I was in a playground chasing after my daughter Eppie last spring, minding my own business, when I overheard one woman saying to another, “Sure those kids get nothing but yellow food”.

I said to myself, “Yellow food – what is that?”

Upon our return home I mentioned the incident to Fiona and she explained to me that yellow food is mainly processed food that is presented to the consumer in one shade of yellow or another: chicken goujons, fish fingers, wedges, sausage rolls, pasties, etc. Pretty much what you see in the hot food section of every forecourt/deli/supermarket up and down the country.

You might say that last sentence is a sweeping statement but I have done my research. You see I frequently travel west to marts to try and buy beef heifers for fattening, which is a job that involves long days and requires sustenance of one form or another.

Many of the problems to do with people's health are down to their eating habits

So for the last six months, in every petrol station or motorway services I have stopped in for said sustenance, I have paid particular attention to the food on offer and invariably it turns out to be yellow food in one shape or another.

Eating habits

I was not planning on putting pen to paper this evening but we were delivering a load of lambs to the meat factory in Navan when Dr Eva Orsmond, who was promoting her new show on RTÉ television called “Medication Nation”, came on the news. Many of the problems she mentioned to do with people’s health are down to their eating habits. This is what sparked up my “yellow food” thoughts again.

How have we got it so wrong that the convenience food that is most accessible to our population bears no resemblance to the Bord Bia ads?

I was told by a person who works in the wholesale food trade that the best thing about yellow food is that it all looks the same in the counter and is an easy sell.

“Green island” produce

Being from an island that promotes the food we produce as green, free range, grass-based, environmentally friendly, and all the other buzz words, it really got me thinking. How have we got it so wrong that the convenience food that is most accessible to our population bears no resemblance to the Bord Bia ads of that Irish actor dancing in the rain singing the healthy low-calorie virtues of our “green island” produce?

Next time you’re at a hot food counter and in a rush, stop for 20 seconds and have a look at its contents. What colour is it?

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