Natural and artificial?

That doesn’t really leave much out.

What are they telling us exactly?

This product both does and does not have the characteristic you may or may not be interested in.

“Does this contain nuts?”

“Well, some parts do, some parts don’t.”

“What does that mean?”

“Specifically the parts with nuts, they contain nuts.  The rest is nut free.”

Obviously it’s just because we have positive associations with the word ‘natural’ and the only way to legitimately include it here is to also include ‘artificial’ (because the flavour of these marshmallows flavour is not found in nature – you do not want to eat natural gelatin flavour).

Is it natural then? Are we not also a product of nature? Where do we draw the line between our manipulation of the natural world, what we find and repurpose from it and what me modify?

Is the extract of vanilla natural enough to save these impossibly pillowy  confections?

Can we put a flower in an android’s hair and somehow overcome its artificiality?

Is cotton natural considering the processes and cultivation involved?

Is a wooden house more natural than a concrete one?

I suppose if they just wrote “flavoured” it wouldn’t have the same connotations – and we take flavouring for granted. Though if it had just said nothing, I would have had nothing to write about. How artificially inspired.