Posts filed under ‘Food’
50-Year-Old Ban Lifted on Importing Italian Cured Meats
Uh oh. I love cured meats like salami and prosciutto so this is great news for my taste buds but not for my waistline. I’m gonna have to cut something out of my diet in order to digest (corny huh?) this:
(Image via 123rf.com)
Italian cold cut connoisseurs are eagerly awaiting the arrival of imported salami, pancetta, coppa, and other pork salumi that have not been available in the United States for nearly 50 years.
On May 28, a ban on pork products in effect since 1963 was lifted by the US Department of Agriculture. The ban came about when the first of at least two contagious swine diseases was detected, according to Workabeba Yigzaw, a spokesperson for the department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Last month, several Northern Italian regions were declared free of swine vesicular disease and therefore pose a low risk of contaminating pigs in this country, she explains.
Meats cured for less than 400 days from Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, and Piedmont, and the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano should start showing up in this country within two to three months after meat producers are certified, according to Davide Calderone, director of Italy’s Industrial Association of Meat and Cured Meat Products.
Yum yum yummy! I can’t wait to try some of these goodies.
Connecticut Takes a Baby Step Toward GMO Labeling
Not a whole lot of guts being shown here but it’s a start:
(Image via PomegranateMarkets.com)
The Connecticut Senate on Saturday approved a compromise bill that would require special labels on food that contains genetically modified ingredients, so long as other states pass similar legislation.
[...]
The compromise legislation, which moves to the House of Representatives for further action, requires food that is entirely or partially genetically engineered to be labeled with the words ‘‘Produced with Genetic Engineering’’ on the packaging. The mandate would take effect after four other states, including one that borders Connecticut, enact a similar law. Also, it requires the aggregate population of any Northeast states (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania or New Jersey) that enact such labeling laws to comprise a population of more than 20 million people.
Senate President Donald Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn, said if New York, which has a population of about 19 million people, passes a similar labeling requirement, the new Connecticut law would take effect given his state’s population is about 3.5 million people. There have been concerns that Connecticut consumers might face higher prices if the state was the first to require labeling.
The food industry scared the bejesus out of California voters last year by claiming that to put one sentence (like the one above) on their GMO-containing products (cans, plastic bags) would increase the cost of food by hundreds of dollars per family per year. Apparently the Connecticut legislature bought into that bull as well.
Besides, manufacturers change their labeling all the time—anytime their product is “new and improved” or they change a logo or a box design—and those costs are not passed on to the consumer. When the government required nutritional information to be posted on each container, prices didn’t go up because of it.
But hey, it’s a start. As Winston Churchill said: “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing — after they’ve tried everything else.” Oy.
Bravo to Cherrios
I saw this commercial the other day and I literally couldn’t believe my eyes.
I though wow. Bravo to Cherrios for going there; for showing an interracial couple in a television commercial. Hell yeah. Let’s bust through that door too.
But, predictably, not everyone saw it that way:
A nice Cheerios advertisement whose only discernible difference from other Cheerios commercials is that it depicts an interracial family was forced to disable its YouTube comments section today after it became inundated with virulent racism.
Despite the hate, Camille Gibson, vice president of marketing for Cheerios, told us in a statement, “Consumers have responded positively to our new Cheerios ad. At Cheerios, we know there are many kinds of families and we celebrate them all.”
Anyway, bravo to Cherrios!
Obama: Monsanto’s Man in Washington
(Image via Wikipedia)
Wow. This is huge:
The shocking minutes relating to President Putin’s meeting this past week with US Secretary of State John Kerry reveal the Russian leaders “extreme outrage” over the Obama regimes continued protection of global seed and plant bio-genetic giants Syngenta and Monsanto in the face of a growing “bee apocalypse” that the Kremlin warns “will most certainly” lead to world war.
According to these minutes, released in the Kremlin today by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation (MNRE), Putin was so incensed over the Obama regimes refusal to discuss this grave matter that he refused for three hours to even meet with Kerry, who had traveled to Moscow on a scheduled diplomatic mission, but then relented so as to not cause an even greater rift between these two nations.
