COVID -19 leads to New Norms for Food Education

The silence these past few months worried me.  It wasn't so much the silence in my head, but the silence around me. Thankfully, many of us are now  in a better space.   The winds of change are finally rolling back the clouds of depression and repression that Covid-19 brought.

Staying at home might have felt like being in prison in the beginning, but did you notice changes in your eating habits?

Wanting to focus on the positives for this long overdue post, I caught up with two professionals sharing a common interest, the science of food. This post then isn't about the rules of social distance or the hard blows they had to put up with, but offers some positive insight as to what they gleaned from these three months of confinement.

I wasn't surprised that both olive oil expert Cecile Le Galliard from France and Lee Anne Mundy, an Australian dietitian, applauded the new consumer habit of resorting to short distribution channels for food supplies.

Olive oil expert Cécile Le Galliard judging extra virgin olive oil

The Trend for buying local

With the open-air markets in France closed, folks had to make an effort to find fresh vegetables and fruit. Supermarket shortages, restricted shopping, and confinement regulations forced them to stay at home and cook. 

Cécile, who lives in a rural area not far away from the Spanish border, noticed that more and more folks were purchasing food supplies from local producers.

"Rather than buying eggs, vegetables, and fruit from remote European countries, we should continue this positive trend of promoting local food economy, she said." 

Lee Anne Mundy, who lives in the north Tasmania, noticed the same trend.  She said that NW 

Tasmania is a key agricultural region for Tasmania but with  the COVID  epidemic  local and artisan producers were unable to get their produce to farmers markets, restaurants and other outlets.

Seasonal Eating a trend to cultivate

"One positive outcome of the COVID- 19 closures was the emergence of direct buying from the producer, thus cutting down on middlemen, food miles, and nurturing seasonal eating." Lee Anne observed.

Lee- Anne noted that during lockdown more Australians were making bread at home and, in particular, sourdough bread (pain de campagne). This is good news, a healthy trend when you think of commercial bread packed with preservatives.

 She said “ Not only does sourdough have great taste and longer shelf life but  it's also a healthy option, more comfortable to digest probably due to the prebiotic(useful bacteria promoters)  content.”

Diabetes sufferers, people with food intolerance and irritable bowel have another reason for opting for this type of bread.  It has a lower glycemic index, and the sourdough process breaks down some common culprits of bloating and digestive upset in people. 

Online education to improve olive oil knowledge

It wasn’t an easy time for Cecile Le Galliard. She couldn’t travel to judge olive oil competitions, she couldn’t meet with clients, and she couldn't have olive oil tasting sessions, one of her main occupations.

Luckily there was a solution – meeting the participants on line.

Teaming up with olive oil trainer and producer Alexandra Gauquelin Roche, the two trainers assembled ebox tasting kits containing 5 different kinds of oils as well as learning material such as a scoring sheets to assess the oils. These were sent out to participants who had already followed their basic olive oil tasting course.

  The follow up online classes to discuss their findings were a hit. Participants loved the sessions that allowed them to keep up and further their olive oil skills and knowledge with the experts.

 "The level two participants had time to study the samples at home with none of the pressure of a typical tasting session. The follow up online course allowed participants to comment, discuss, and learn more about the five different samples.”

Cécile, who spends a lot of time commuting for her work, explained:

“Online teaching has  new meaning, it has opened up my eyes on how much more we can achieve  - even olive oil  tasting."

To summarize:

1. On line, education is not only for children and young adults.  New solutions, connections and inspirations have huge potential with on line marketing

2. More of us are developing and cultivating healthy eating habits looking for the fresh and healthy.  Why not get into the habit of making healthy bread?

3. A shift in consumer interests shows that there are new ways of buying and consuming thus strengthening the role of the local farmer. 

Will these changes make a difference?  Only the future will tell.