{"id":429,"date":"2019-07-15T17:14:41","date_gmt":"2019-07-15T17:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.plantagbiosciences.org\/people\/anna-whitton\/?p=429"},"modified":"2019-07-19T18:51:52","modified_gmt":"2019-07-19T18:51:52","slug":"429","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.plantagbiosciences.org\/people\/anna-whitton\/2019\/07\/15\/429\/","title":{"rendered":"The index: short and bittersweet?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Here\u2019s a challenge for the kitchen, and my fledgling wordsmithery: what would you make if you wanted to blend a bunch of ingredients together, but then be able to take them out again? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am posed with a similar challenge, as we score and rank national \u2018diets\u2019 across the world for their closeness to dietary ideals. To meet this goal, we are in the thick of shaping data on food supplies, grouping them into more manageable, simpler forms\u2014how many of us have been shaped into seeing what we eat: in food groups like \u2018meat\u2019 and \u2018veg\u2019. This process is really useful as it allows us to see the whole more clearly, to see trends and patterns, to compare composition and performance, and to tell the story. But while there is power in simplicity, there is also cause for pause (and making sure you don\u2019t throw out the detail). This post is, if you will, a short journey through that pause. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source: picjumbo.<\/a> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Why aggregate?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At the most basic level, we might go about aggregating\ninformation and developing an index that tells us the sum of these parts to\nhelp to answer the question: \u2018So, what?\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It can also help with the \u2018So, what do I do now?!?!\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

We are living in a time when we have more access to more\ninformation than ever before, and people want to know what they are meant to do\nwith all of it. In sum, it can be pretty overwhelming to make decisions these\ndays. This can affect us in many ways, at an individual and at a global level. And\nfood is on the table at all levels in between.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personally, I am not great making decisions at the best of times but come with me to a supermarket and you\u2019ll be sorry. When you are trying to pick something nutritious, that you can afford, that is ethical, sustainable, tasty, in the right portion, that you feel like eating, that you feel you should eat more of (or less of), the list goes on and you either end up with nothing that you came to get or end up splurging on some treat to soothe your anxiety. As I\u2019ve discussed in previous posts, the food system is mighty complex, and even more so today with more ingredients, longer supply chains and space between most of the people who eat food and the environments in which they\u2019re grown. It is not only a significant challenge to retain information about where a food comes from, and the way in which it was brought to you, but also how all of this information should be weighed up in the context of the final food and its competitors, and how, and whether you are (or should be) given it.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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