At the center of this dispute between Russia and the US, this MNRE report says, is the “undisputed evidence” that a class of neuro-active insecticides chemically related to nicotine, known as neonicotinoids, are destroying our planets bee population, and which if left unchecked could destroy our world’s ability to grow enough food to feed its population.
[...]
Most perplexing in all of this, the MRNE says, and which led to Putin’s anger at the US, has been the Obama regimes efforts to protect pesticide-producer profits over the catastrophic damaging being done to the environment, and as the Guardian News Service detailed in their 2 May article titled “US rejects EU claim of insecticide as prime reason for bee colony collapse” and which, in part, says:
“The European Union voted this week for a two-year ban on a class of pesticides, known as neonicotinoids, that has been associated with the bees’ collapse. The US government report, in contrast, found multiple causes for the collapse of the honeybees.”
To the “truer” reason for the Obama regimes protection of these bio-tech giants destroying our world, the MRNE says, can be viewed in the report titled “How did Barack Obama become Monsanto’s man in Washington?”
This is beyond shameful. Obama is in the process of establishing an awful legacy for himself.
Mark Udall (D-CO) is a Fraud
Background (March, 2013): According to the new survey, 82 percent of Americans think GMO foods should be labeled, while only 9 percent say they should not be labeled.
On Thursday (May 23), my senator, “Democrat” Mark Udall
(Image via Wikipedia)
voted AGAINST a bill that would require:
Thanks to the help provided by Udall, the bill failed. Udall paints himself as an uber-liberal, hippie trippy guy which at this point is nothing short of hilarious. The guy’s a total fraud. |
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The Food Industry is Freaking Out That Americans Are Thinking About Eating Healthier
The folks over at Scientific American have written a tongue-in-cheek article – from the perspective of the food industry — about how it is freaking out at the prospect of Americans becoming more discriminating about the food they eat:
(Image via AtlantaBlackStar.com)
Dear Consumers: A disturbing trend has come to our attention. You, the people, are thinking more about health, and you’re starting to do something about it. This cannot continue.
Sure, there’s always been talk of health in America. We often encourage it. The thing is, we only want you to think about and talk about health in a certain way—equating health with how you look, instead of outcomes like quality of life and reduced disease risk. Your superficial understanding of health has a great influence over your purchasing decisions, and we’re ready for it, whether you choose to go low-calorie, low-fat, gluten-free or inevitably give up and accept the fact that you can’t resist our Little Debbie snacks, potato chips and ice cream novelties.
Whatever the current health trend, we respond by developing and marketing new products. We can also show you how great some of our current products are and always have been. For example, when things were not looking so good for fat, our friends at Welch’s were able to point out that their chewy fruit snacks were a fat free option. Low fat! Healthy! Then the tide turned against carbohydrates. Our friends in meat and dairy were happy to show that their steaks, meats and cheeses were low-carb choices. Low carbs! Healthy!
[...]
Of course, we don’t necessarily want you to be unhealthy. It’s just that it’s so much more profitable to provide foods that happen to be unhealthy. We’ve been able to industrialize the food system so that we can produce massive amounts of the cheapest ingredients available, in the cheapest, most efficient way possible.
I can’t figure out what to cut and paste and what not to cut and paste. The whole article is really good. Read the rest of it here.
Bacon Dogs!
I’m a bacon person so I can’t wait to get my mitts on some of these!
Putting Baconnaise on them would probably be a bit much, huh?
Taco Bell Working on a New, Cheaper Menu
Gee. I don’t know how much more “low end” Taco Bell can go but okaaay:
Taco Bell is working on a new, low-end menu, chief marketing officer Brian Niccol said.
Niccol made the announcement on a conference call, according to a report by Bloomberg News.
Taco Bell is already known for offering cheap Mexican food. The extensive value menu offers items for 79, 89, and 99 cents.
