Touchy food politics

When we fight over dinner, everyone loses
I was mildly interested in this New York Times article about "modular meals." It seemed like the typical sort of vaguely pleasing, not-exactly-revolutionary cooking articles for which the New York Times is famous. 
 
The idea behind "modular meals" is that you start with a base ingredient (like buttered noodles) and then provide a whole bunch of toppings that every family member can apply to their own liking. Maybe you have one kid who will only eat the buttered noodles, a vegetarian who will eat buttered noodles + tomato sauce, an omnivore who likes noodles + sauce + parmesan, and an adventurous eater who wants noodles + sriracha + bacon. Just set out a bowl of each thing, and let each person load it up the way they want to.
 
Not particularly controversial, or so I thought, until I saw that the article had a surprising number of comments. Curious, I clicked through, and discovered the same old argument playing itself out all over again.
 
This is the argument between "take it or leave it, kids in my house who wanted to be picky went hungry" and "kids should have agency over their own food choices and not be forced to eat something they don't want." It tangentially splattered on people with food allergies and adults who are vegetarian, vegan, or otherwise on a food restriction.
 
I guess it's good that we have so much food that we can argue about how best to eat it. But this is the food world's "Mac vs Linux" or "Star Trek vs Star Wars": an intractable argument that will never be resolved, and where no one's mind will ever be changed. I say let's drop it, and let people do whatever they want in their own kitchens!

Good thing we don't all eat as well as we should!

We would run out of food pretty quickly.
Everyone knows Americans should be eating more vegetables. New data illustrates this nicely. 50% of the vegetables available in America are either potatoes or tomatoes (split evenly). Third runner-up is lettuce.
 
In other words, most of our vegetables come in cheeseburger form.
 
Farmers are growing what people buy, and they aren't growing as many of the lesser-used vegetables. Thus, if every American woke up tomorrow and decided to eat a healthy amount and variety of vegetables, we would straight up run out!
 
87% of adults fail to meet the basic nutritional guidelines set out by the USDA. Although it must be said that the USDA's guidelines are not the greatest - for one thing they are very wheat- and corn-heavy - it still is a good starting point. The lowest-ranking state was Mississippi, with only 5.5% of adults meeting guidelines. The highest-ranking state was California, with only 13% of adults meeting guidelines.
 
The CDC is challenging Americans to eat fewer of the triad (potatoes, tomatoes, and lettuce) and branch out more into healthier vegetables. It's coming on winter squash season, there are a lot of great squash options out there! Trader Joe's even sells pre-cubed chunks of squash, with instructions on how to bake or steam them right on the package. (I adore Trader Joe's!)

"Ugly" produce gets its day in the sun

Reclaiming this waste
America is facing a huge food waste crisis which involves all levels of the food chain - from the farmer who grows it to the person who puts it in their refrigerator at home. This waste isn't just a waste of a resource (although that's bad enough, in a country where millions of people are living in "food insecure" households). It's also a waste of water, gasoline, supply lines, manpower, and more.
 
Several companies are taking steps to address one level of food waste: ugly produce which farmers abandon in the field. If a potato or an apple has an unsightly blemish, it may be perfectly fine to eat, but it won't sell at the grocery store. If a farmer can't sell it, there's no point wasting the time and effort it takes to pick, transport, and sell it. So they leave it in the field.
 
Bon Appetit Management Company is an $800 million food service company which has started the Imperfectly Delicious Produce (IDP) initiative. This initiative allows them to buy up imperfect produce at a steep discount and find a use for it. Crooked carrots? Serve them sliced. Potatoes with dents in the sides? Serve them mashed.
 
Some restaurants and grocery stores are hopping on the "ugly produce" bandwagon. Talk about a win-win! The farmers get to sell something that otherwise would have been a complete waste, the companies get to save a bit of money on their produce, and consumers get cut-rate produce that tastes just as good as the "pretty produce." I love it!
 

Could this be the end of avocados?

California's drought may spell the demise of this tasty treat
Avocados (which are technically a berry, not a fruit or vegetable) have proliferated in California over recent years, thanks to their increased popularity as of late. Unfortunately, these delicious darlings of Instagram require a lot of water to grow, and California's drought may spell doom for the mighty avocado.
 
Drought-ridden farmers across the state are finding themselves with no choice but to chop down their trees and let their fields die, because the water simply isn't there. And as water prices rise, so will the price of produce - including avocados.
 
More so than grocery staples like lettuce or carrots, avocados are more of a discretionary, luxury grocery item. Which means that avocado buyers are more likely to accept higher prices for them, being a less price-sensitive market on the whole.
 
And if the California drought continues? Will avocados be grown elsewhere in the country? California happens to have the perfect climate for avocados, and the next likely scenario is that our avocados will all be imported from South America. And unfortunately, avocados that have to be shipped across the world are both expensive and terrible.
 
But rejoice for now, because avocados are plentiful and relatively cheap. Tomorrow - who knows?

