>Hi Zephyr and Deborah,
>
>Deborah:
>>This sounds reasonable. If Zephyr wants to do it, we can certainly
>>consider it. I wonder, though, what options he'll be left with if none
>>of his RAFs pass the tests! Also, how do the tests work? Does an
>>experienced instincto eat the foods and try to detect a taste change?
>>And, if none appears, does the food fail the test? What if we had sent
>>in the mongoose before Zephyr ate it? Would they have tested it? Are
>>they willing to taste most anything?
>They test smell and taste. If still uncertain the tester will eat a small
>amount and watch for the signs his/her body gives.
>Most things are tested by mr. Burger who has the longest experience.
>One remark: they are doing the tests for their customers only but since
>I am a good customer they will do it in your case.
>They wouldn't test the mongoose because it lives in an environment that
>gives no guarantees about feeding. It may have had access to human gar-
>bage so everything is unsafe.
>Don't be afraid that nothing passes the test. Zephyr's description of his
>food supply sounds very very good. I wouldn't even assume now that his
>tuna was frozen. Still I think the test by Orkos would make sense.
Thanks, but it's too involved and complicated for us right now.
>I also don't think anymore that the dental work done will be a big deal
>but I still want to be on the safe side. So I would like to know from Zephyr,
>which kind of material he had in his teeth before the complete replace was
>done. Were there amalgam fillings? This is very important!
I had one amalgam filling that I've had since I was a child. I had no
cavities form from age 7 or 8 until about 22 or 23 when I went fruit
ballistic and no dental hygiene.
>Zephyr:
>>Wait a minute. How can food become "denatured" if it is frozen by the
>>weather, the most natural force of all? Granted, durians wouldn't
>>encounter freezing unless they were carried up a tall tropical mountains
>>during the winter, but what about a deer that dies of freezing over
>>night. That's not naturally occurring? There's definitely something
>>fishy, or deery here.
>No!!! Freezing is not natural. Granted it occurs in nature today but I
>read about scientific researches that told me, that the weather even in sibiria
>in ancient times was m u c h more moderate with temperatures never
>dropping below app. 35F. So I assume that frozen food is nothing we are
>genetically adapted to. My own experience tells me that it is bad for me
>and the official instincto theory also says that freezing is not allowed.
>In fact it denatures food.
I'm not convinced. I do agree, I don't seek frozen food, and in fact the
only thawed food I've ever consumed is thawed durians. OTOH, Christopher
Morrill, an instincto in the SF area for 11 years, and an avid reader
says that you can freeze a mammalian egg and sperm, thaw them out and
they can still make a baby! That's pretty significant, yeah?
>The joke is, that it doesn't happen while freezing it. It happens when
>the food is thawed. Ice crystals that have built in the cells of the food
>melt and break the walls of the cells. There is destruction on the mole-
>cular level. May be there will be less problems if freezing is done so
>quickly that no ice crystals can form. This is a very sophisticated
>question I can't answer. Also there are a few foods that survive freezing,
>some kinds of winter-hard lettuce for example.
>Generally freezing of tropical fruits should be fatal because it never
>happened in ancient times.
>Be careful with frozen food. With the few exceptions of winter-hard food
>I can't recommend it!
Zephyr:
>>I think, in general, you are translating your European concerns about
>>food quality and markets to America and at least in my experience not all
>>of what you say translates accurately, though I appreciate much of what
>>you express.
>The organic apples in CA are as big as the conventionally grown apples in
>Germany. (And the conv. apples in CA are so big that I haven't got words
>for them.)
Yeah, I can eat maybe a bit of even a "organic" apple. Only when I lived
in Eugene and foraged for apples have I really found delicious apples.
They are scary to me also.
>I hoped to find undenatured dates in CA, the country of the dates. But
>I was wrong. They were all dried at too high temperature, sometimes
>treated with sucrose.
Wait a minute! The Orkos dates come from Jamie Jones, et. al. in Borrego
Springs, CA. You can directly order a 15lb box from them for very
reasonable prices. I've visited them twice. He's primarily a raw
foodist, and his farming is of very high integrity.
>Honey in the comb wasn't instinctito quality. I ate more and more of it,
>got mucus and had to stop it mentally because it obviously was a trap.
>Fish in WholeFoods-Market was frozen always. If you are experienced you
>can recognize that from the structure. Freezing destroys the cells so the
>structure of the fish loosens considerably.
>I found myself to become addicted to the frozen tuna and again had to
>stop it mentally.
I would recommend Japanese fish markets and at the dock direct buying.
>The meat I found wasn't worth even trying it. One time they had venison
>but it was packaged in foils, looked ugly and was as expensive as in
>Germany. So I didn't try it.
Supposably, a market that specializes in finding and carrying really high
quality meats will soon be carrying fresh local venison here in Santa
Barbara. Previously they got NZ deer which could not be guaranteed
fresh, though what he claimed to be fresh was the best red meat I've ever
had, and I could barely eat say 3/4lb it was so rich.
>I got some instincto quality tamarind from the dirtiest looking Mexican
>shop I ever saw. When I entered it they looked at me as if I came from
>Mars (and I returned their looks and didn't care.)
>As Karl said America has a (paranoid I would add) fear of bacteria, pests,
>etc. The most paranoid state is indeed California. Sorry to state that.
>America is so paranoid that even interstate distribution of fruits,
>vegetables and meat is strongly restricted.
>I like America (from other reasons) but I don't consider it to be an
>easy place to get instincto quality food.
Really only the local farmers are a safe bet. My practice is to grow
my/our own. Deborah and I our blessed to have 4.25 acres of land and we
are planting/caring for orchards and gardens. The difference between
foraging and buying instincto quality food is, to me, as much as the
difference between instincto quality food and organic non-instincto
quality food.
Really appreciate your writings, experience, and attitude, Stephan.
Love and cocos,
Zephyr
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