My Salivary Glands are in Overdrive
Get me to the store for some baking potatoes. Now!
Look at this scrumptious-looking beauty:
(Image via TheMetaPicture.com)
Yum, yum, yum!
Space Food
Wow, what an interesting project:
[I'm Kate Green and] I’m on the Big Island of Hawaii right now, but I’m not on vacation. I’m not honeymooning, nor am I attending a conference or visiting relatives.
I’m on the Big Island to find Mars.
Starting next week, I will begin a simulated Mars mission. For 120 days, my five crewmates and I will live on the red, rocky slopes of the Hawaiian volcano called Mauna Loa.
We will eat, sleep, work, exercise and relax inside a two-story dome that offers a little less than 1000 square feet of floor space. When we go outside, we will wear mock spacesuits. There will be very little sunshine, no fresh fruit, and no ocean breeze.
But there will be science.
In fact, the purpose of the Mars simulation, called HI-SEAS (Hawaiian space Exploration Analog and Simulation), is to study astronaut food for long-haul space missions. Developed by Jean Hunter at Cornell University and Kim Binsted at the University of Hawaii and funded by NASA, it boils down to these questions: Does it make sense to provide dehydrated, shelf-stable ingredients to astronauts on a mission to Mars? Does it make sense for astronauts to actually cook some of their meals?
Questions of food are more critical than you might think. On longer missions, astronauts tire of the just-add-water-and-heat meals that squirt out of pouches. They eat fewer calories, and they lose weight. Neither is good for performance and overall health, especially during a dangerous, multi-year trip to the red planet.
Here’s a short video introducing Kate Green and her five fellow “crew” members:
And here is the Hi-SEAS’ website.
I’m going to follow this project!
Sausage or Spinach?
I’m thinking about going meatless. Not Monday meatless or Friday meatless. Meatless meatless: (WARNING: Graphic.)
I’m a Bacon Person But This is a Bit Much
I don’t think so:
(Image via Foodiggity.com)
See more food-themed hair accessories here.
Tacos
Buzzfeed is at it again, this time with a pictorial on tacos. Here are two I want. Right. Now.
(Imge via Buzzfeed.com)
From Jojo’s Tacos in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, FL: bacon, tomatoes, romaine, avocado, blue cheese and buffalo sauce. (Image via Buzzfeed.com)
It wasn’t until I put both of these pictures up that I realized they both contain bacon. Yikes. I guess I’m a hardcore bacon person. Okay. There. I said it.
Like Sushi? You’re Probably a Democrat
Here’s an interesting little poll from the folks over at Public Policy Polling about American likes and dislikes of some foods and beverages, including food likability differences between Democrats and Republicans. (Guess it must have been a slow day for them.)
Some of the results are pretty funny:
Mexican food (69-22), seafood (74-19), Italian food (85-10), American food (91-6), and Chinese food (71-21) all get favorable marks from voters. Republicans (73-21) like Mexican food more than Democrats (69-21), while Democrats (74-19) like Chinese food more than Republicans (69-26)
Most voters say they would not be willing to eat sushi (43-57). Many more Democrats (52-48) would than Republicans (36-64). There’s also a huge age divide on sushi palatability – younger voters say they’d eat sushi by a 59%-41% margin, and that number drops the older people get – those age 30-45 are split 48%-52% on eating sushi, among those age 46-65 just 40% say they’d eat sushi while 60% say they would not, and among those over age 65 just 29% say they’d eat sushi while 71% say no thanks.
The results are expanded here (pdf).
Memo to Government Officials Everywhere: Want Your Sons to Have Malformed Genitals and Small Penises?
Insofar as most government officials around the world are men, maybe this will get their attention when it comes to dealing with water pollution and food additives:
(Image via nj1015.com)
A new study in Wales has uncovered a disturbing connection between pollution and shrinking penis size in otters. The report, from the Cardiff University Otter Project and Chemicals Health and Environment Department, found that chemicals present in both the environment and the food chain could be altering the hormones of the water mammal, causing a smaller penis bone. Aside from affecting the future spawn of otters, the scientists also worry that these ever-present chemicals could have serious effects on other mammals.
