Currently browsing posts about: Food

I kn0w you wwill want to know about this.  Take your pick:

PRO

Eating snakes offers ‘healthy and sustainable’ protein source:  A new study has found that python meat could represent a more sustainable source of protein compared to conventional animal meat…. Read more

However, a new study co-authored by Dr Daniel Natusch and Dr Patrick Aust, among others, has suggested that the commercial farming of snakes could help improve agricultural food security and offer a more sustainable alternative to meats such as beef and pork.

The researchers came to this conclusion after measuring the growth rates of two large python species called Malayopython reticulatus and Python bivittatus at farms in Thailand and Vietnam. ..When comparing the food and protein conversion ratios of pythons with other animals, the researchers said that the snakes outperformed all other mainstream agricultural species that have been studied up until now.

‘Python tastes like a cross between chicken and calamari’

CON

I like posting collections of items on Thursdays.  Here are some fun ones.

• Desserts for dogs:  Ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s is unveiling two new flavors designed exclusively for canines.  Doggie Desserts by Ben & Jerry’s are frozen treats specifically formulated for dogs with a sunflower butter base. The two variants are peanut butter & pretzel swirls in Pontch’s Mix and pumpkin and mini cookies in Rosie’s Batch.  [As if overweight in dogs was not their number one health problem]
• Announcing a new dog food made from crickets-–“Jiminy’s.” [Thanks to Turn Texas Blue (@FerociousBeast) for this one]
• EFSA says mealworms safe for human consumption: ‘An important milestone towards commercialisation’: The European Food Safety Authority has published its first scientific opinion on an insect-derived food. The conclusion? Mealworms are safe for human consumption…. Read more.  The EFSA ruling is here.   [I am so relieved].
• Fried chicken alternative developed from peanut protein: ‘Five years from now, we want to market every part of the chicken’:  Haofood says it is the ‘world’s first’ plant-based chicken company to tap peanut protein as its primary ingredient…. Read more
• Delicacy and energy: Okinawa sea cucumber bar producer unveils domestic and international expansion plans:  Okinawa brand MGH is seeking to retail its sea cucumber energy bar into supermarkets and convenience stores in Japan, as well as exploring export opportunities… Read
• Blind tasting 3D printed alternative meat: ‘It tastes and feels like meat’:  Israeli start-up Redefine Meat has pulled off the ‘world’s largest’ blind taste test for its 3D printed meat alternative. The taste test targeted meat-eaters and the results are in. The company secured over a 90% acceptance rate…. Read more   
• Hershey reveals winning name for new candy bar: Hershey’s first extension of the Whatchamacallit candy bar line in 10 years will hit stores in February now that a winning name has emerged from a consumer contest: Whozeewhatzit. The new bar features rice crisps, a peanut butter creme layer and chocolate candy coating.

Food anyone?  Enjoy!

The industry-funded International Food Information Council has just announced the release of it 12th annual Food and Health Survey.  This asks people what they think about a wide range of consumer issues related to food and nutrition.

The report is full of interesting tidbits about how Americans think about food issues.

Or this one:

This one is impressive:

And here’s my favorite:

Lots of interesting material here, all to be taken with some degree of caution since the data come from an online survey taking 22 minutes to complete.

This is the second of three books about eating.  The first is here.

Alan Warde.  The Practice of Eating. Polity, 2016.

This is a sociologist’s attempt to establish a theory of food consumption.  Advances in theory, he says, have been limited for three reasons:

First, eating has been looked at as a series of practical problems, as a terrain of crises.  Second, the topic has been dealt with in multidisciplinary contexts where theoretical synthesis has had low priority.  Third, consumption remains subordinated to concern about production.

This book makes up for those deficiencies and will be greatly appreciated by graduate students of sociology, food studies, and other academic disciplines.

Brazil has just released the final version of its Dietary Guidelines for the Brazilian population in English as well as in Portuguese (I wrote about the draft version in an earlier post).

As explained in the press release (also in English), the guidelines include ten steps to healthy diets:

1. Make natural or minimally processed foods the basis of your diet
2. Use oils, fats, salt, and sugar in small amounts when seasoning and cooking natural or minimally processed foods and to create culinary preparations
3. Limit consumption of processed foods
4. Avoid consumption of ultra-processed products
5. Eat regularly and carefully in appropriate environments and, whenever possible, in company
6. Shop in places that offer a variety of natural or minimally processed foods
7. Develop, exercise and share culinary skills
8. Plan your time to make food and eating important in your life
9. Out of home, prefer places that serve freshly made meals
10. Be wary of food advertising and marketing

Traditionally, families based their diets on natural and minimally processed foods.  The guidelines are based on the actual, traditional dietary patterns of a substantial proportion of the Brazilian population of all ages and classes throughout the country.

Carlos Monteiro, the Brazilian nutrition professor listed as the technical formulator of the guidelines, was in Washington DC last week to speak at a conference on the 2015 Dietary Guidelines.   Monteiro’s speech is here.  Tweets sent during the meeting are here.

I hope everybody listened.

It’s the end of summer and time to contemplate, if not visit, State Fairs selling increasingly imaginative deep-fried treats.  Apparently, deep-fried Oreos and deep-fried butter are so last year.

The Wall Street Journal tells us that the Great New York State Fair—in Syracuse, right now—has a better one: “Twinks.”

And what, pray tell, is a Twink?

The recipe:

• Take one Twinkie.
• Stuff with a Twix candy bar
• Wrap in bacon.
• Dip in batter.
• Deep-fry.
• Sprinkle with sugar.

The damage?  Just south of 1,000 calories.

And from Montana, Daniel Schultz sends this photo of the latest grocery store deal.  If you buy a soda cake (soda cake?) for $4.99, you get 2 liters of your favorite soft drink to wash it down, free.

Drive carefully.

If you happen to be in Washington DC, take a look at FOOD: Transforming the American Table 1950–2000 at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Julia Child’s kitchen is the featured exhibit, but the history of the industrialization of the U.S. food supply is well worth a look.

I especially like quirky collections of food objects.  Here’s one from the exhibit:

If you are in New York City, you can see Our Global Kitchen: Food, Nature, Culture at the American Museum of Natural History and check out the New York Times review so you know what to look for.

Also in New York is Lunch Hour at the New York Public Library.  If you can’t get there, the library has an online version of the exhibition.

If you happen to be in Switzerland and anywhere near Lake Geneva, Nestlé’s Alimentarium in Vevey has a special display of quirky collections: sardine cans, sugar cubes, and fruit wrappers, for example.  You can find it easily from its fork stuck into Lake Geneva.

Food exhibits seem to be the current Big Thing.  I’m trying to take advantage of them while they are around.  You too?

Self-promotion alert:

I gave a talk on food politics at Transylvania University  on Tuesday and was given an Doctor of Science degree, honoris causa.

I’ve never gotten an honorary degree before.  In the academic world these are a big deal, so this feels really special.

Want to see what one looks like?  As you might imagine, I like the inscription.

Transylvania University is a small (1,000 students) liberal arts college in Lexington, Kentucky and there’s no point in making vampire jokes.  They’ve already heard them all.