Beets, pears, natto? How Covid-19 is changing the way we eat, from healthier meals to growing awareness of the food system’s uncomfortable truths

Covid-19 has seen many re-evaluate their diets, with some pivoting to more healthy meals, while those recovering from the virus search for things they can taste

It has also helped some learn more about the food system, such as the inhumane ways factory-farmed animals are raised, one expert says

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Many people have turned to fermented foods such as natto (pictured) and kimchi, and even to home fermenting, as the pandemic increases their awareness of a healthy diet. Photo: Toronto Star via Getty Images

Published: 4:45pm, 6 Feb 2021Updated: 4:45pm, 6 Feb 2021

Whether it’s kimchi, beets or broccoli, the pandemic has had a strange impact on food cravings that goes beyond the joy of comfort eating.

Nearly a year into isolation, many people are embracing foods long forgotten or rejected for taste, texture or smell. Some have forced themselves to re-evaluate health-focused foods to help boost their immune systems. And with home cooking at a high, there’s a new adventurousness in the kitchen.

For Maeri Ferguson, 31, in Brooklyn, New York, it’s all about pears. After recovering from Covid-19, she spent months without normal taste and smell. So many foods she loved just didn’t satisfy her. Now, Ferguson can again sense sweetness, saltiness and spiciness, but most foods lack nuance in flavour.

Not pears.

“My whole life I always passed on pears. Not because I didn’t like them. They just intimidated me,” Ferguson says. “I didn’t understand the differences between varietals, how to determine ripeness. I knew what a bad, unripe pear tasted like but not a good one.”

Maeri Ferguson says pears were one of the first foods she could truly taste after recovering from Covid-19. Photo: AP