Did modern refrigeration cause our modern health issues?
Pasteur famously said "Bechamp was right". I think they were both right; germs and terrain both matter. You can see the perfect example of this with botulism when canning meat. That's another discussion, but for now I want suggest that many of our health ailments may come from how refrigeration affected the way we preserve our food.
We used to ferment EVERYTHING. For millennia. Everything got a salt brine and was left for month/years without spoilage, quite the opposite in fact, it is healthier AND tastier. Fermentation digests all the simple sugars and starches - the stuff associated with illness - and leaves you with all the healthy and tasty complex stuff, combined with a full army of probiotic microbes and enzymes, and all the vitamins/acids/minerals that it either created or unlocked during fermentation.
We can still use the fridge in a very healthy way; by using it to stop fermentation on command. Well, slow it to a crawl anyway. We can pick the perfect time, based on our own tastes, and then once refrigerated it will stay in that state for a ridiculous amount of time. Even just in cold storage, like a cellar, it lasts from season to season. Even at ROOM TEMP, you will be surprised. But with a fridge we can decide how sweet or sour it will be, not the calendar.
Fermentation tastes better, it's easy, it's nutritious and convenient. It's even cheaper because instead of buying jalapenos or whatever and letting half of them go bad, you can get them in bulk and/or in season, ferment them fresh and have a better product all year. On demand, zero waste. Grind them up, you got hot sauce. When the food is gone you get a juice leftover which can be used as a starter to ferment other things, or used directly in recipes as is.
GET FERMENTING ANONS!!!
I found these links very helpful… Do yourself a favour and at least watch the first one, only 7 mins.
The Easiest Way To Ferment Any Fruit (Lacto-Fermentation) (~7 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46_uxveHZ4w
How To Ferment And Make Your Own Hot Sauce, Easily (~11 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL8UJPQ_zoU
The Complete Guide to Fermenting Every Single Vegetable (~23 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZghX4Mrg7kw
Beginners Guide To Fermentation: Kombucha Making (~14 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3Axb37lMWI
How to make Homemade Apple Cider Vinegar "with the Mother" (~15 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bupAhuvnb0
The Complete Beginner's Guide to Fermenting Foods at Home (~24 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiNl0Jv6xTw