Food Without Genetic Modifications?

The other night, my grandfather left a comment on how scientists are smart but also greedy, thinking that they're intentionally modifying the genetic makeup of plants and crops in order for them to gain money. You know, the myth that they're creating problems so they'll earn by providing solutions.

That conversation made me curious about the pre-GMO state of the food we take for granted. I heard about them in my biology class before, but for some reason, it's more interesting to learn about them now. So here is a photo of watermelon mentioned in an article I found online.

Image Credit: Genetic Literacy Project

This 17th-century painting by Giovanni Stanchi depicts a watermelon that looks strikingly different from modern melons, as Vox points out. A cross-section of the one in the painting, which was made between 1645 and 1672, appears to have swirly shapes embedded in six triangular pie-shaped pieces.

Image Credit: Alvaro/Wikimedia Commons


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Non-GMO is one of the biggest lies pushed on gullible people. There is no such thing as non-gmo. There is not one thing alive that has not been genetically modified including you. You are the product of the genes of both your parents being modified to create another human.
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A problem with that interpretation of Giovanni Stanchi's picture is that Giuseppe Recco's Still-Life with Fruit and Flowers (ca. 1670, so essentially the same time as Stanchi) shows a much more normal looking watermelon. Stanchi's watermelon looks more like modern "hollow heart" watermelons, likely due to impropert pollination. (Of course I nearly only buy mass-produced store-bought fruit and veg so have little experience with produce outside of that conformity. I'm basing my opinion here on what I've read elsewhere, not personal experience.)
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Gregor Mendel genetically altered plants in the 19th century, but indigenous people were doing it for thousands of years before that. Sure, they were greedy. They wanted more food.
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