[...]
The health of otters is not the only concern in this study, but of male sexual health across the species. The presence of endocrine disrupting chemicals in the water and environment will affect humans as well, and the study questions the link with EDCs and the increasing number of human males with undescended testicles, low sperm count and malformed genitals.
Best Dad Ever — Has Been Drawing on His Kids’ Sandwich Bags Since 2008
It would never have occurred to my dad to make so much as one sandwich for me, much less make one for me for five years AND draw something on the bag. In my next life, I want a dad like this!
Image via dlaferriere on flickr)
Since May 2008 I have been drawing on my kids’ sandwich bags with a Sharpie marker. Each drawing is done just after I make the sandwich. I take a picture and post to flickr. My kids don’t see the drawing until it is lunchtime.
The challenges are coming up with an idea and then drawing quickly and directly on the bag, every line counts.
(H/t Carol B.)
How Food Companies Addict Us to Junk Food
Here’s a fascinating (long) article about how food companies addict us to junk food. Knowing their tricks is helpful in trying not to become addicted, but the science and psychology they employ is really incredible. It’s a wonder we all don’t weigh 300 pounds.
(Image via TheTangential.com)
The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food
The public and the food companies have known for decades now — or at the very least since this meeting — that sugary, salty, fatty foods are not good for us in the quantities that we consume them. So why are the diabetes and obesity and hypertension numbers still spiraling out of control? It’s not just a matter of poor willpower on the part of the consumer and a give-the-people-what-they-want attitude on the part of the food manufacturers. What I found, over four years of research and reporting, was a conscious effort — taking place in labs and marketing meetings and grocery-store aisles — to get people hooked on foods that are convenient and inexpensive. I talked to more than 300 people in or formerly employed by the processed-food industry, from scientists to marketers to C.E.O.’s. Some were willing whistle-blowers, while others spoke reluctantly when presented with some of the thousands of pages of secret memos that I obtained from inside the food industry’s operations. What follows is a series of small case studies of a handful of characters whose work then, and perspective now, sheds light on how the foods are created and sold to people who, while not powerless, are extremely vulnerable to the intensity of these companies’ industrial formulations and selling campaigns.
What Do 200 Calories Look Like?
Interesting (as in yikes!) contrast here as how to visualize eating 200 calories:
Celery (Image via Imgur.com)
Doritos (Image via Imgur.com)
Ketchup (Image via Imgur.com)
Bermuda Onions (Image via Imgur.com)
I guess there’s no escaping the message that we can eat all the fresh fruits and veggies we want but man-oh-man, the processed stuff is deadly. Sad but true.
Oy.
Spokesman for the Heart Attack Grill Dies…of a Heart Attack
Geez:
(Image via LasVegasSun.com)
The second unofficial spokesman for the Heart Attack Grill in downtown Las Vegas has died from an apparent heart attack.
John Alleman suffered a heart attack last week as he waited at the bus stop in front of the restaurant, located inside the Neonopolis at Fremont Street and Las Vegas Boulevard.
Alleman was taken off life support shortly after 1 p.m. on Monday, said restaurant owner Jon Basso. He was 52.
“He lived a very full life,” said Basso, who seemed shaken when reached by phone Monday evening. “He will be missed.”
The Pennsylvania native is survived by his only family, his brother Paul. Basso said Alleman had a genetic predisposition for cardiac problems, as both of his parents died of heart attacks in their 50s.
Basso recalled Alleman as a fun-loving man who loved the Heart Attack Grill. The medically themed restaurant is famous for its high-calorie menu that includes a record-breaking 9,982-calorie, 3-pound Quadruple Bypass Burger.
Since the restaurant opened in October 2011, Basso said Alleman would stand outside its doors every day, coaxing customers in. Soon enough, Alleman became a fixture at the restaurant he loved, Basso said.
