I also have an odor in the memory, but I can not describe it, unlike the images, but if I were to have it in front of me now I would recognize it: the smell of fresh milk. I remember the warm heat emanating from the vessel, that I, as a child, perched on tiptoe, and I noticed in the air with my lips and nose. That was when I accompanied my mother in summer at a farm for milk.
And then ceased to be milk, bread ceased to be bread, and eggs were no longer eggs but become shells with yolks full of nutrients inside.
Remember that time? Those who are very young may not. But it's not my case. I recall with anger that day my mother said we could not boil the milk at home, we had to buy it in plastic bags instead (yes, great industrial design error) or later, tetra-bricks. Milk was no longer milk and entered into a process of dehumanization. Under the guise of the ultra-pasteurization (the only method to make it drinkable, apparently), a gradual decomposition of the rich liquid in its many components began, removing all until it was little more than a serum. Have you seen how translucent is skimmed milk? Yes, at the same price, or greater than before. Meanwhile, in parallel, dozens of products arose stealing part of its flavor, cheeses, creams, cottage cheese, etc. The process was so cruel that this same milk, without a soul, at one point so lean and naked, has gradually been re-enriched with who knows what concoctions: acids, vitamins, vegetables or fish protein.
It is the paradigm of a process, which many foods followed, that came in through the wide gate in the institutionalization (I say for the support of regulators) in trade and mass exploitation. On the one hand, standardizing processes and qualities, and on the other leaving only way to high-capacity and logistics industries, and large-area stores. In one way or another has been happening with other foods. I often forget what it tastes like bread until I try one from small town, well cooked and not being previously frozen. Yes, we have ensured that food is available to almost everyone at reasonable and competitive prices for nearly all months of the year. However, on this trip, we stopped on the way to many small shops, modest farmers, and much of the flavor.
Then, the poor producers (farmers, ranchers) regret being mistreated by "producers" and distributors of food, because their products and are all equal. They became 'commodity' and as such, mistreatment of prices and skills in distant countries are unbearable. The truth is that its products are definitely NOT 'commodity' because potatoes from Galicia and potatoes from Turkey have nothing to do, for instance. However we have managed to believe they are the same.
The grape growers are among the few outstanding students. Years ago recognized the importance of educating the palate of consumers, and teach that all wines are different (not only in space but also in time!); neither are they better nor worse, simply incomparable. Gradually, our palates have been waking up, but still, like with bread, still half asleep.
Well, it turns out I'm not the only one with this claim. Step by step, some (the less, since not all budgets allow) start consuming organic products, buying more and more at craft fairs in search of milk retailers of recently milked product, and visiting restaurants ‘km zero’ with nearby raw products. Some are even already coining the moniker for the fashionable culture 'slow'. Farewell to the homogenous product! Welcome to cheese barkers and artisanal producers, and if that means I can not eat a pawpaw in the middle of December, because they are out of season, I'll have a glass of milk instead.
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