The long history of ersatz food

I've been avoiding writing this afternoon by listening to a retrospective of food radio on CBC, the peak of which was a clip of Pierre Berton making a plea for real food back in 1967. It's a 5-minute piece that aired on the TV show Telescope following the release of The Centennial Food Guide. I've never felt so close to Pierre (although the coy expression when he compares a good meal to post-sex satisfaction is rather disturbing).

Nerdy, yes, but it's exciting to find a rationale for my dissertation expressed so eloquently by this icon of Canadiana. His description of obvious distaste for what he calls "ersatz" foods could almost put Rex Murphy to shame. I particularly like his comparison of ersatz food with artificial flowers. He also makes the point that in our modern age of time-saving technology, we should have less of a need for instant or convenience foods because we should have extra time for gardening and cooking from scratch.

It's good to be reminded that pseudofoods and their aggressive marketing – though recent in historical terms – are not brand new. Certainly more ubiquitous now than in the 1960s, these gastronomic assaults have been around for nearly 50 years. Although better quality insta-foods might be available now, there seems to be a constant stream of new products that bear no resemblance to real food. Pierre's words still hold true: "No instant food as yet has been devised that is as good as fresh food." I guess we are a nation of morons, since we seem to have accepted these ersatz foods as normal.

You can see Pierre in all his glory on the CBC Digital Archives here.