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The paleo trend: only eating what existed at the time of the mammoths
The paleo trend: only eating what existed at the time of the mammoths
(We, the Europeans / France 2)
The paleo diet has many followers: it involves eating exclusively products consumed by our ancestors, the Cro-Magnon men. Example in Berlin, where products labeled “paleo” have invaded the shelves of organic supermarkets.
Ketogenic, vegetarian, flexitarian, vegan, intermittent fasting diets… Today, everyone chooses their diet according to their tastes, their beliefs or to obtain certain benefits. In Germany, the fashion is for the paleo diet, for paleolithic. The principle is to eat like our ancestors, returning to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle: that is to say, banning processed products and eating only what can be gathered, fished or hunted.
This trend, born in the 1990s in the United States, was made famous by stars like Uma Thurman and Tom Jones, and it now has more than a million followers. In Berlin, the European capital of this diet, several organic stores are stocked with paleo products.
Stop using processed products
For Laszlo Schlindwein, a customer convinced by the virtues of this diet, it is now easier to do his shopping. In his Caddy, no dairy or sugary products, no pasta and no alcohol. “The foods that are forbidden for us are mainly processed products. Our ancestors didn’t have it, it appeared over the last fifty or hundred years, with the mass production of finished products, like candies, pastries, hamburgers, pizzas, he explains. We also don’t eat wheat or cereals because they are rather products of modern agriculture developed in recent centuries.“
Just like his ancestors, Laszlo Schlindwein consumes meat, and even if he does not kill the animal himself, in front of the butcher’s section, he pays particular attention to its origin. “There, I know that the animal was raised in a way adapted to its species, without hormones and preferably by remaining all year round in pastures. It must remain in the natural cycle“, he says.
A paleo shopping cart 30% more expensive
To make products more visible and simplify the choice of paleo consumers, there is now a label which is generally found next to the green rectangular “European organic” acronym. “This little paleo logo is new, since the Covid period, there are customers who are focusing more on a healthy, non-processing diet.“, indicates Olivier Ozier-Lafontaine, employee of the Alnatura supermarket.
This diet is all the rage in Germany but it comes at a cost: the products in this store are on average 30% more expensive than conventional shopping. “If we compare with a discount store, I would have paid a lot less. The gap is particularly large for meat. But for me, we are right, I willingly invest in my health“, justifies Laszlo Schlindwein.
Excerpt from “Flavors, diets: new trends“, broadcast in “We, the Europeans” on March 28 2024.
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