I'm very tempted to ask you for your favorite recipe - I'm turning into a collector/experimenter, and you're one of those foreign-devil types.
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View original post Fruit is just one of the many examples of products that travel long distances (requiring additives to keep them nice, high carbon output, cheap labor, etc) but probably shouldn't. However, I fully admit that I think that getting fresh fruit into people's hands is probably the better of the two options.
View original postNot necessarily. It's well established the better alternative/compromise would be for us (northerners) to mostly eat exotic fruits that have been deep frozen locally, as soon as reaped. Unlike canned fruits they retain all their nutritional qualities, don't require additives, travel better and for cheaper (and without the % of losses) and, if it's done right, they're good and have a decent texture.
If I thought people would stick to that (after having had permanent access), I'd agree. I mean, I already agree in principle, which is why I told kHz I thought it was a solid idea, but do you really think people will stop eating fresh, "healthy" fruit in favor of frozen? I think they'd just eat less fruit, period, if they couldn't have instant, easy apples (etc).
View original postAnd yes, it might mean making compromises about how you use them in the kitchen, and to eat more local fresh fruits when they're in season when we can, and when possible store some up for winter.
I definitely think this is the best way to do it, I'm just not confident that it would play out this way. Then again, maybe you think it is better to forgo all fruit, if one won't eat stored/frozen instead of "fresh?" Hm. Maybe.
View original postPart of the problem is the obsession with getting "fresh produce" all through the year that's anything but fresh (and may not be all that natural either... dyes, preservatives, stuff to make them glossy, the texture destroyed because they've been kept at a certain temperature to slow rippening for weeks) ... and a simple trip to the south to eat the real thing also show they're not so great in taste either. It's often as simple as realizing that a strawberry shortcake isn't a good choice in January if you live in Vermont and it's better to make a cake with a coulis made from frozen strawberries instead, or better yet, to use stored up apples and wait June for the strawberries.
Oh, I agree. It is an obsession, and food has suffered. For example, Indiana tomatoes are one of my favorite foods. Hands down. Tomatoes from the grocery store? BLECK. Mealy, disgusting, tasteless. I'll wait for summer, thankyouverymuch.
View original postThe other obsession to fight is "plastic perfection". People are more and more out of touch with real food and what it ought to look like. Those oranges get dyed not because people have developed totally unreasonable expectations about the appearance of such fruits, wanting them to be of uniform sizes and shapes and colors, and to meet those ridiculous standards without massive losses, the producers have no choice to cheat. A fair percentage of the produce end up being processed (for juice, for e.g.) as it can't meet the standards for selling fresh, which inflates the prices of the fresh produce (making it appear as the alternative of the best quality, to many!) People are stunned to learn things like their beloved mini-carrots are actually larger carrots mechanically cut into mini-carrots (and most often dyed). Anyone who's seen carrots would know they never are that uniform in shape or have rounded bouts, and are rarely that bright and uniformly colored. Etc.
Agree here too. I mentioned bits of this to Isaac. I detest the idea that they are changing the appearance of food to trick me into being attracted to it. I've actually begun to prefer ugly food, because I feel fairly certain it hasn't had to go through acrobatics to get to me. I love farmers' markets for this reason.
View original postA very good book to read (if you can find it in a library, because it's basically too expensive to buy) is Modernist Cuisine. The first volume as an in-depth and very scientific survey about "processed food" (a little frightening, but it also dispels some myths.. if often myths about stuff considered proven that scientifically really isn't).
I will definitely look that up. I know I've heard of it before, but I can't think why.
View original postThere's also plenty of absurd trends. Those shredded carrots and prepared lettuce and mixes can be very dangerous. Should a small quantity be contaminated with salmonella, during process the fact they've been grated and shredded would spread it to very large batches, and they're typically eaten raw, often considered already washed! It's very often with this type of products and with so-called "bio" products that contamination problems have surfaced. Science had brought sanitation to good standards, and now new risks are introduced by processing food mechanically for which there's really no good reason but laziness (not to get into the whole thing about kitchen skills having regressed so much that it takes people forever to accomplish the simplest tasks, or to the big amounts of time lost slavishly following recipes for simple dishes because people no longer understand what they're doing).
I think people are starting to catch on to the salmonella in veggies (etc). There was some big deal not that long ago with spinach, I think. It's about time! It is not that hard to shred up a durn carrot! John and I make almost all of our own food from scratch, and it has made me realize that it just isn't that difficult if you stay committed to it.
View original postThe worst is that so many people no longer limit themselves to buying heavily processed food for the really time consuming stuff (like bread, though it's possibly not such a good idea) but for nearly everything. People will go up in arms because the most harmless natural red dye used in a smoothie is a bug, or would be horrified seeing a pig head in a butcher shop, but they will eat totally gross abominations like hot dogs without a fuss.
Oh, I know. I have to admit that I have to make myself get used to things like pigs' heads, but I'm in Europe now - these things are much more visible and in-your-face. Then again, I know several grass-fed cattle farmers, and I'm much closer to the entire process. Being able to TASTE beef in my meals is amazing. I only recently realized that I didn't know what it was meant to taste like.
View original postOf course, to each his own. But we have yet to see the first generation who basically ate processed food, heavy in sugar, sodium and additives for all their lives grow old.
Um, I think we're definitely seeing it now. I am only 34, and I know a few people my age who already have Type II diabetes.
The food we eat
- 24/03/2013 04:40:36 PM
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I wouldn't expect orange zest to compose a large portion of one's diet
- 24/03/2013 07:09:13 PM
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I'm sure your point is valid, but that site is disgusting
- 25/03/2013 08:22:01 AM
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No I agree
- 25/03/2013 07:58:07 PM
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Re: No I agree
- 25/03/2013 10:12:36 PM
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Are you chef-a-holic?
- 26/03/2013 12:22:07 AM
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I find this amusing.
- 25/03/2013 10:08:57 PM
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Well, a lot of those fall more in the cultural things/irrational food frights category...
- 25/03/2013 11:45:39 PM
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