Coca-Cola Says Kumbaya
The Center for Science in the Public Interest translates Coca-Cola’s new kumbaya-like “Coming Together” ad:
Must-Read Post About Fried Rat
Love this hilarious post from Smart Ass Cripple. Snark at its finest:
(Image via NPR.org)
Kentucky Fried Rat
A guy picks up a bucket of chicken. He takes it home, turns on the game, settles back, digs in. And soon he discovers that one of his pieces of chicken is really a Kentucky fried rat.I hear a story like that on the news and I really get upset. I say to myself, “What a lucky sonuvabitch!” How come nothing like that ever happens to me? I suppose one reason I never find a Kentucky fried rat in a bucket of chicken is because I never buy a bucket of chicken. But that’s because every time I’ve bought a bucket of chicken all I’ve ever gotten is chicken. That’s the kind of rotten luck I have.Biting into a Kentucky fried rat would cause me some serious PTSD sure enough. Imagine the nightmares. But it would also turn my pupils into dollar signs. I’ve gotten to the point where my retirement investment strategy consists solely of finding a Kentucky fried rat and suing that Colonel’s sorry ass from here to Toledo! Screw IRAs. It’s too late for that for me. My only hope for a financially comfy old age is to invest in a KFR.
Eat Sugar, Lose Weight and Be Healthy!
Mother Jones has assembled a fascinating series of vintage sugar industry ads designed to convince us that eating sugar was just about the best thing we could do for our health:
(Image via MotherJones.com)
(Image via MotherJones.com)
Something to Seriously Think About Before Buying Quinoa
I’ve been seeing mentions of quinoa floating around for the last couple of days so I decided to stop to find out what the fuss is all about, and it’s heartbreaking. You don’t have to be a vegan to eat quinoa or to think this is a terrible situation:
(Image via BearWitnessPictures.Blogspot.com)
Can Vegans Stomach the Unpalatable Truth About Quinoa?
Not long ago, quinoa was just an obscure Peruvian grain you could only buy in wholefood shops. We struggled to pronounce it (it’s keen-wa, not qui-no-a), yet it was feted by food lovers as a novel addition to the familiar ranks of couscous and rice. Dieticians clucked over quinoa approvingly because it ticked the low-fat box and fitted in with government healthy eating advice to “base your meals on starchy foods”.
[...]
Sales took off. Quinoa was, in marketing speak, the “miracle grain of the Andes”, a healthy, right-on, ethical addition to the meat avoider’s larder (no dead animals, just a crop that doesn’t feel pain). Consequently, the price shot up – it has tripled since 2006 – with more rarified black, red and “royal” types commanding particularly handsome premiums.
But there is an unpalatable truth to face for those of us with a bag of quinoa in the larder. The appetite of countries such as ours for this grain has pushed up prices to such an extent that poorer people in Peru and Bolivia, for whom it was once a nourishing staple food, can no longer afford to eat it. Imported junk food is cheaper. In Lima, quinoa now costs more than chicken. Outside the cities, and fuelled by overseas demand, the pressure is on to turn land that once produced a portfolio of diverse crops into quinoa monoculture.
That’s it. I’m not going to buy quinoa when Peruvians who grow and harvest it — it’s native to their land — can’t afford to buy it themselves, thus relegating them to eating junk food.
No. Way.
I’m not going to be a part of their getting fat and getting heart disease and having their culture crumble.
This is super-upsetting to me.
Bacon Porn
Okay, I admit it. I bought some Baconnaise this weekend.
So far I haven’t used it in an actual meal, I’ve only dipped my finger in to taste it. It might be too salty for my taste and that’s saying something because I’m more of a salt person than a sugar person. But I’m thinking ham sandwiches…
I’ll keep you posted.