San Francisco entrepreneurs reinvent the Automat

So shiny! So efficient!
I pined for the Automat as a kid. I had read about it somewhere - probably A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - and was so sad to learn they were no longer around by the time I was here. The Automat was essentially a walk-in vending machine. Basic cafeteria food items sat behind little glass doors in the wall. You deposited coins and pulled out whichever dish you wanted to eat. It was quiet and peaceful and seemingly entirely automatic. 
 
In truth, the Automats of yesteryear had plenty of people behind the scenes, making the food and loading the dishes into the little compartments for sale. But in Today's Modern Era, food can be prepared, loaded, and sold all by machine - no humans necessary.
 
Such is the premise of Eatsa in San Francisco, an entirely automated fast food restaurant based around quinoa bowls. Customers order in store and pay either at the counter with a PIN pad or using their smartphones. When your quinoa bowl is done, it is delivered to a magically glowing compartment with your name on it.
 
Will this revolutionize the fast food industry? I'm torn, because on the one hand, it sounds pretty cool, and it should speed up every aspect of getting your fast food. On the other hand, it could put a lot of people out of work. 

People who eat spicy food live longer

Broad study finds interesting conclusion
A recent study showed an interesting correlation between frequently eating spicy food, and a lower risk of death from cancer, heart, and respiratory problems. In fact, people who ate spicy food once or twice a week had a whopping 10% reduced risk of death.
 
The study followed 487,000 middle-aged people in an area of China, for four years. Seven years later, the researchers followed up with the participants, and found this startling conclusion.
 
One theory is that the active ingredient in spicy foods, capsaicin, is more useful than previously thought. Although we have long known that capsaicin has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, it seems that the daily consumption of foods featuring capsaicin may be very helpful.
 
Most of the people in the study reported eating foods made with fresh and dried chili peppers. There was a correlation with people who ate fresh chilies - it seems that eating them fresh has an even greater effect on your health. Fresh chilies also happen to be high in vitamin C and other nutrients. 

Pumpkin spice season is coming

Brace yourself!
Are you a pumpkin spice lover or hater? I used to be a pumpkin spice fanatic, but in recent years I have been feeling a little bit burned out on the whole pumpkin spice thing. Which is too bad, because in the next few months, pumpkin spice will be creeping its way into every corner of our lives.
 
Soap? Check. Candle? Check. Coffee? Check. Latte? Of course, check! And now the latest new pumpkin spice food: Kellogg's Limited Edition Pumpkin Spice Mini-Wheats.
 
Of course, you can always just buy pumpkin pie spice and add it to things. And there is no legitimate reason why pumpkin spice should be a seasonal thing - it isn't a seasonal product, like fresh fruit. Pumpkin spice grows all year round, so to speak.
 
How about you, are you a pumpkin spice lover or hater? 
 

KFC offers special new bucket that takes Polaroids

In case you want to capture the moment?
How do you feel when you're eating a bucket of KFC chicken? Greasy, gluttonous shame? KFC doesn't think so - they think you are having a great time, and that you might want to celebrate that party with some Polaroid selfies. 
 
The "Memories Bucket" is going to be given away as a special limited edition to random customers. It can take and print a Polaroid picture right from the bucket, which is truly a miracle in grease-proofing.
 
It's also possible that KFC is going after Millennials with a canny move designed to lure in hipsters who want to eat fried chicken and take Polaroid pictures ironically. Hard to say, to be honest. 

America's shocking food waste

John Oliver walks us through the details
 
Considering there are 50 million Americans living in "food-insecure" households (meaning they are not sure where their next meal will come from, and/or are having to skip meals due to lack of money), it's nothing short of shocking to see the huge volume of food that grocery stores and farmers waste every day.
 
There are a lot of factors involved in this waste. Our insistence, as citizens, on eating only the prettiest fruits and vegetables is certainly a big factor. Farmers can only afford to pick and transport the best-looking crops. Food which is sub-par in appearance is often just left on the ground to rot, because if it gets a lower grade (again, due to appearance), it can't be sold for enough money to balance out the cost to produce it.
 
Another is the bizarre, complicated, and almost entirely arbitrary system of food expiration dates. These dates are set by the manufacturer, and are generally meaningless. However, stores can't keep food that's past date on their shelves because no one will buy it, so they have to throw it out.
 
And finally, the reason why these foods are thrown away instead of being donated to food banks: a complicated (and again, almost entirely arbitrary) set of politics which has gutted the tax benefits of food donation. (Many businesses are also worried about their legal liability if they donate fresh food, but this turns out to be the business version of an urban legend.)

KFC finds a new use for chicken

Welcome "Chizza" into the world!
KFC has done it again. Not content to use their crispy chicken breasts as slabs of bread in a cheeseburger (the infamous Double Down), those wacky food scientists have done it again. 
 
This time, the results are - by all accounts - not half bad. Gross if you think about it, but tasty. Long story short, they used a chicken breast as pizza crust. 
 
Turns out if you pile cheese, sauce, and pepperoni on top of a crispy chicken breast and bake it, it's surprisingly tasty. So say those in the Philippines who have tried it, where the Chizza is having a limited release to gauge interest.
 
Will the Chizza be coming to the United States? Hard to say at this point. And hard to say if that would be a blessing or a curse!
 

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