New Zealand Listener - May 26, 2018

MAY 26 2018 LISTENER 35

MARTIN HUNTER

“Clever, successful

people show

they are more

intelligent by eating

certain, often

expensive, diets.”

ordinary’, which was a thick soup,

a big piece of roasted joint with

roasted vegetables – our roast, basi-

cally – and a heavy pudding.”

Colonial New Zealanders didn’t

want to eat fish, and fish still isn’t

popular in New Zealand. “Because

poor people ate fish in Victorian Eng-

land; poor people ate oysters. They

didn’t want that here, they wanted

meat,” says McVinnie.

T

oday, people show superiority

through conspicuous compe-

tence, says McVinnie. That term,

which was coined by anthropologist

Margaret Visser, refers to a person’s

need to show they’re smarter than

other people.

In the 1980s, Visser pointed to the

extravagant dinner parties thrown by

young, upwardly mobile adults as a

display of their competence.

McVinnie reckons our current

obsession with nutritionism and

theoretically healthier diet regimes is

a display of conspicuous competence.

“Clever, successful people show they

are more intelligent by eating certain,

often expensive, diets.”

The underlying cultural message is:

if you are eating refined white bread

and drinking soft drink you’re clearly

not as clever as your friends who are

on the paleo diet.

Ultimately, healthy eating is

about having a sound relationship

with food, enjoying what we eat

at the same time as being mindful

of its effect on us, and sharing

meals rather than imposing dietary

restrictions on ourselves that

preclude social mealtimes. Relishing

food traditions gives us a sense of

belonging. l

Julia Rucklidge

The University of Canterbury

researcher is investigating whether micro-

nutrient supplements benet psychiatric

conditions such as bipolar disorder and

ADHD. “After all, we’re not doing very well at

addressing the mental health crisis with our

current treatments.”

Has your research aected your food choices? The

70s and 80s, when I grew up, was an era when

all we focused on was the number of calories in

food. I certainly didn’t appreciate the importance

of eating fruit and vegetables when I was a kid.

But then I learnt how diferent foods ofer difer-

ent nutrients and how many of the foods I was

eating were calorie-rich but nutrient-poor. It’s

totally changed the way I eat. Based on what I do

and what I know, we eat very well.

What’s the country’s biggest nutrition problem?

Processed food. It’s cheap and companies make

an enormous amount of money out of it – to the

peril of our health.

Do you follow a special diet? We eat real food: ish

once or twice a week, and we cook from scratch

with a lot of plant food. I’m not convinced we

need to eat a certain way – we’re all diferent

genetically. Diferent diets are good for diferent

people. My diet is simply real food, mostly plants,

and not too much (à la Michael Pollan).

Also, having experienced the enormous

stresses associated with Canterbury’s

earthquakes, taking additional B vitamins

was paramount to being able to continue to

do my research.

What do you eat for breakfast? Today, I had a

home-made granola with lots of nuts, raisins and

seeds. I eat it with yogurt and fresh fruit most

days. It’s made from scratch, with a tablespoon of

honey, and is enough for a month of breakfasts.

What about lunch? Today’s was leftovers with a

big salad.

What’s your favourite evening meal? Given my

husband, Will, does all the cooking, I’m just grate-

ful I’m ofered healthy foods daily. But I do have

a fondness for shrimp, sautéed mushrooms and

olives – not necessarily at the same time.

What about snacking? I have almonds

or other nuts.

What’s your idea of food hell?

Fast-food joints! But we don’t

eat out a lot; we typically eat

at home.

Email your nutrition questions

to [email protected]

Julia Rucklidge’s world-class research

is partly funded by the Canterbury

Medical Research Foundation, one of

eight medical research foundations in

the country.