Well, having made beer and wine before, it's not really compatible with previous lifestyles as well. The way we do things in the modern world is not at all similar to the way historic societies worked. In the earliest days, beer was an accident that turned out well. We wouldn't recognize what they called beer. I'm not a historian, but it's possible that what they called cheese was at odds with our modern definition.
First you make something. They you make it good. These days we call it "minimum viable product (MVP)".
It's worth pointing out that our methods and tastes also evolved because the raw materials and industry trends are changing.
Get a bottle of fat milk straight from a cow, leave it on the kitchen table for a couple of days to turn sour (depends on room temperature) and you'll get yogurt, maybe not as thick as the one you can buy at a store, but it's good nonetheless. Then if the batch was good, you can save some of this batch for later batches, for an addition of bacteria cultures, thus with each successive batch you'll get better and better results. There are absolutely no additives needed (unless you make a business out of it, in which case you want predictable results), with the end-result being 100% chemicals free.
Now try doing that with the bottled milk you can find in the stores.
EDIT (reformulated):
So, consumer tastes are changing based on industry trends ... like these fuckers put extra sugar in everything, being a vicious cycle, because extra sugars in foods give dependency on foods with extra sugars in them. And let's not forget of additives like gels for extra-thickness, or dyes, or powder milk, or other chemicals (because degreased milk or yogurt does not resemble real milk or yogurt, so they have to make up for it somehow) and also preservatives for longer shelf life, etc, etc...
Many consumers would turn their nose on real, fat, non-pasteurized milk or on fat barbecued pork neck, because it's somehow unhealthier than McDonalds' burgers or diary products enriched with chemicals.
And tastes are grown, so if people get used to Danone yogurts that never rot, then that's what they start expecting.
Funny story, the punch line for a Danone milk cream in my country on a TV commercial has been "look how well it dissolves". And I was like "oh wow, can cream really do that?". Go figure.
There is absolutely no such thing as "chemical free". Water, lactic acid, casein, and so on, they're all chemicals, even if you have glorified them with a stamp that says "natural".
Your statement is true, but also useless, as in the true spirit of hacker culture, you're arguing semantics.
"Chemicals" when used in the context of food, means "artificial food additives".
You may disagree that such additives are bad for you health - but just how our early ancestors had low-lactose tolerance, we also have low tolerance for such additives. Maybe our children's children will be able to digest such foods better / more efficiently and without side-effects, but in the meantime there's a wealth of research showing strong links between food additives and increasing rates of cancer, obesity and diabetes.
First you make something. They you make it good. These days we call it "minimum viable product (MVP)".