Alcohol Is Not the Problem, Ultra-Processed Food Is.

Alcohol Is Not the Problem, Ultra-Processed Food Is.

In the midst of increasingly fervent criticism of alcohol consumption, with wine frequently singled out, a more insidious and pervasive threat to public health continues to escape broad scrutiny: ultra-processed food. While alcohol becomes the scapegoat of contemporary health discourse, the deeper and more systemic issue of industrialized food production and consumption is too often ignored.

The Real Epidemic: Industrial Food and Chronic Disease

Over the last century, our relationship with food has undergone a profound transformation. What began as a response to scarcity and a pursuit of efficiency has morphed into a global food system driven by hyper-industrialization, standardization, and shelf-life optimization. The result? A diet dominated by ultra-processed products, concoctions of synthetic fats, sugars, refined carbohydrates, additives, preservatives, colorants, and artificial flavors, often barely recognizable as food.

These substances, designed for convenience and addictiveness, have fueled a worldwide epidemic of obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, mood disorders, metabolic syndrome, and even malnutrition, paradoxically, in societies of abundance.

The Misplaced Demonization of Alcohol,  And Wine in Particular

Against this backdrop, it is striking, and frankly misguided, how wine has become a cultural villain. Public health narratives now commonly reduce all alcohol to a singular evil, with slogans proclaiming “no alcohol is the only healthy choice.” Such absolutism flattens complex realities. There is a world of difference between industrially produced spirits and authentic wines made by small growers, rooted in a place, made with care, and expressing nature rather than suppressing it.

Real wine, that is, minimally manipulated, traditionally vinified, and crafted without synthetic additives, is not an ultra-processed product. Rather, it is one of the last remaining agricultural goods that still expresses terroir, tradition, and the human touch. Like all potent substances, it calls for respect and moderation, but not blanket condemnation.

The Way Forward: Rediscovering Craft, Connection, and Common Sense

The path to a healthier, more resilient future does not lie in abstinence or nutritional puritanism. It lies in restoring food sovereignty to the individual and the community. This means cooking again. Using real butter. Cold-pressed oils. Organic, or better yet, biodynamically grown fruits and vegetables. Meat from older animals raised in freedom. Bread from flour that hasn’t been bleached of its soul.

Even the so-called “junk foods” of modernity e.g. chicken tenders, burgers, ketchup, tartar sauces, can become gastronomic delights when made at home with intention and discernment. The problem is not the form, but the fabrication.

Eat Locally. Cook From Scratch. Reclaim the Table.

The antidote to loneliness, disconnection, and environmental degradation may well begin in our kitchens. Visit the local baker, butcher, cheesemonger. Make your own jam. Smoke your own bacon. Pickle fish in vinegar. Cook, preserve, ferment, share.

Not only does this reduce packaging waste and corporate dependency, it also restores rhythm and ritual to life. As screens recede, the table returns. We gather again, not just to eat, but to commune, as families, friends, neighbors.

The war on alcohol risks becoming a convenient distraction from the true structural causes of our health crisis. Wines made by real farmers, unadulterated, honest, expressive, are not the enemy. The true threat is a food industry that treats nutrition as a commodity and the human body as an afterthought.

The good news? The remedy is near. It begins with simple ingredients, a sharp knife, a cast iron pan and the willingness to slow down.

Cook. Taste. Know. Connect. Because health is not just what we eat. It is how, where, and with whom we eat.