Since 2014, our motto has been to "eat food from the dirt, not the lab." I now hear this from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in a slightly different motto of "eat real food."

What is "Real Food"?

But what IS real food? Is it potato chips from a bag? I mean potatoes come from the dirt, right? Let's try to come to an understanding by taking a look at "ultra-processed food."  Brazil was the first nation to acknowledge it and define it, and here is an early (2017) definition of ultra-processed food:

"Formulations of cheap industrial sources of dietary energy and nutrients plus additives". This comes from the academic work of Carlos Augusto Monteiro and his colleagues in Brazil. NOTICE that the word "food" isn't even included in the definition.

A simpler way to look at it is -- ultra-processed food is something mostly digestible that bears no resemblance to its original form in the natural environment. Here at Fat Stone Farm, we also add the question "was it made in a laboratory?" A laboratory involves specialized expensive equipment, highly trained operators, and plenty of chemical inputs and outputs. If a food was made in a laboratory, or relies on ingredients made in a laboratory, it's ultra-processed. If a consumer could make something similar in his or her home kitchen, without relying on laboratory ingredients, it's real food.

Getting back to potato chips then, a simple salted potato chip with few ingredients could be made in a home kitchen by using animal fats, potatoes, and salt. We would say: not ultra-processed. However, the substitution of animal fats with highly refined frying oil is problematic. And of course the fancy flavors like "dill pickle" or "sour cream and onion" cannot be made in a kitchen either.

How about soda made from "natural flavors"? I don't think that "natural" raspberry flavor looks anything like the raspberries I pick off the bushes. Or pick any so-called natural flavor, the answer is the same -- this is laboratory food.

What's Wrong with Ultra Processed Food?

And what's wrong with ultra-processed food? More from Monteiro: "The evidence so far shows that displacement of minimally-processed foods and freshly prepared dishes and meals by ultra-processed products is associated with unhealthy dietary nutrient profiles and several diet-related non-communicable diseases." (2017)

Meaning that a person whose calories mostly comes from minimally-processed food will have lower risk of diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cognitive decline. We aren't medical professionals, but we do know that we started our farm in 2003 because we had sincere questions about our food supply. One of our earliest realizations was that relying on corporations who need to profit from supplying our nutrition would probably harm us in the long run. The pursuit of profit can lead to short-cuts, trickery, and lack of transparency. Not always, but it happens often enough that we didn't want to rely on the large agribusinesses who supply most of the US's prepared and processed foods. Despite the massive amount of work that it entails, we'd rather raise and/or wisely purchase the basic ingredients and turn them into great food ourselves. That applies both to our personal nutrition and to our business's line of products.

We have a strong preference for food that comes from the dirt, and the closer it is to the dirt, so to speak, the more we prefer it. 

Where "Eat Real Food" May Take Us - Implications

Obviously, we don't make "dirty" food, but we strive to process everything we make as minimally as possible. Here's what we see coming on the horizon, as of writing this in February 2026:

• large food corporations will continue to obfuscate their ingredients by doing something called "reformulation". They do this already with the badly-named "natural flavors" which often are genetically modified, laboratory-made chemicals. They've also done this to lower sugar content -- they just substitute corn syrup and sugar with dubious replacements.
• the US federal government will intervene by creating food policies around ultra-processed foods (Secretary Kennedy already announced this), but our prediction will be that the large chemical companies will bend his ear and make a mess out of this issue. Just read about the development of breakfast cereal in the early 1900s to understand what could happen again.
• steering America away from ultra-processed foods cannot be successful without working on these fronts as well:  1. massive education of the general population, as we have collectively forgotten how to cook for ourselves, grow for ourselves, and be genuinely content with doing these daily chores. 2. lowering the prices of real food.  (prices are too high because government does not subsidize real food ingredients to the same extent as the ingredients upon which highly processed foods are made (dent corn, dried soybeans, etc.)) 3. Fixing the food deserts in cities.

Stay Inspired with These Resources

To navigate forward without being duped by fancy new modern federal policies about food, nutrition, and health, here are some great resources to check out:

• The Weston A. Price Foundation for timeless nutrition principles and guidance, also local resources for finding smaller scale farm food
• The Rodale Institute for solid advice on growing food
• Mother Earth News for straightforward advice on homesteading, broken down into small steps we all can achieve

And of course -- keep eating food from the dirt, not the lab!