There are some foods that have been around for centuries or even thousands of years – and then there are other foods that enter our society’s psyche in a flash and leave just as quickly. What makes some foods – bone broth included – stand the test of time? And what makes other foods evaporate into thin air only after a few months or years?
Why favor time-tested foods?
The question is an important one when considering how to eat healthier. Especially in the United States, we’re constantly being pulled in every direction. One day eggs are something to avoid and the next they’re being reclaimed as a health food. One day we’re being told to eat more soy and the next day we’re being told it contains anti-nutrients. To go back to basics, you try to eat a balanced diet but then a green powder comes along and tells you it will cover all your nutritional bases so there’s no need to worry about the rest. If your goal is to stay healthy as long as possible, this contradictory information can be overwhelming. For this reason, it’s understandable that our society has a food problem.
Thankfully there are some easy ways to tell if the next buzzy food is worth eating – or not.
Foods that Stand the Test of Time
What do bone broth, fermented foods, quinoa, and matcha tea have in common? They all rose in popularity relatively quickly, sparking some debate about whether they were a fad. Sure, most of these foods didn’t maintain the spike in popularity they garnered when reintroduced, but they have earned a lasting home in our fridges and pantries for a reason. How do you know if a suddenly popular food is worth the hype? These are the signs to look for:
Naturally Delicious
By this we mean foods that taste good on their own (e.g. an apple) or minimally processed foods such as bone broth. They’re easy to pick right from the garden or cook in your kitchen. There’s no need for artificial flavorings or food dyes to make them appealing. Nature has been nourishing humans since we became a species and we believe that it knows best!
The Right Balance of Nutrients and Calories
Before calories became cheap and plentiful thanks to agriculture, humans would gorge themselves on high-fat and high-sugar foods whenever they were available. Today it would be very easy to eat an entire week’s worth of calories in one sitting, but of course most of us know better than to do that!
On the flip side, it is possible to eat too much of a given nutrient. Typically you wouldn’t run into this problem with foods found in nature, but it can be a problem with fortified foods and supplements.
In order to stay as healthy as possible for as long as possible, it’s important to balance carbohydrates, fat, and protein while getting the necessary micronutrients and amino acids. Brodo has 10g of protein per 1-cup serving, zero fat, and minimal carbs. It’s also packed with amino acids that are difficult to source from other foods.
Homemade
If you ask someone their favorite food, chances are they’ll say it was something their family made when they were growing up. That’s because foods that are prepared with love taste the best, of course.
We make Brodo just like grandmas have been doing for thousands of years – by roasting meaty bones and vegetables, and the only flavorings we add are natural herbs and spices. It is our mission to provide people with nutrient-dense and delicious food because we truly care about the health and wellbeing of our customers.
For giant food corporations, the mission is the bottom line. That’s why giant corporations can’t compare nutritionally or flavor-wise to homemade foods.
Whole Foods
It all comes back to minimal processing. Sometimes ultra-processed foods will make their ingredients sound homey and “natural” by saying where it came from. Take the example of pea protein. There isn’t anything wrong with the protein in peas, right? The truth is that eating peas and getting some protein from them is all fine and good. But extracting protein from peas requires ultra-processing, oftentimes with solvents such as lye and potassium hydroxide.
We only use whole foods when we make Brodo because bone broth is delicious and nutritious without adding extracted nutrients.
Foods that Earned a Place in History
Michael Pollan popularized the question “what did your grandparents eat?” as a way to determine whether a food is healthy and it’s a great indicator. Diets remained relatively unchanged over the generations – and the cultures that ate a healthy diet survived.
Fad Foods
What do fake meat, margarine, diet soda, and oat milk have in common? Besides rising in popularity relatively quickly, they also received lots of backlash once the nutritional research came in. Sadly many of these foods remain on our grocery store shelves, but thankfully people are wising up to these fad foods in droves. So how do you know if the next trendy food is worth avoiding? Look for these signs:
Loaded with Sugar, Cheap Starches, and/or Chemicals
Humans evolved to prefer nutrient and calorie-dense foods.. Unfortunately we haven’t evolved a signal that tells us we’ve had too many calories – just when our stomach is physically stuffed. Mass-produced protein bars and drinks taste horrible so they’re loaded with sugar, aspartame, and/or other chemicals that pump our bodies with calories. The worst part? They leave you feeling hungry and reaching for more.
Ultra-Processed
If a food has a huge ingredient list that’s difficult to pronounce, that’s a surefire way to tell that it’s ultra-processed. Usually these ingredients increase shelf life, keep foods emulsified, give them vibrant color, or enhance the flavor.
Some “bone broth” companies have over-complicated things by making something that’s far from the original recipe. Chemically extracted collagen is mixed with soup flavored extract and added to water to make it look like a natural product. When you taste it, you’ll know it’s not the real deal.
Created in a Lab
Next time you go to the farmers’ market, look for 3D printed salmon. We’re willing to bet you won’t find any. When a food is impossible to grow in a garden, raise in a pasture, or catch in the wild, that means our bodies will likely have a hard time recognizing it as food.
Brodo: Timeless Bone Broth You Can Feel Great About Sipping
The one thing Chef Marco did “invent” about bone broth is how it’s being served today. Until he opened the Brodo window in the East Village, no one was sipping it out of a mug! For this reason, some people thought bone broth was a fad.
We weren’t worried. Bone broth has stood the test of time – it has been around for about 2,000 years for a reason! It’s delicious, nutrient-dense, and can be enjoyed in many different ways.