:)
Rollout of New GMO Corn Delayed
Dow’s Controversial New GMO Corn Delayed, Protests Continue
(Image via PeopleCleaner.com)
Jan 18 (Reuters) – A controversial new biotech corn developed by Dow AgroSciences, a unit of Dow Chemical,, will be delayed at least another year as the company awaits regulatory approval amid opposition from farmers, consumers and public health officials.
Dow AgroSciences officials said Friday that they now expect the first sales of Enlist for planting in 2014. Previously officials had set the 2013 planting season as a target, but U.S. farmers are already buying seed for planting this spring, and Dow has yet to secure U.S. approval for Enlist.
Dow wants to roll out Enlist corn, and then soybeans and cotton to be used in combination with its new Enlist herbicide that combines the weed-killers 2,4-D and glyphosate. The Enlist crops are genetically altered to tolerate treatments of the Enlist herbicide mixture.
Wow. Love the thought of eating a corn that is immune to, and has been doused with, weed-killers, 2,4-D, and glyphosate.
Slightly off topic: While looking around the internets just now I came across this about 2,4-D from last April:
The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday said that the widely used herbicide 2,4-D would remain on the market, denying a petition from an environmental group (the Natural Resources Defense Council) that sought to revoke the chemical’s approval.
[...]
The agency in particular cited a study, financed by the 2,4-D manufacturers and conducted by Dow, in which the chemical was put into the feed of rats. The study did not show reproductive problems in the rats or problems in their offspring that might be expected if 2,4-D were disrupting hormone activity, the E.P.A. said.
So the EPA kept 2,4-D on the market based on a study about its safety conducted by a 2,4-D manufacturer? What a farce.
Eat These Dishes at Your Own Peril
The Center for Science in the Public Interest is out with its annual “Xtreme Eating Awards,” highlighting hugely caloric, fat, sugar and salt laden restaurant dishes.
This is one of the winners:
Spaghet(not so)tiniOne might think that the Bistro Shrimp Pasta from The Cheesecake Factory is one of the less-fattening things on the menu, what with its mushrooms, tomato and arugula. It actually has more calories than any other entrée (at 3,120) along with 89 grams of saturated fat (enough to keep your arteries busy from Monday morning to noon on Friday). It’s the nutritional equivalent of three orders of Olive Garden’s Lasagna Classico plus an order of Tiramisu.
A pasta dish has more calories than any other entree on The Cheesecake Factory’s menu? How did they manage that? Almost a week’s worth of fat? Wow. Repulsive and so deceptive. Makes me not trust any of The Cheesecake Factory’s dishes.
Anyway, see the entire list here.
I’m Glad I’ll Be Dead When We Get to This Point
(Image via Pavelpodolyak.Blogspot.com)
Scientists at the US Forest Service and partners at universities, non-profits and other agencies predict that urban and developed land areas in the US will increase 41 percent by 2060. Forested areas will be most impacted by this expansion, with losses ranging from 16 to 34 million acres in the lower 48 states. The agency highlighted the results of a new study in a press release issued last month.
The researchers also concluded that, over the long-term, climate change could have significant effects on water availability, making the US potentially more vulnerable to water shortages, especially in the Southwest and Great Plains. Population growth in more arid regions will require more drinking water. Recent trends in agricultural irrigation and landscaping techniques also will boost water demands.
Given overpopulation, climate change and water and food shortages that are staring us in the face, I feel for today’s kids. The world they’ll live in when they’re in their 30s, 40s and 50s is going to be hellish.
Finally, an End to the Agony of Slicing Bananas by Hand
Okay, it’s official. They really do think we’re idiots: This is a “Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer,” available on Amazon for $1.40 (hate to think what the shipping is), marked down from $8.58.
(Image via Amazon.com)
I don’t know if it comes with directions but it sure better because anyone dumb enough to buy this thing probably needs to be told to peel the banana first, before slicing it.
Could You Tell Me a Little Bit More About the Chicken, Please?
Restaurant porn:
(Via.)
I live in Boulder, Colorado and scenes like this (well, almost) actually happen around here.
