By Adam and Larry Mogelonsky
One of the latest dietary trends that has emerged attempts to answer the question, “Before the agricultural revolution, what would our ancestors have eaten to keep themselves healthy through all four seasons?” Slightly controversial because of how it repudiates veganism and the larger push for plant-based eating, ancestral eating is grounded by the anthropological evidence that humans have always been “opportunistic omnivores.” We are flexible scavengers, crafty fishers and tenacious hunters.
The tenets of ancestral dieting can be applied to any F&B outlet to differentiate the operation from competitors, offer menu items that are science-backed to support better health and appeal to the growing subculture that’s willing to pay a bit more for paleo-approved options. Here are several items to consider.
1. Wild berry cultivars. What’s happened over the past few centuries is that we’ve started breeding fruits for bigger yields and heightened sweetness to boost profits and palatability. The consequence is that our fruits now have an unnaturally high amount of sugar and reduced antioxidant levels; they aren’t as ‘nutrient dense’ as their wild progenitors.
Blueberries are one of the healthiest foods on the planet. Whether organic or not, most blueberries that reach the market are of the highbush cultivar, which has been engineered for its large size and high sugar content. Restaurants can wow their patrons by sourcing the antioxidant-laden lowbush varietal (often sold as frozen from Nova Scotia), which is a fraction of the size but have a deep indigo colour.
2. Sourdough bread.
With F&B outlets now having to label gluten-free items, researchers have started investigating why people in Southern Europe and the Levant can regularly indulge in grains well into their nonagenarian years without any chronic issues while North Americans feel bloated and lethargic after a couple portions of bread.
Bread that is mechanically processed over a few hours doesn’t give the microbes enough time to chew away at the gluten. This process takes days, with the yeast breaking down those gut-irritating proteins with the fermented byproduct of acid for that unmistakable sour taste. While working with sourdough requires patience and therefore is an added cost for a commercial kitchen, the word itself is highly marketable.
3. Soaked or sprouted nuts. Plants fight back through chemical warfare and coat their seeds with compounds that can be highly toxic (or indigestible) to a would-be scavenger. With this in mind, we often forget that nuts are the seeds of trees and that the outer layer is laced with antinutrients that can present problems when consumed in large quantities.
The solution that our ancestors came up with was to simply soak nuts in water for half a day or a full 24 hours so that the tannins and phytic acid would dissolve away from the shell. A step further was to cycle the nuts through several periods of wet and then dry conditions so that the seeds would sprout (this works for beans, too). From there, you simply dehydrate the nuts back to their dry form. Again, this is a slow and costlier process, but adjectives such as ‘soaked’ or ‘sprouted’ come with a justifiable surcharge.
4. Goat or sheep dairy. The milk of goats and sheep is significantly healthier for us than milk from cows, with further anthropological evidence pointing to an earlier domestication point for these two species over the larger livestock.
Goat and sheep dairy products naturally contain more medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) which are keto-friendly and help to promote metabolic flexibility for a healthier liver. Moreover, unlike cows of Northern European pedigree that contain the potentially harmful A1-casein protein, goat and sheep milk or cheese won’t have this.
5. Nose-to-tail burgers or sausages. Our ancestors ate every part of an animal, including the nose, the offal, the oxtail and every other bit of sinew was often boiled down into a collagenous stew. It follows that we should all be eating more organ meats because gram-for-gram these are technically the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet. In North America, you can’t regularly find these cuts on the menu.
Italians have trippa alla parmigiana (tripe); a common street food in Turkey is kokoretsi (spit-roasted offal); and you can easily find barbecued chicken hearts at any Thai night market. Meat producers are starting to incorporate the healthier organs into a form that’s palatable for Canadians and Americans by grinding offal products into burgers and sausages.
6. Intermittent fasting.We close not on a particular ingredient but on a way of eating that’s gaining popularity. On a traditional hunt, our ancestors likely went long periods without any food, with study after study showing the huge health benefits of giving your digestive tract regular breaks from meals.
Adam and Larry Mogelonsky represent one of the world’s most published writing teams in hospitality, with over a decade’s worth of material online. As the partners of Hotel Mogel Consulting Ltd., a Toronto-based consulting practice, Larry focuses on asset management, sales and operations while Adam specializes in hotel technology and marketing. Their experience encompasses properties around the world, both branded and independent, ranging from luxury and boutique to select service. Their work includes seven books: “In Vino Veritas: A Guide for Hoteliers and Restaurateurs to Sell More Wine” (2022), “More Hotel Mogel” (2020), “The Hotel Mogel” (2018), “The Llama is Inn” (2017), “Hotel Llama” (2015), “Llamas Rule” (2013) and “Are You an Ostrich or a Llama?” (2012). You can reach them at [email protected] to discuss hotel business challenges or to book speaking engagements.
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