So which contributor in the BIOfortified: stronger plants, stronger science and stronger communication online community was responsible for telling the world that the humble macadamia nut (eaten by indigenous Australians for thousands of years) is a relatively new food?
franknfoode Frank N. Foode
@HerbRealm How many years have Kiwifruit and Starfruit and Macadamias been trialled on humans to ensure their safety? (relatively new foods)
The joke gets better when we remember that 'Starfruit' is merely the commercial branding of a fruit cultivated and eaten for hundreds of years in Asia and, that 'Kiwi Fruit' is the marketing re-brand of a conventionally created cultivar of another ancient food.
3 comments:
@franknfoode is a genetically modified corn cob and is suffering a few unintended effects.
Hi
Don't know about Starfruit, but Kiwi fruit was originally from China and inedible. The New Zealanders played around with it in the breeding labs and made it edible. Nobody has done any testing on it for long-term health effects. As for macadamias, maybe they are referring to the fact that non-indigenous people have only been eating them for a short while. Are our bodies adapted to the chemical compounds in the nut? Just a thought?
Jason Major
TechNyou - www.technyou.edu.au
TechNyou,
The wild 'Chinese gooseberry' (as it was known in my youth) may not have been to everyone's taste in the West, but it was traditionally eaten in Asia and therefore not "inedible".
It appears to have been privately grown in NZ gardens for around 90 years. During that time it also began to be conventionally bred for more commercial traits.
You also ask "Are our bodies adapted to the chemical compounds in the nut?"
Apparently so, unless you have a general tree nut allergy.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand has commerically sold macadamia nut chemical componds breakdown online.
Like many in my generation, I have been eating macadamia nuts for over 50 years now - think that counts as more than "a short while" in modern terms.
Face it - @franknfoode tweeted without thinking and got caught out.
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