Artificial Natural

Where is the line between natural and artificial? For thousands of years humans have been playing with the idea of natural, and food production is a great example. Farming and selective breeding on a basic level is artificial natural. The use of GM crops, and the creation of ‘natural environments’ is taking this a step or two further. Is it right that in supermarkets we can find most fruit and vegetables all year around, regardless of seasons?

Tomatoes undergo breeding programmes in order to make them bigger and redder 1. This is just for the shelf. They are more appealing to the majority if perfect, it’s now expected that food available is in perfect form, and many people when shopping judge the aesthetics of what they are buying – rummaging through what’s available, looking for the most uniform selection.

Now not only the colour and size of fruit is altered, but also the shape. With what is considered a consumer driven solution to a natural problem, watermelons in Japan are on sale in cubed form 2. The idea behind this is that the fruit is now more easily packed, stored and eventually cut. These watermelons are however in some cases triple the cost of a regular watermelon, making them fashionable food, and available predominantly to the wealthy. If food production falls under the artificial natural category, is square fruit really a big deal, as it is just an extension of what is already implemented on a global scale? Or are there limits to what humans should interfere with?

1 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1390088.stm
2 http://www.bioethics.upenn.edu/highschool/Webfair/?v=2

Image:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1390088.stm