When Annie Gill, Nutritional Therapist at Health Smart Nutrition, said during our conversation, “A Victoria sponge used to be six ingredients… now it’s 30,” it stopped me in my tracks.
She was, of course, right. The cakes our mothers and grandmothers made were simple: flour, butter, eggs, sugar, jam, and maybe a dusting of icing sugar. Today, if you pick one up from the supermarket, the label reads like a chemistry set, stabilisers, preservatives, emulsifiers, artificial flavourings.
That comment sent me tumbling back into my own memories. Growing up, food was fresh, straightforward, and seasonal. Bread came warm from the bakery each morning. Fruit and vegetables were chosen carefully at the market. Meals were prepared at home, from scratch, often with the whole family gathered around. Food was an event, not just fuel.
The Convenience Conundrum
What Annie highlighted is the way supermarkets and food manufacturers have reshaped our relationship with eating. Convenience has become king. Everything is available all year round, strawberries in December, perfectly polished apples that seem never to go off, tomatoes the size of grapefruits. It feels like abundance, but it comes at a hidden cost.
Ultra-processed foods are now not only more common, but often cheaper than fresh produce. A packet of biscuits can cost less than a punnet of blueberries. This imbalance quietly pushes people towards choices that, over time, harm their health. No wonder our health system is struggling with lifestyle-related illness.
Moderation Lost
Annie made another point that struck me: it’s not only what’s in our food that has changed, but how we consume it. A sponge cake, once baked at home, was a treat reserved for the weekend or a special occasion. Now, cakes and sweets are within reach 24/7, stacked in supermarket aisles and served up in cafés on every corner.
When food is always available, it loses its sense of occasion. Moderation, once built naturally into the rhythm of life, becomes something we have to actively teach ourselves.
Reclaiming the Joy of Real Food
What if the answer isn’t about going back in time, but about reclaiming the spirit of those simpler days? Annie encourages us to choose whole, unprocessed foods wherever possible and to make eating an experience again. Cooking at home, sitting down at the table, and paying attention to what’s on our plate can transform not just our health, but our relationship with food.
I know from my own upbringing that food was never just about nutrients. It was about connection. It was about care. It was about culture. That’s something we risk losing in the race for convenience.
A Personal Reflection
Listening to Annie speak about the humble sponge cake made me realise how far we’ve drifted. Somewhere along the way, we allowed “food products” to replace food itself. Yet, there’s something deeply comforting about the idea that we can take it back, one meal, one recipe, one family dinner at a time.
Real food doesn’t need a label with 30 ingredients. It only needs a few, and most importantly, it needs people gathered around it.
To hear Annie Gill share more eye-opening truths about the state of our food system, listen to Part 5 of The Visionary Podcast with Hala Ali.
-Written by host Hala Ali
The Visionary with Hala Ali Podcast 