On the one hand, yeah "chemical" is not inherently bad. On the other hand he's probably not wrong in his specific example, most cheap smoked meat is just dosed with artificial smokey flavorings (flavor analogues, not just purified naturally occurring flavors) rather than actually smoked, and some of them really suck at matching the flavor profile.
When a layperson uses "chemical" negatively as shorthand for manmade analogue, especially for things meant for consumption, I don't feel the same about it as people who just get hysterical about ethylene glycol in their ice packs.
That's a pretty hefty claim there... Just because people lack the technical language to describe the difference between a man-made chemical analogue and a natural product, doesn't mean they don't have the ability to understand there is a difference.
This is your public service reminder that Belladonna, deadly nightshade, is 100% organic, naturally sourced, raw, and optionally wild or garden-foraged. Those words do not mean "good".
Everything smells of chemicals, because everything has chemicals in it. Natural bacon has chemicals in it, because chemicals are natural.
Water is a chemical compound. This over reliance on "muh chemicals" is tiresome.
On the one hand, yeah "chemical" is not inherently bad. On the other hand he's probably not wrong in his specific example, most cheap smoked meat is just dosed with artificial smokey flavorings (flavor analogues, not just purified naturally occurring flavors) rather than actually smoked, and some of them really suck at matching the flavor profile.
When a layperson uses "chemical" negatively as shorthand for manmade analogue, especially for things meant for consumption, I don't feel the same about it as people who just get hysterical about ethylene glycol in their ice packs.
Except they're the same people
That's a pretty hefty claim there... Just because people lack the technical language to describe the difference between a man-made chemical analogue and a natural product, doesn't mean they don't have the ability to understand there is a difference.
This is your public service reminder that Belladonna, deadly nightshade, is 100% organic, naturally sourced, raw, and optionally wild or garden-foraged. Those words do not mean "good".