This post is just a train of thoughts that go in many directions, but may also trigger you to think or extend these ideas. However, I would like to start with canned food. As we know from the lecture, it was first used in replacement of glass jars for the rations of Napoleon’s Army in 1810 but has come a long way since then.
The fact that canned food can last from 1-5 years leads us to the knowledge that in a time of chaos, be it a natural disaster or global pandemic, it is recommended to be included in one’s survival pack. And if you were to look in your cupboard, I would assume that you would have cans for if not these reasons, the obvious of convenience. Continuing the military trend of durability and freshness from the 19th century to today; you now have the option of buying anything canned from meat and veggies to fruit and soup. Whichwhat companies like Watties did after WWII.
The idea that you could live off canned food (and still be provided with nutrition) leads me to wonder what the effects BPA would look like in one’s lifetime. With easy access and minimum effort of preparation, does this benefit the everyday person in the long run? Being civilised and complacent may not be useful to us if tomorrow we became soldiers. With takeaways out, uber eats and GMO production we consume, what elite new technology would the sciences of military have to invent for us in the next era of war?
I’m assuming because of Covid19 they must be having to produce more low cost, low spillage, long lasting content to make up for these chains and their consumers being put on hold. How many more cans than usual is being put on the shelves and towards the damaging of the earth. Although cans may be recycled, it still takes 50 years for just one can to decompose and that’s not including the lifetime of cans made in bulk every minute everyday of the year. Truth is rubbish is going to last longer on earth than us because we treat the earth like rubbish.
Now we have to learn how to cook and be wholesome. (unless your living off microwave meals- which you shouldn’t live too long) If fresh produce was no longer available and we had to go with what we had, would the value of canned food increase ? would it be the equivalent cost to a 5 star meal. In this perception of the world ‘ending’ the sad part is you couldn’t even rob a factory for its source because as we saw in the lecture slides, it’s a chain of construction for one simple thing we take for granted. FOOD. Therefore I suggest that the supermarkets should sell more cooking books because you can eat paper, learn from the paper, reuse paper, it decomposes and surely they should sell a Bear Grylls survival book.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/canned-food-good-or-bad#nutritional-content
https://www.watties.co.nz/History
https://www.down2earthmaterials.ie/2013/02/14/decompose/
