White may not always be right

Page 14

You mention somebody is in a black mood, or perhaps a friend of yours has a red- hot temper, and you can immediately get a grasp of the attitude or temperament of the individual you are talking about. Color, for the longest time, has often been used as an element in describing the emotional and moral fibre of people, places and things. But, oddly enough, it seems the darker the color mentioned, the more dangerous or ominous the objects of the sentence become.

For instance, remark how dark the skies look, or how the devil is often referred to as the Lord of Darkness, and you'll get my point. I looked up the word black in a dictionary and it partially defined the word as gloomy or dismal, sullen or hostile, evil or wicked, and indicating disgrace.

Yet, you mention the word white and a completely different concept emerges. Images of purity, virginity and cleanliness immediately pop to mind. In fact, just recently in a newspaper I came across the phrase "linen-white landscape" which referred to an earlier, more innocent era of time. Let us not forget the famous "little white lie" which means doing something wrong for the right, or white, reasons. Ancient racial intolerance and biases at work here? Possibly, even more than likely.

But what I find so ironic is that when you actually look at the pigment of the many things available to modern Canadians today, the opposite is true, especially when it comes to the tasty world of food. Many of the edibles we consume that are the most dangerous, most unhealthy, and the most evil, are, in fact, white in color. Your cupboards are potential death traps. There may need to be a rigorous re-adjustment of color perceptions in the near future.

A few examples:

It is the world of edibles and nourishment where the color white does its most widespread damage. Practically everything white used in the culinary arts has been confirmed as being dangerous to one's health. Sugar has long been viewed as a menace. Salt is like playing with a loaded gun. White rice, while not particularly dangerous, is still basically viewed as a pot of unhelpful starch. Each dab of cream or spot of whole milk can be viewed as a potential nail in your coffin.

Need I mention the reputation that white flour has in the health community? Add that to its many descendants like white bread and the like, and we're talking empty calories with few nutritional benefits. Might as well inject the glucose directly into your thighs and waist. Why waste (no pun intended) time on the stomach?

And finally, at the top of the pallid pyramid lies fat itself (i.e. in steaks etc. opposed to lean meat), and the infamous brick of lard, both white (since lard is basically rendered fat) and both notoriously bad for your health, unless heart disease and strokes seriously interest you. Death does indeed ride a pale horse.

What I find equally scary is the realization that one of the most common and trusted forms of sustenance known to Native people, the proud, mighty and eternal bannock/ frybread/ scone, is in fact made of white flour, white sugar, white salt, and white baking powder, and is usually fried in white lard. I am a great believer in tradition but I do not think it would be disrespectful to consider, perhaps, throwing a vitamin or two into the mix.

The darker the shade in many of these same foodstuffs, the more beneficial they are perceived to be for your body. Brown sugar, or even honey, is observed to be better than its white counterpart. The same goes for brown rice, brown flour and whole wheat bread.

And taking a slight detour, but still on the subject of "not really good for you," I do believe heroin is white in color, but I am no expert on the subject, I assure you. Cocaine and crack also are definitely of that familiar milky hue, if I'm not mistaken. And let us not forget the always popular white rum. I'm not sure where the jury stands on dark rum though. If the more innocent past can be " linen-white," I assume the mor jaded present may be alluded to as having a heroin-white landscape.

Casting our net a little wider, there are numerous other ivory toned purveyors of pain and death out there in the world. It would take far too long to mention all of them. . . other then the great white shark and the polar bear - both subspecies having the reputation for the most attacks on humans. Then there's Melville's Moby Dick, the great white whale, the KKK . . . The list goes on and on.

At the risk of sounding racist (which I'm not - I'm more of a foodist), it looks pretty much like everything white is pretty well bad for you. It makes you wonder what all those white supremacists are so damn proud of.