They are RaiPlay from today, January 26, the new episodes Of Superquark+the transmission of Piero Angela. This is the latest project carried out by the science communicator shortly before leaving us. His historic team of authors collaborated with him, supported by some young popularizers.
This Superquark+ series is made up of 10 episodes dedicate all’power supply and we could define it, for once in contravention of Piero Angela’s usual understatement, “the last one unfinished” since his video contributions are missing in the last two episodes, certainly not his words and his intelligence.
Not only calories, nutrients and foods called natural medicines but also a journey into nutrition made from different angles: how long can you go without eating? And what do you eat in extreme conditions? Up to the last ratio: can we eat among the like? And then we discover the many symbols linked to food, we follow the long journey made by some foods before ending up on our plate and how much climate change will affect our way of producing and eating. And last but not least, who controls the earth and its products?
SYNOPSIS OF THE EPISODES
1- Responsible eating
Eating pollutes: how we put it this is an incontrovertible truth. Already today the production of food alone is responsible for 30% of greenhouse gas emissions. But then what are we to do? Meanwhile, be careful not to waste it, over 17% is thrown away. Then understand that there are foods that affect more, others less. Eating less meat would be a good place to start. Finally, investing in technology, focusing on sustainable agriculture which guarantees the same results but with less water, less fertilizers, fewer pesticides
2 – What crickets do you have on your plate?
If eating pollutes, then let’s be careful. But how? There are solutions, some have always existed, others look to the future. If insects, mushrooms, algae have always been present, and with excellent results, in the diets of people far from ours, why don’t we try to taste them? Or we could eat meat produced in the laboratory, or almond, rice, soy, oat milk, or even 3D printed vegetable steaks: science does not stop and the real challenge to convince us to eat all of this will be that. ..of taste.
3 – At lunch in space
What do you eat in a space station when a small breadcrumb could cause irreparable damage? And when we are on top of a mountain? What’s the best food for someone going to war? And can a shipwrecked man survive in the middle of the ocean with makeshift means? Extreme situations that require extreme foods and ingenious solutions.
4 – Feeding … fasting
Eating too much is bad, no doubt. But not eating is certainly not good. Especially if you decide on your own to chase false myths, cover thinness! But how long can you live without eating and with what consequences? How do animals that hibernate fast? Today it is known that eating less lengthens life but more than fasting it is correct to speak of caloric restriction.
5 – Cannibalism and other taboos
Is there anything more gory, almost inconceivable, to eat one’s own kind? And yet, in human history it has always been done, partly for ritual purposes, sometimes out of necessity, others out of criminal perversion. But then, we ask ourselves almost jokingly, how nutritious is human flesh? Finally, there is a positive cannibalism: that of the cells of our body, which feed on themselves, on their own waste, producing positive effects on our health.
6 – Food wars
We may not realize it but everything we find on our plate every day is closely linked to the events happening in the world. Everything we eat has made a more or less long journey, most of the time it has crossed borders, it has been bought and sold, it has enriched or impoverished someone. And Italy, the homeland of good food, what role does it play in this global geopolitical confrontation?
7 – Food between rites and myths
Eating is such an important event for life that it’s not just for… feeding! The act of eating has always been loaded with historical, symbolic and religious meanings. What you eat, but also how you eat, varies according to the place where you are and its traditions. But also at the time: new knowledge but also new sensitivities advise us to avoid what was even recommended to eat until a few years ago.
8 – The world on a plate
Every cuisine is mestizo, most of the ingredients come from afar. Foreigners we put on our plate. To get them, until recently, wars were fought, oceans were crossed. The meeting between the old and the new world was the occasion for one of the most extraordinary trading operations in the history of human nutrition. Together with the tomato, corn, beans, peanuts, potatoes and then cocoa, vanilla, as well as tobacco arrived in Europe. Rice, wheat, barley, vines and olive trees, coffee and sugar cane landed on the American continent. So did the famous kilometer 0 ever exist?
9 – Health in the refrigerator
Prevention, the magic word! There is only medicine to cure a disease, but it has now been demonstrated that a healthy diet can help to prevent it. So lots of fiber, legumes, vegetables, fruit, little meat, especially red meat, good olive oil. What does all this remind us of? Our good old Mediterranean diet, which can protect us from major chronic and inflammatory diseases. And if, at the end of a meal, we also eat a piece of chocolate… even better!
10 – Calories: friendly enemies
It all depends on the calories, you need a certain amount to live, but don’t overdo it. The risk of obesity is increasingly frequent, at least in our rich societies. Then it also depends on what foods we eat to get the energy we need. Therefore? Let’s eat right, avoid junk foods and maybe get some exercise. Easy to say! Otherwise, there are fad diets. But beware of those tricks that make you lose weight more than your waistline… your wallet!