It’s Natural or Nothing - Why We Don’t Use UPF’s at C&G
UFP stands for ultra-processed foods - think artificial flavourings, refined sugars, additives and preservatives – predominantly anything man made and chemical which you wouldn’t find in your cupboards at home. It has become almost impossible to avoid UPFs in the high street and supermarkets as our lives become ever more reliant on speed, convenience, cost and of course what pleases our taste buds. However, as these ingredients are not natural, our bodies can’t digest them and are linked to a whole range of diseases and cancers.
When we started planning Charlie & Ginger, we did a lot of research into health, nutrition, diets and people’s interpretation and prioritisation of these learnings in their day to day and it all pointed us in the direction of the word Natural. It’s not about unrealistic diets, eating disappointing meals and not about falling for all the green washing you see on the shelves that shout ‘PLANT BASED’ ‘LOW FAT’ and ‘NO SUGAR’. Because ultimately, chemicals have been used to achieve these claims. We’d rather eat a slice of Irene’s homemade carrot cake with whole ingredients than a low-fat, sweetener-enhanced yoghurt. Because if you’re going to treat yourself, let’s do it the old-fashioned way that our bodies will know how to digest!
So one of our core values became ‘It’s Fresh & Natural or Nothing’. Our offering aims to celebrate the flavour in natural ingredients that will nourish our bodies. We didn’t set out to have a vegetarian menu, but the cost of organic, non-preserved meats is prohibitive and would make menu items extortionate, so we focus on a brunch menu that uses only good quality natural ingredients that will satisfy all your senses and do good to your insides. We appreciate that some days are just going to call for a full fry up or a fast food takeaway – but we wanted to make sure there is at least one option on the high street where you can go and know what each of the ingredients in your food actually is.
We also take this approach with our drinks. Instead of masking coffee with artificially flavoured syrups, we let our delicious Ozone coffee beans speak for themselves. If you do like a bit of sweetness in your coffee we offer a squeeze of agave or honey as an alternative to syrups so you can still taste the flavour profile of our delicious coffee. And if you take alternative milks in your drink, we only offer Minor Figures oat milk and Happy Happy Soy Boy soy milk as these have less harmful ingredients and less added sugar than chain shop favourites, making sure your coffee is both tasty and better for you.
Have you seen the advice from nutrionists that you should eat at least 30 different plant varieties a week to really optimise your gut health? For some people this can sound overwhelming to plan in – but just one portion of our Smashed Avocado on toast ticks off 7 different plants: Avocado, lemon, chilli, black pepper, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds! And the even better news – Coffee counts too. In fact there’s more fibre in a cup of coffee than a glass of OJ. So have a coffee with your avo and you’ve ticked off 8 before 9am on a Monday!
At Charlie & Ginger, we don’t believe in putting items on the menu if they don’t make you go Mmmm (another of our core values for a different day!) Too many places rely on prompting this response with added flavours, salt, sugar and texturizers and also ensuring the preservatives mean it can sit on a shelf for days or weeks without going off so they can save cost – but at what cost to your gut? We’ve found that good food doesn’t need to be complicated with multiple ingredients you can’t pronounce, it just needs to be real.
What’s your take on ‘Healthy’ eating? Do you struggle to find options on the go and out of home that avoid UPFs? We’d love to hear your thoughts.