro-organisms and a healthy surrounding ecosystem with rich biodiversity of species (pollinators, natural predators of pests, etc).
- Tasty and nutritious plant foods are grown using agricultural practices (organic, regenerative) that do not destroy or pollute the environment, restore soils, and help biodiversity thrive.
- Embracing plant foods means supporting pollinators. Without pollinators, most plants cannot grow.
- The best plant foods comes from (heirloom) varietals selected for taste and nutrition (not high yield).
Raising tasty and nutritious animals requires biodiversity
The nutritional and taste quality of animal foods we eat (dairy, chicken, pork, red meat, etc) depends on what the animals eat, how they live, and their breed.
The most nutritious and tastiest meat and dairy come from healthy animals who are raised on pastures and only eat their natural foods. Just like humans, animals need to move and be outside for good health. They need to eat quality foods adapted to their digestive system. For example, cows should graze a variety of grasses on pastures. Chicken should peck a medley of insects on pastures and eat grains. This is only possible when the pastures are healthy, rich in biodiversity (full of micro-organisms, plants, insects, etc), and not overgrazed. In addition, healthy animals need to live in good conditions, be treated ethically without stress, and grow up at a natural pace without hormones and antibiotics.
However, this is not the conventional way of raising the animals we eat. Similar to plant foods, for the past 75 years, industrial agriculture, with its goals of maximizing yields and economies of scale, has embraced large dense feedlots. Animals are crammed in confined spaces where they can barely move, which makes them prone to diseases. They are overfed with unnatural feed that is cheaper and makes them grow faster and fatter. The food that animals eat has an impact on the nutritional content of their meat. A cow cannot digest grains (corn, soy) properly because its digestive system is made for grass. Studies have shown that grass-fed beef and bison have less (bad) saturated fats and more (good) unsaturated fats, compared to grain-fed animals (see this research paper).
In addition, industrial animals are given antibiotics or hormones to speed their growth and let them tolerate unsanitary living conditions. In addition to the ethical problems of this approach, recent studies have shown that antibiotic and hormone residues in meat have a negative effect on the health of our human gut microbiome.
Furthermore, similar to plants, since World War II industrial agriculture has replaced the wide diversity of traditional animal breeds with a few breeds engineered for fast growth and docility. Think of an overfed animal in a cage that never moves, with a lot of fat and little muscles. The resulting meat will be bland, poor in nutrients, and rich in unhealthy compounds such as saturated fats. The desirable alternative is to raise and eat more heirloom breeds which grow more slowly, but have a lot more taste and nutritional value. A great example is heirloom slow-growth chicken.
Key takeaways
- Tasty and nutritious meats and dairy come from healthy animals.
- To be healthy, animals need to eat quality foods from their natural diet.
- Healthy animals need to move and feed outdoors in healthy pastures. Healthy pastures require a healthy soil and ecosystem rich in biodiversity.
- Healthy animals need to have good living conditions, be treated ethically, and grow up naturally (without hormones and antibiotics).
- Heirloom animal breeds, which grow slower and don't get as fat as conventional breeds, result in tastier and more nutritious meats and dairy.
Tasty and nutritious seafood requires biodiversity
Tasty and nutritious fish and other seafood exist in the wild, in the oceans and rivers. The problem is that they are disappearing because of human activity and consumption.
Industrial fishing, with its factory ships enabling over-fishing to maximize catch, has led to the depletion of fish stocks, the destruction of marine ecosystems, the decline of marine species due to bycatch, all of which result in biodiversity loss and degraded oceans. If there is no more fish, we won't be able to get the nutrients and great taste we get from eating fish and seafood.
While aquaculture provides an alternative to wild seafood, unsustainable aquaculture farms pollute the oceans and spread diseases, which both result in biodiversity loss and degraded ocean and coastal environments.
The only solution is sustainable seafood, which means wild or farmed seafood that is caught or grown with minimal harm to the environment in order to preserve the health, habitats, and biodiversity of the oceans.
Key takeaway
Sustainable fishing and aquaculture is the only way to have fish and other seafood today and in the future.
Eating a diversity of natural foods supports biodiversity
We have used the insights presented in this chapter as a starting point to design our Fivemile Hill cuisine. They can be summarized in the following simple framework.
Great biodiversity in farm and wild ecosystems produces great food ingredients. Great ingredients have both great taste and great nutrition. Great taste comes from great nutrition.
The quality of the foods we eat affect the biodiversity of our gut microbiome and our overall health. Our gut microbiome needs a wide variety of plant foods to be healthy. Eating a (bio)diversity of natural foods, especially plant foods, enhances the overall nutrition and taste of what we eat.
To feed our microbiome better, we started a journey to eat more and different plants, leading us to discover an astonishing variety of vegetables, whole grains, legumes (such as beans and lentils), nuts, seeds, and fruits. We found many natural colorful ingredients with a wide range of interesting tastes, textures, and fragrances. We learned that vegetables and fruits in season are the freshest and taste the best. We have become very careful to choose plants from heirloom varietals grown in a regenerative and organic way, as much as possible.
Discovering the rainbow of colors in plants also made us realize how unnecessary artificial food colorings are, given the wide range of vibrant colors that already exist in natural foods. Why would you ingest potentially harmful chemicals when every color you want exists naturally in a plant that you can eat?
We also significantly reduced our red meat consumption and focused more on fish and chicken, in addition to plants. We embarked on a journey to understand better the essence of chicken and various seafood, as well as the best ways to cook them. We combed through the culinary traditions we know to find the gem recipes and also created our own. We have become careful to choose heirloom pasture-raised chicken and sustainable seafood.
Growing up in Indonesia and Réunion Island, I ate chicken very often, cooked in different ways with all sorts of spices and herbs. However, I knew nothing about fish until I tasted an unforgettable seared tuna at a 3-star Michelin restaurant in Paris in the 1990s and discovered Japanese sashimi.
We have not given up beef, but only enjoy it for special occasions. In Texas, where game meats are more common, we discovered bison and found it delicious. We learned that it has less fat and is healthier than conventional beef. For these reasons, and given its cultural significance in the United States, we choose bison whenever possible. In all cases, we are careful to choose pasture-raised and grass-fed bison or beef.