21 September 2011
(via Cracked)
None of this will come as huge shock to any of you that are even remotely familiar with the food industry, so really, just think of these as six more reasons to stop eating processed food.
6. The Secret Ingredient: Wood
You know what’s awesome? Newspaper. Or, to be precise, the lack thereof. The Internet and other electric media have all but eaten up classic print media, with the circulations of almost all papers on the wane. Say, do you ever wonder what they do with all that surplus wood pulp?
The Horror:
What do they do with all the cellulose wood pulp? They hide it behind a bullshit name and make you eat it, that’s what.
And everybody’s doing it. Aunt Jemima’s pancake syrup? Cellulose. Pillsbury Pastry Puffs? Cellulose. Kraft Bagel-Fuls? Fast-food cheese? Sara Lee’s breakfast bowls? Cellulose, cellulose, goddamn cellulose.
It turns out that cellulose can provide texture to processed foods, so food companies have taken to happily using it as a replacement for such unnecessary and inconveniently expensive ingredients as flour and oil… Even organic foods are no salvation — after all, cellulose used to be wood and can therefore be called organic, at least to an extent.
But the worst thing about cellulose is not that it’s everywhere. The worst thing is that it is not food at all. Cellulose is, unlike the actual, normal food items you think you’re paying for, completely indigestible by human beings, and it has no nutritional value to speak of. If a product contains enough of it, you can literally get more nutrients from licking the sweet, sweet fingerprints off its wrapper.
5. Zombie Orange Juice
Quick, name the most healthy drink your nearest store has to offer. You said orange juice, didn’t you? …The labels are always about health benefits — the cartons scream “100 percent natural!”, “Not from concentrate!” and “No added sugar!”
And why not believe them? When it comes to making the stuff, orange juice isn’t sausage. You take oranges, you squeeze oranges, you put the result in a carton, with or without pulp. End of story, beginning of deliciousness.
But what if we told you that “freshly squeezed” juice of yours can very well be a year old, and has been subjected to stuff that would make the Re-Animator puke?
The Horror:
Ever wonder why every carton of natural, healthy, 100 percent, not-from-concentrate orange juice manages to taste exactly the same, yet ever so slightly different depending on the brand, despite containing no additives or preservatives whatsoever?
The process indeed starts with the oranges being squeezed, but that’s the first and last normal step in the process. The juice is then immediately sealed in giant holding tanks and all the oxygen is removed. That allows the liquid to keep without spoiling for up to a year. That’s why they can distribute it year-round, even when oranges aren’t in season.
There is just one downside to the process (from the manufacturers’ point of view, that is) — it removes all the taste from the liquid. So, now they’re stuck with vats of extremely vintage watery fruit muck that tastes of paper and little else. What’s a poor giant beverage company to do? Why, they re-flavor that shit with a carefully constructed mix of chemicals called a flavor pack, which are manufactured by the same fragrance companies that formulate CK One and other perfumes. Then they bottle the orange scented paper water and sell it to you.
And, thanks to a loophole in regulations, they often don’t even bother mentioning the flavor pack chemicals in the list of ingredients.
Read the rest on Cracked! They’re horrifying, truly.
20 September 2011
Just a few health/food/nutrition stories catching my eye!
Feed Your Genes: How Our Genes Respond to the Foods We Eat
If you could ask your genes to say what kinds of foods are best for your health, they would have a simple answer: one-third protein, one-third fat and one-third carbohydrates. That’s what recent genetic research from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) shows is the best recipe to limit your risk of most lifestyle-related diseases.
A la Carte: The Artistic and Historical Significance of Menus
There’s no denying that menus hold a certain power. Whether you’re turned on by the typeface or drawn in by the offerings alone, the menu is a restaurant’s calling card of first impressions. In a nod to the cultural value of these documents—and perhaps in reaction to a burgeoning trend toward menu digitization—archivists and designers are giving menus their due credit.
Ingredients of Shady Origins, Posing as Supplements
Pai You Guo, a supposedly natural weight-loss supplement from China that, according to federal authorities, has tested positive in the past for containing two hazardous drugs, including a suspected carcinogen. The product was recalled in 2009. One of Dr. Cohen’s patients in the Boston area ended up in the hospital last year with a range of ailments after taking Pai You Guo, a brand-name that, loosely translated from Chinese, means “the fruit that eliminates fat.”
Travel and Leisure Releases the Top Foodie Cities in America
New Orleans is number one, with San Francisco, Providence, New York City, and Chicago rounding out the top five.
Rachel Wilkerson’s How I Finally Got it Up for Yoga
“This is a really big deal for me because I’ve never been able to get it up for yoga before. Or I would get it up and I’d take a couple classes or try a DVD, but I couldn’t sustain my excitement for very long. I’d go a couple times…and then I’d blow it, disappointing myself and my workout buddies.”
14 September 2011
If you ever have some time, a soft spot for Instagram, a hankering to bake, and a craving for graham crackers, now you know where to channel your energy…
(via Bakerella)
I don’t I’ve ever (or will ever) have any of those things, but these Instagrahams were too cute not to share (thanks, Rach!)
13 September 2011
So you’ll never avoid ordering something because you can’t pronounce it again!
Chipotle: By far the most common response, which surprised me given the proliferation of the chain restaurants named after the smoked pepper.
Proper pronunciation: chi-poht-ley.
Espresso: A long-time pet peeve, this is neither spelled nor pronounced with an “X” anywhere in it.
Proper pronunciation: e-spres-oh.
Bánh mì: This popular Vietnamese sandwich is just as popularly butchered, pronunciation-wise as “ban mee” or “bang mee.”
Proper pronunciation: bahn mee (this is as close as many of us will get to the difficult diphthongs in the Vietnamese language; hear it yourself here).
Pho: This Vietnamese soup is pronounced almost exactly like the French word for fire, feu, for which it’s named. It is not “foe.” Again, with dipthongs it’s difficult to get it exactly right, but you’ll get close.
Proper pronunciation: fəʊ, or like the word “fur” without the “R” at the end.
Gyro: Depending on how correct you want to get, you can pronounce this the more accepted American way or like a true Greek.
Proper pronunciation: yee-raw, if you’re Greek; jeer-oh or zheer-oh if you’re American.
Foie gras: Any attempt to impress your date by ordering this fine food will fall flat when you ask for “foy grass.”
Proper pronunciation: fwah grah.
Gnocchi: As with gyros, you can go one of two ways here.
Proper pronunciation: nyawk-kee if you want to be Italian; nok-ee or noh-kee if you’re American.
Quinoa: Pronunciation isn’t the only thing about quinoa that people often get wrong; it’s not a grain, as is so often assumed. It’s actually a chenopod, like epazote and spinach.
Proper pronunciation: keen-wah.
Caipirinha: The equally difficult-to-pronounce cachaça (kuh-shah-suh) is a main ingredient in this popular Brazilian cocktail.
Proper pronunciation: kai-pee-reen-ya.
Açai berry: As with cachaça, the trick with Açai is in the cé cédille (that “C” with a tail on it) that’s pronounced as a soft “S” instead of a hard “C” sound.
Proper pronunciation: ah-sigh-ee.
If you’re looking for Acai or any other herbs/vitamins rich in antioxidants, visit the healthy food store Holland & Barrett today.
(via)
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