I have enjoyed another lively exchange with my sister about the merits of 'real' tea. She maintains that the only proper way to make tea is with loose leaves in a pot, with boiling water poured on, left for 3 minutes and poured onto the milk in the waiting bone china cups. This is the way our parents made tea, and anyone who uses tea bags is missing out on a good cuppa. She makes a similar point about the use of 'real' coffee. I don't agree, and personally happen to think that a well made cup of Tetleys or Nescafe is hotter and tastier than one made by these other, archaic methods. I think she is failing to acknowledge a vital point which affects a great deal of the food and drink we consume, which is - that it's all about processing.
A trip round any supermarket will reveal a vast quantity of processed food. Now, unless you live a very purist lifestyle, with a back-to-the-earth approach, nearly everything we eat is processed to a degree, and the level and sophistication of that processing is increasing all the time. Some of the foods we eat would not exist at all if it weren't for some ingenious processing, foods such as Quorn and Tofu which turn uneatable vegetable matter into something we can use every day. Some foods are presented to us in convenient forms that our mothers would have been astonished by - ready made custard is a prime example. Where is the merit in standing over a hot stove, mixing custard powder (already a processed ingredient) with milk (another processed ingredient) to cook to a smooth consistency (if I am lucky) when I can snip open a box, pour the contents into a bowl, and zap it in the microwave. Each of us will decide a level of processing that we find acceptable. Personally, I try to find a healthy-ish compromise somewhere between convenience and additives. So whilst I accept that a freshly made loaf of bread is the ideal, I tend to buy it ready made, as this is convenient, and I no longer expect my family to eat my attempts at a home-made pizza, when a ready prepared one is infinitely better.
Of course, two of the staples of our diet which have been processed far beyond their natural state are ..... tea and coffee!
