UKC

seeing ingredients on products listed as 'all natural' got me wondering.

Some people consider everything on the earth that is not human / made by us as natural, but then we are part of the earth too so surely everything we make is also natural.

Consider - birds make nests, beavers make dams and dens to live in, ants make nests, termites make huge towers to colonise, otters use rocks to smash clam shells, some apes use sticks as tools.

So how is it that us creating a house or a car is not considered natural? Same with making 'artificial' sweeteners they are made from things of this earth, simply modified in some way to create what we want.
Plants do this too by taking in chemical compounds from the soil and converting it to what they need - be it a poison to prevent themselves being eaten or to produce sugar as in fruit to attract animals to eat the fruit and carry the seeds away.

Whats your take on all this? (lets leave theology out of this though)

In reply to ow arm:

I sort of agree. It is just marketing gimmickry. You could equally and justifiably call Tesco a farm shop selling wholesome products.... whatever that means.

In reply to ow arm:
'Oxygen is pure, Oxygen is natural'

Well I'm sold then. Some flim flam for dishwasher tablets I think.

What about Anthrax is natural? Or Arsenic? Or Great White Sharks? Or Eric Pickles?

I hate any of that pseudo scientific bull in advertising

In reply to ow arm:

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/natural


The reference to disasters might be helpful to you.

Was Chernobyl a natural disaster?
The eruption of Krakatoa was, but I am not so sure about Chernobyl etc.

In reply to ow arm:

I suppose.... this.

youtube.com/watch?v=9D05ej8u-gU&

In reply to TMM:
>> What about Anthrax is natural? Or Arsenic? Or Great White Sharks? Or Eric Pickles?

No, Eric Pickles is Dark Matter.

In reply to ow arm:

I'd love to know where I can buy supernatural foods...

In reply to timmeehhhh:


Homeopathy is pretty much supernatural medicine so you could try waving some chicken and sweetcorn at a glass of water to make supernatural soup.

In reply to Clarence:

chernobyl was a natural disaser provided that you accept man being part of the nature of the planet

In reply to ow arm:

Would you consider then that aspartame is a natural sweetener on par with fructose or some other " natural " sugars?

In reply to gd303uk:


I think if you follow the OP's original argument then yes, it is.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

And is the OP correct in this thinking?

In reply to ow arm:


To me natural food is food without any cr*p in it.

Someone above said supernatural food - isn't that eaten a Catholic mass? [just wondering, I'm no expert...]

In reply to abseil:
what do you define as crap though? an apple contains cyanide (seeds) and that aint good for you either, but is natural
heres a link to a relevant thread recently
http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=583866&v=1#x7734748

In reply to ow arm:




Errr I suppose I mean food which has been processed i.e. anything added to it. And thanks for the link to the thread, that's interesting [I spit apple seeds out, phew].

Interesting topic and thread, anyway, I mean honestly we're all eating 3 times a day, how many tons a year...

In reply to abseil:

Or what is traditionally called "cooking".

In reply to Mr Lopez:


Errr once again no. Not heated/ cooked. I said stuff added to it e.g. salt, sugar, sauces, other stuff.

(Sorry got to go to KFC and eat now.)

In reply to abseil:

Seasoning? Dressing?

In reply to Mr Lopez:


Errrr let's try again. Jump in the sea, bite a fish, natural food. Open a can of Spam, bite it, not natural food.

I'm trying! Honest!

In reply to abseil:

How about a grilled salmon in a cream, tarragon and chives sauce?

In reply to Mr Lopez:


Thanks a lot! What time? I'll be there. I'll bring a bottle!

In reply to Mr Lopez:

PS, top 40 posters, here we come!

In reply to abseil:

Natural or processed?

In reply to ow arm:
I think 'natural' has a number of conotations.
For many people, 'it's not natural' equates with 'it's not familiar/habitual'.


The 'naturalness' of foodstuffs is a relative construct. Could mean the degree of processing or adulteration. So, an apple, especially an organic one, would be really natural.
But what about an out of season apple, from cold storage?
Is an unpackaged NPK fertiliser fed apple less 'natural' than an organic one sold in a plastic tray? ( leaving aside the notion that the organic one might have traces of the greengrocers' faecal e. coli (natural) or his deodorant (unnatural)
Yet paradoxically, 'hand cut chips' command a premium compared with robot cut chips prepared in a sterile environment.

It used to be that organic was associated with a more caring attitude to the planet. Since Thatcher's era, it seems less associated with a philosophy of life and more the consumer choice of the 'my body is a temple and I don't want to get cancer' types. The fact that they make non food consumer choices which are far more deleterious to their personal health (let alone the health of the planet) seems irrelevant to them.
Yet they're probably the sort of people more anxious about 'naturalness' than the land worker who is happy to eat anything as long as it tastes nice.

People are gullible to the advertising that is associated with the 'natural' world. 'The Reservoir District' seems less appealing than the Lake District. Plantation or Forest - which is better?

In reply to Mr Lopez:

Do you mean the bottle, or the wine? ha-ha

Naturally the wine will be naturally natural.

In reply to ow arm:

The whole subculture of "natural is all good", while "man made is bad", really makes me laugh...

So Ebola is good...but anti-viral drugs are bad.

In reply to ow arm:

Walker Sensation crisps used to have "made with real ingredients" on them (may still do).
Whilst I think they were going for the no nasty chemicals lines still doesnt seem to work.